columella

Also from Answers.com... Pregnancy Taking care of yourself with baby on the way.

n., pl. -mel·lae (-mĕl'ē).

Any small columnlike structure in various plants and animals, often forming the central axis of development for the organism or an anatomical structure.

[Latin, diminutive of columna, column. See column.]

columellar col'u·mel'lar (-mĕl'ər) adj.
columellate col'u·mel'late' (-mĕl'āt') adj.

pl. columellae

1. Baluster.

2. Colonnette.

Columella (Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella) (kŏl'yəmĕl'ə), fl. 1st cent. A.D., Latin writer on agriculture, b. Gades (now Cádiz), Spain. Of his work there remains the 12-volume De re rustica, treating general husbandry, the care of domestic animals, and farm management. The 10th book, modeled on Vergil, is in hexameters. A short essay on trees also survives. Columella's Latin is facile and elegant, and his information is surprisingly practical and accurate.

Pl. columellae [L.] a little column.

• c. auris — a connecting rod between the avian eardrum and the perilymph of the inner ear via the rod's footplate.