trabecula noun. [trǝ'bɛkjʊlǝ] Pl. -lae [-li:]. M19.
[Latin, dim. of trab-, trabs beam, timber: see -CULE.]
1. Anatomy & Zoology. Each of a series or group of bands or columns of connective tissue; esp. (a) a plate of the calcareous tissue forming cancellous bone; (b) a ridge of muscular tissue on the inside of a ventricle of the heart; (c) a fibrous band forming part of the framework of soft organs; (d) a pillar of microscopic calcareous fibres which builds up the skeleton of a coral. Usu. in pl. M19.

2. Botany. Any of certain rodlike structures in plants; esp. (a) a rodlike part of a cell wall projecting radially across the lumen; (b) any of the strands of sterile tissue dividing the cavity in a sporangium of a quillwort. M19.

■ trabecular adjective pertaining to or of the nature of a trabecula; composed of or furnished with trabeculae: M19.

■ trabeculate adjective = trabeculated M19.

■ trabeculated adjective provided with or having trabeculae L19.

■ trabecu'lation noun formation of trabeculae; a reticulated or barred condition, as of the muscle fibres in the wall of a hypertrophied urinary bladder: E20.

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