unisexual

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • adj unisexual relating to only one sex or having only one type of sexual organ; not hermaphroditic
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • a Unisexual (Biol) Having one sex only, as plants which have the male and female flowers on separate individuals, or animals in which the sexes are in separate individuals; diœcious; -- distinguished from bisexual, or hermaphrodite. See Diœcious.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • unisexual Of one sex—that is, having the two sexes developed in different individuals. For or consisting of a single sex.
    • unisexual Specifically, in entomology, having only female individuals: noting the agamic broods of Aphididæ and some other insects which, during certain parts of the year, continue to propagate the species without any males. See parthenogenesis.
    • unisexual In botany, said of a flower containing the organs of but one sex, stamens or pistil, but not both; diclinous: opposed to bisexual or hermaphrodite; monœcious or diœcious. It is also applicable to an inflorescence or a plant with such flowers only.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • adj Unisexual ū-ni-sek′sū-al of one sex only, as a plant
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Uni-, + sexual,: cf. F. unisexuel,

Usage

In literature:

It would be a fine case of gradation between an hermaphrodite and unisexual condition.
"The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II (of II)" by Charles Darwin
Here there is not, as in the Catasetum, any external change visible in the respective unisexual and bisexual flowers.
"More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II" by Charles Darwin
The flowers, which are produced in April, are small and yellow, unisexual, or each sex on a distinct plant.
"Hardy Ornamental Flowering Trees and Shrubs" by A. D. Webster
The flowers are unisexual; the female flowers are usually borne at the base of the inflorescence, and the male flowers above.
"Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany" by Douglas Houghton Campbell
Gonads not so restricted in position as in Oligochaets, and often more abundant; the individuals usually unisexual.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7" by Various
The plants of all the above classes have flowers furnished with both stamens and pistils; but in the next three the flowers are unisexual.
"Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus" by William MacGillivray
These partial inflorescences are generally unisexual, the male often containing numerous flowers while the female flowers are solitary.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 8" by Various
The flowers are small and unisexual.
"The New Gresham Encyclopedia" by Various
Between these two extremes unisexual reproduction decreases while the size increases.
"Degeneracy" by Eugene S. Talbot
It has narrow, short-stalked leaves and inconspicuous, apetalous, unisexual flowers borne in short spikes.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4" by Various
The spikelets are sometimes unisexual, and there are often six stamens.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3" by Various
Flowers unisexual, except in a few cases (Gnetales) without a perianth.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7" by Various
The flowers, which are often unisexual, are wind-pollinated.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8" by Various
Flowers unisexual, racemose, spicate or capitate; calyx becoming fleshy or juicy in fruit.
"The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States" by Asa Gray
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In science:

Generally, the Galton-Watson branching process defined by a random variable X starts with a single unisexual organism.
Poisson Cloning Model for Random Graphs
The network theory of gynandromorph development has direct relevance to understanding sexual dimorphism (differences in morphology between male and female organisms of the same species) and medical pathologies such as hemihyperplasia (asymmetric development of normally symmetric body parts in a unisexual individual).
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
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Related words