Elater

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɪˈleɪ.tə/

Definitions

1. A structure in some plants that helps launch spores into the air ; a natural chemical in seed cases that causes them to split open and release seeds
2. A mechanism found in mosses and related plants that assists spore dispersal ; a substance in certain seed pods that triggers seed release by opening the pod
3. An organelle in specific plants responsible for dispersing spores by sudden movement ; a biochemical agent that causes dryness-induced bursting of seed coverings to spread seeds

Etymology: The most surprising thing about this word is that its ancestor in ancient Greek meant "driver" in the sense of something that drives things away. The Greek "elatēr" was used for a driver, someone who sets things in motion, and the botanical sense comes from that idea of forceful propulsion. The word reached modern use through New Latin, the scientific Latin that naturalists and botanists wrote in from the early modern period onward, where "elatēr" was adopted as a technical term. English then took it up for the plant structures that do the launching. Those structures, found in liverworts and horsetails, work like tiny springs that flick spores outward into the air. The English word itself is simply "elate" with the agent ending "-er" attached, so the modern form was built on an existing verb. The botanical sense has no connection to the everyday idea of being elated, even though the two words look alike on the page.

Synonyms: spring, coil