poly clade

[Pref. poly-, and Gr. klados =a young shoot.] Bot.: Plica (q. v.). generally globular, variously trellised, and composed of two or three basket balls, supported or separated by few or many radiating spicules com mencing from a central base or omphalostyle. In life the skeleton is enveloped in a delicate filmy investment of sarcode, with abundant sarcoblasts or ovules. The Poly cyst in a are microscopic, and marine. 2. Palæont.: From the Carboniferous onward. Various tertiary deposits, especially Barb a does earth, contain their flinty shells abundantly. pol-ý-çěs-tine, pol