Definition of "labellum" [‖La•bel•lum]

• The often enlarged petal of an orchid flower. (noun)
• A liplike part, such as the tip of the proboscis of various insects, used for lapping up liquids. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Today's words Word don't know: Today I learned that the plural of labellum is labellums."
• "This experiment let them show that the protein was made in the fly's major taste organ (called the labellum) and trace its manufacture to a subset of sensory cells that respond to noxious chemicals."
• "Does it not imply that all that part of the labellum which is supplied by vessels coming from a lateral bundle must be part of a primordially distinct organ, however closely the two may have become united?"