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placentamore about placenta

placenta


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Placenta  \Pla*cen"ta\,  n.;  pl  L.  {Placent[ae]},  E.  {Placentas}. 
  [L.,  a  cake,  Gr  ?  a  flat  cake,  from  ?  flat,  fr  ?,  ?, 
  anything  flat  and  broad.] 
  1.  (Anat.)  The  vascular  appendage  which  connects  the  fetus 
  with  the  parent,  and  is  cast  off  in  parturition  with  the 
  afterbirth. 
 
  Note:  In  most  mammals  the  placenta  is  principally  developed 
  from  the  allantois  and  chorion,  and  tufts  of  vascular 
  villi  on  its  surface  penetrate  the  blood  vessels  of  the 
  parental  uterus,  and  thus  establish  a  nutritive  and 
  excretory  connection  between  the  blood  of  the  fetus  and 
  that  of  the  parent,  though  the  blood  itself  does  not 
  flow  from  one  to  the  other 
 
  2.  (Bot.)  The  part  of  a  pistil  or  fruit  to  which  the  ovules 
  or  seeds  are  attached. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  placenta 
  n  1:  that  part  of  the  ovary  of  a  flowering  plant  where  the  ovules 
  form 
  2:  the  vascular  structure  in  the  uterus  of  most  mammals 
  providing  oxygen  and  nutrients  for  and  transferring  wastes 
  from  the  developing  fetus 




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