Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Gemmule
1.
(Bot.)
(a)
A little leaf bud, as the plumule between the cotyledons.
(b)
One of the buds of mosses.
(c)
One of the reproductive spores of algæ.
(d)
An ovule.
2.
(Biol.)
(a)
A bud produced in generation by gemmation.
(b)
One of the imaginary granules or atoms which, according to Darwin’s hypothesis of pangenesis, are continually being thrown off from every cell or unit, and circulate freely throughout the system, and when supplied with proper nutriment multiply by self-division and ultimately develop into cells like those from which they were derived. They are supposed to be transmitted from the parent to the offspring, but are often transmitted in a dormant state during many generations and are then developed. See
Pangenesis
. Webster 1828 Edition
Gemmule
GEM'MULE
,Noun.
Definition 2024
gemmule
gemmule
English
Noun
gemmule (plural gemmules)
- (biology) A small gemma or bud of dormant embryonic cells produced by some freshwater sponges
- 1978 Patricia R. Bergquist, "Sponges"
- The actual formation of gemmules by fresh-water sponges is so clearly an adaptation to seasonal climatic changes, that at first it was reasonable to believe that seasonal alternation itself induced the gemmulation.
- 1978 Patricia R. Bergquist, "Sponges"
- (obsolete) A hypothetical particle once thought to be the basis of heredity