Dentaria (dentaria)

[NL., fem. of LL. dentarius, pertaining to the teeth: see dentary.] A genus of cruciferous plants, natives of the cooler portion of the north temperate zone. It is nearly allied to Cardamine, with which it is united by some authorities, differing mainly in its few opposite or sub verticillate cauline leaves, and in its scaly creeping or tuberous rootstocks. From its toothed pungent roots it derives the names of coral-root, toothwort, purple. pepper-root, etc. The flowers are large, white or light dentary (den'ta-ri), a. and n. [ Each ramus of the lower jaw is composed of an articular and a dentary piece. Owen, Anat., iv. Dentary apparatus, in echinoderms, the oral skeleton. See lantern of Aristotle , under lantern . II. n.; pl. dentaries (-riz). The distal or symphyseal piece or element of the compound lower jaw of vertebrates below mammals: so called because it bears or may bear teeth. It commonly forms most of the lower jaw as visible from the outside. In birds without teeth it forms about that part of the under mandible which is sheathed in horn. The dentary, as a rule, effects symphysis or unites with its fellow of the opposite side at its distal end; at its proximal end it is articulated or ankylosed with other bones, forming the proximal part of each half of the lower jaw. See cuts under Cyclodus, Gallinæ, and temporo thus: IMG:content-2382.png:[blocks in formation] Dental hammer. See hammer. - Dental letter. See II., 1.-Dental mallet. See mallet. - Dental pulp. (a) The soft, sensitive, nervous and vascular substance which fills the cavity of a mature tooth. (b) The ti ue or structure out of which a tooth is formed, and from which, as in the case of rodents, it may continue to grow for an indefinite period, in which case the teeth are said to have per sistent pulps.- Dental sac, a closed dental follicle. See the extract. The teeth are moulded upon papillæ of the mucous membrane, which may be exposed, but are more usually sunk in a fold or pit, the roof of which may close in so as to form a dental sac . Huxley , Anat. Vert., p. 80. II. n. 1. A sound formed by placing the end of the tongue against or near the upper teeth, as d, t , and n (see I., 2).-2. In conch ., a toothshell; a shell of the family Dentaliidæ . Two small black and shining pieces seem, by the shape, to have been formed in the shell of a dental. Woodward.