Bot. [L. excipulum a receptacle, found only in pl., f. excipĕre: see EXCIPIENT.] A layer of cells lying beneath and partially enclosing, as a cup, the APOTHECIUM (q.v.) in lichens.
1857. Berkeley, Cryptog. Bot., § 292. 284. The form of the aperture depends upon the form of the apothecium, or excipulum, the margins of which are rounded.
1874. Cooke, Fungi, 37. There is no proper excipulum or peridium.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 324. The part of the thallus which surrounds the excipulum rises and grows with it forming a bowl-like rim.
