Bot. Pl. -idæ. Also anglicized synergid. [mod.L., f. Gr. συνεργεῖν to co-operate.] Either of two naked nucleated cells at the apex of the embryo-sac, regarded as co-operating with the oosphere in the production of the embryo.
1882. Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 580. Two of the cells of the egg-apparatus lie nearer the apex…; they are somewhat elongated superiorly, and the nucleus lies in this elongated portion…: these cells have been termed by Strasburger the Synergidæ. Ibid. In Sinningia, according to Strasburger, only one synergida is present in some cases.
1898. Natural Science, June, 375. Origin of the embryos from egg-cell, synergids, antipodal cells, or nucellus.
Hence Synergidal a.
In recent Dicts.
