A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

quasi (conj.): as if, as it were, as though; about, nearly, almost, approximately; see almost; as (like) [> L. quam (‘as’) + si (‘if’]; see almost;

quasi (in Eng. comb.): “seemingly; apparently but not really; being partly or almost” (Dictionary.com); (as adj.) “having some resemblance usually by possession of certain attributes (quasi families; quasi religions); (in comb.) in some sense or degree (quasiperiodic; quasi-judicial); resembling in some degree (quasiparticle)” (MERRIAM-Webster).

- Rhabarbarum dicitur quasi radix apud Barbaros nascens: occurrit enim apud fluvium Rha, quem Wolga appellant in Moscovia (Tourn.), the root, apparently said to be ‘Rhabarbarum’ growing among the primitive people: for it occurs beside the river ‘Rha,’ which they call the Volga in Moscow [i.e. Muscovy; Russia].

- cellula quasi confestim mobili facta, cell almost immediately made motile (Stearn 1983).

- sinus per quasi dimidium longitudinis clausus, sinus for almost half of its length closed (Stearn).

- planta inter Didymodontem rigidulum et D. vinealem quasi intermedia, plant between Didymodon rigidulus and D. vinealis almost intermediate.

- marginibus prominulis quasi canaliculatae, with margins somewhat raised almost canaliculate.

- “Eamque spongiois, flexuosis, sesquicubitalibus & longioribus quasi ellychniis, & quasi fusco virentibus staminibus villorum cirris lene fluentibus aquis fluitare observat" (Dill.), and he observed it [i.e. the conferva] to float [i.e. floating] on water, gently gliding like spongy, flexuose, one-and-a-half-cubital [i.e. 27 inches] and longer lamp-wicks, as it were.

- superficies verruculosa, quasi coccidiis instructa, at verrucae fructificationi haud inservientes; surface verruculose, as if provided with coccidia, yet the verrucae are not devoted to fructification.

- semina, obovoidea, testa crustácea laevi, raphe valde prominente saepe quasi alata (B&H),the seeds obovoid, with the testa crustaceous smooth, with the raphe strongly prominent often almost winged.

- seminum testa crustacea v. duplex, quasi drupacea, exterior carnosa, interior crustacea. (B&H), the test of the seeds crustaceous [i.e. brittle] or double, as if drupaceous, the exterior fleshy, the interior crustaceous.

- flos masculus ad caulis basin in vicinia feminei et quasi plantulam propriam efficiens vel in foliorum axillis gemmiformis (Mueller), the male flower at the base of the stem in the vicinity of the female, and almost as if producing a special plantlet, or a bud-form in the axils of the leaves.

- [Сyperoides aquaticum (a graminoid, Juncus, Carex)] praedicta tres Cyperoidis species in Etruria peculiari nomine ‘Sala’ vocantur, quasi ‘Salictaria,’ quod in salictis etiam exoriantur (Mich.), three species of Cyperoides are fixed with a special name, called ‘Sala’ in Etruria, as if ‘Salictaria,’ [i.e. ‘of or belonging to willows’] which in fact originate in willow-thickets.

quasi (adv.): little more than:

- caulis quasi duo pedales altus, stem a little more than 2 feet high.

ut quasi (adv. phrase): as if;

- anthera magna, adnata, longitudinaliter bipartita, ut quasi gemina (Swartz), the anthera large, adnate, longitudinally in two parts, as if paired.