A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Fovea,-ae (s.f.I), abl. sg. fovea, nom. pl. foveae, acc.pl. foveas, dat. & abl.pl. foveis: fovea, a small excavation, depression or pit; “a depression or pit, as 1. in the upper surface of the leaf-base in Isoetes, which contains the sporangium; 2. the seat of the pollinium in Orchids” (Jackson) [> L. fovea,-ae (s.f.I), “a small pit, esp. for taking wild beasts, a pit-fall (syn. scrobs, specus; fossa, etc.)” (Lewis & Short); a snare, q.v.]; cf. alveola,-ae (s.f.I); a fovea is often nectar-bearing (fovea nectarifera);

- foveis floralibus spiraliter dispositis, with the floral depressions spirally arranged.

- dispisitione foveolarum floralium decussata non spirali, with the arrangement of the floral pits decussate not spiral.

- pétala 5-16, conspicua, fovea nectarifera 0 (B&H), the petals 5-16, conspicuous, with the nectariferous depression none.

- petala totidem v. plura (usque ad 15), basi fovea nectarifera impressa v. squamula aucta (B&H), the petals as many as [the sepals] or more (to 15), impressed at the base with a nectariferous pit or enlarged with a scale.

- petala alba ungue flavo fovea nectarifera notato (DeCandolle), petals white with a yellow claw marked with a nectariferous pit.

- calycis lacinia superior basi in foveolam nectariferam nec in tubum desinens (DeCandolle), the upper lacinia of the calyx at the base ending in a nectar-bearing pit, not in a tube.

Fovea floralis (adj.B): floral pit or depression, as in Geocoma (Palmae).