mucigen ous (musijenus)

[L. mucus, mucus, + -genus, producing: see- genous.] Same as muciparous. = = Out of the breeding-season none of these mucigen ous cells are to be found in the kidneys. Nature , XXXIX. 168. mucilage (mūʼsi-lāj), n . [ mucilage = Sp. mucilago Pg . mucilagem It. mucellaggine , mucilagine , mucilage, mucilago , muccilago (-gin-), a moldy, musty juice, mucere , be moldy or musty: see mucid , mucus.] 11. Moldine ; mustine ; rottenne ; a slimy ma . The hardest seeds corrupt and are turned to mucilage and rottenne , yet rise again, in the spring, from squalor and putrefaction, a solid substance. Evelyn, True Religion, I. 196. 2. Gum extracted from the seeds, roots, and bark of plants. It is found universally in plants, but much more abundantly in some than in others. The marsh-mallow root, tubers of orchids, the bark of the lime and elm, the seeds of quinces and flax, are examples of plant-products rich in this substance. In the arts the name is applied to a great variety of sticky and gummy preparations, some of which are merely thickened aqueous solutions of natural gum, which is easily extracted from vegetable substances by hot water; while others are preparations of dextrine, glue, or other adhesive materials, generally containing some preservative substance or compound, as creosote or salicylic acid. 3. In chem., the general name of a group of carbohydrates, having the formula C6H10O5n. The mucilages have the common property of swelling enormously in water, so that they are in a condition near to solution, leaving no jelly-like ma as many gums do. Members of the group differ greatly in properties, some being closely related to the gums, others to cellulose. Their chemical constitution is not yet determined. - Animal mucilage. Same as mucus, 1. - Mucilage-canals, special mucilage-secreting pa ages or canals observed in many plants, as those traversing the parenchyma of the pith and cortex of the Marattiaceæ, the stems of the Cуса daceæ, the posterior side of the leaves of some species of Lycopodium, etc. - Mucilage-reservoirs. Same as mu cilage-canals.