Bot. [L. volva (Pliny), f. volvĕre to roll, wrap.] The membranous covering that completely encloses many fungi in the early stage of growth.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., Volva,… a membranous matter surrounding the bases of many of the fungi.
1784. Phil. Trans., LXXIV. 423. This … vegetable production arises from a volva, which is buried six or eight inches deep in dry sandy banks.
1856. Henslow, Bot. Terms, 159. Ring,… the debris left round the stipes of some agarics by the bursting of the volva.
1874. Cooke, Fungi, 28. In Phalloidei the hymenium is at first enclosed within a sort of peridium or universal volva, maintaining a somewhat globose or egg-shape.
Hence Volvate a. (In recent Dicts.)
