生物谷-->生物百科词典
1. A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
Alternative forms: byss and byssin.
2. <marine biology> A tuft of long, tough filaments which are formed in a groove of the foot, and issue from between the valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the Pinna and Mytilus, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.
3. <botany> An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of slender threads.
Origin: L. Byssus fine flax, fine linen or cotton, Gr.
