A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Patella,-ae (s.f.I), abl.sg. patella: lit. 'small pan, dish, plate;' “an orbicular sessile shield in Lichens, surrounded by a rim which is part of itself, and not derived from the thallus” (Lindley; in lichens in the plural: “a rounded apothecium in a lichen that has a distinct marginal rim” (WIII); see dish;

- [fungi] P. Patellaria [sic] sicca rugulosa ac subdifformis: humectata figurata patellae Lichenisve scutellae regularem resumit (S&A), when dry rugulose and deformed; when moistened it resumes being regular, of the normal shape of a dish (patella) or the scutella of a Lichen.

The fungus genera: Patella (Pezizales); Patellaria (Helotiales); Patellea; Patellina; Patellonictria “(is based on a lichen)” (Ainsworth & Bisby).

NOTE: Patella, “the type genus of the family Patellidae including the common European limpet (P. vulgata); in pl. ‘patellae’ a limpet of the family Patellidae (WIII), aquatic creatures that generate shallow, rounded, saucer-shaped shells, also described as ‘broadly conical.’

NOTE: patelliformis,-e (adj.B), q.v.: “kneepan-shaped. Broad, round, thick; convex on the lower surface, concave on the other; the same as menicoideus, but thicker” (Lindley); see meniscus,-i (s.m.II).