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lamellae

noun, plural of lamella

1. any thin structures resembling a plate

2. (cell biology) intergrana thylakoids, i.e. stroma thylakoids that connect grana (stacks of thylakoid discs)

3. (botany) in plant cell, they are plate-like layers of pectin that cement cell walls of adjacent plant cells; they form plasmodesmata between cells, and render stability in plants; in certain flowers, thin scales or plate-like structures growing from the petals; in mosses, they are thin sheets of cells standing up along the midrib of leaves

4. (mycology) any of the radiating leaflike spore-producing structures beneath the cap of a mushroom or similar fungus; gills of the mushroom

5. (zoology) the bony concentric layers surrounding the haversian canals in bone; in horseshoe crabs, they are the thin layers or pages in a gill book involved in respiration; in fish, they are of two types, the primary and secondary gill lamellae that increase the amount of oxygen intake of the blood; in birds, they are the miniature ridges inside the bills of water-feeding ducks (Anatidae) and water birds (e.g. Phoenicopteridae), and act as filter during feeding; in snail, they are flanges or teeth-forming barriers inside the aperture of a snail’s shell; in humans, the precursors of the prepuce during the development of urinary and reproductive organs

6. (medicine) a small disk of gelatin mixed with a medicinal substance to treat conjuntiva

Word origin: Latin lāmella, small thin plate, diminutive of lāmina, thin plate