ila

[Lat. = a wing; pl. ale. An abbre viated form of axilla = the armpit. (Cicero Orat., 45, § 153)] I. Animal Physiol. A wing, or anything resembling it. In the plural. Alæ auris ( lit. = the wings of the ear): The upper part of the external ear. Alæ nas i (lit. = the wings of the nose): The cartilages which are joined to the extremities of the bones of the nose, and constitute its lower movable portion. Ale of the thyroid cartilage (in the larynx); Two square plates of cartilage united in front at an acute angle. ( Todd & Bowman: Physiol. Anat . , ii. 433.) II. Botany : 1. Plur.: The two side petals in a papilionaceous corolla. Link formerly called them talare. Of the remaining three petals, the large upper one is called the vexillum , or standard, and the two lower, viewed in conjunction, the carina , or keel. 2. Singular : (a) The dilated and compre ed back in the corona of some flowers. (Lindley: Introd. to Bot.) [CORONA] *(b) Formerly the point whence two branches diverge. This is now called the axil. (Lindley: Introd. to Bot , p. 73.) (c) One of the basal lobes of the leaves of mo es.