Sec am one (sekamone)

[NL. (R. Brown, 1808).] A genus of gamopetalous plants, of the order Asclepiad aceæ, type of the tribe Seca moneæ. It is distinguished from the other genus, Toxo carpus, by the usually dextrorsely overlapping lobes of the wheel-shaped and five-parted corolla, and by the simple scales of the crown with distinct straight or incurved tips. There are about 24 species, natives of the tropics in Africa, Asia, and Australia, extending to South Africa and the Mascarene Islands. They are much-branched shrubby climbers, bearing opposite leaves which are often punctate with pellucid dots. The small flowers are borne in axillary cymes. Some species secrete an acrid principle, useful in medicine. The roots of S. emetic a are employed in India as a substitute for ipecacuanha. Sec am oneæ (sek-a-mōnē-ē), n. pl. licher, 1836), k-a-mōnē-ē), n. pl. [NL. (End len-ma es within each anther cell and by the inflexed 2 genera Sec am one (the type) and Toxocarpus , both natives principally of Asia and Africa within the tropics, with perhaps a third genus, Ger i an thus, of the East Indies. secancy (se'kan-si), n. [ B secant (sē'kant), a. and n. [= F. sécant = Sp. Pg. It. secante = D. secans = G. secante = Sw. Dan. sekant, a surface or solid. A C Secant. D The ratio of AB to AD is the secant of the angle A; and AB is the se cant of the arc II. n. 1. A line which cuts a figure in any way.-2. Specifically, in trigon ., a line from the center of a circle through one extremity of an are (whose secant it is said to be) to the tangent cant from the other extremity of the same arc; or the ratio of this line to the radius; the reciprocal of the cosine. Abbreviated sec . - Double secant. See double . - Secant of an angle, a trigonometrical function, the reciprocal of the cosine, equal to the ratio of the hypotenuse to a leg of a right triangle when these include the angle. - Secant of an arc, a line drawn normally outward from one extremity of the arc of a circle until it meets the tangent from the other extremity. This use of the term was introduced in 1583 by the Danish mathematician Thomas Finke.