A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Mammilla: mammilla,-ae (s.f.I), abl. sg. mammilla, nom.pl. mammillae, acc.pl. mammillas, dat. & abl.pl. mammillis (also spelled mammila,-ae, etc.): nipple, teat, small projection; breast, as in teat; in mosses, in the cross section of a leaf, a bulging protuberance with a blunt central projection, as in Cynodontium and Dichodontium [> L. mamilla,-ae (s.f.I), mammilla,-ae (s.f.I), a breast, nipple; a small nozzle or spout; dim. of mamma,-ae (s.f.I) a breast; in animals, an udder; a breast-shaped protuberance on a plant, such as a bud]; see breast, nipple, papilla; see prorula, verruca; see swelling (noun); cf. umbo, 'a rounded elevation or protuberance at the end or on the side of a solid organ' (Gleason 1952);

- sed insignes caule undique mammillis areolato in seriebus pluribus v. irregulariter dispositis (B&H), but [they are] remarkable by the stem areolate everywhere with mamillae arranged in many rows or irregularly.

- (moss) OPERCULUM convexam habet figuram, cum mammilla centrali (Hedwig), the opercuum has a convex shape, with a central mamilla.

- operculo conico mammilla aurantiaca praedito (Mueller), with the conic operculum provided with an orange mamilla.

Mamillaria,-ae (s.f.I), “name from mamilla, a nipple, referring to the tubercle; the species of the genus are “globose or ovoid plants, covered with spine-bearing cylindrical, ovoid or conical tubercles” (Fernald 1950).

NOTE: usually spelled with two ‘m’s, but cf. Lindley: “Mamilla. The apex of the nucleus of an ovule.”

NOTE: papillae seem to refer to the prominences on a breast (the nipple), whereas the mamilla tends to be a larger prominence, such as a breast, a bubble-or small mound-like prominence.

NOTE: in mosses, the use of mammilla in older texts almost exclusively refers to the little bump in the center of the operculum of the moss capsule; this word probably also refers to a prominence in the center of the pileus in fungi.