Kermes

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·noun A small European evergreen oak (Quercus coccifera) on which the kermes insect (Coccus ilicis) feeds.

II. Kermes ·add. ·noun A genus of scale insects including many species that feed on oaks. The adult female resembles a small gall.

III. Kermes ·noun The dried bodies of the females of a scale insect (Coccus ilicis), allied to the cochineal insect, and found on several species of oak near the Mediterranean. They are round, about the size of a pea, contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a vegetable nature, and were used in medicine.

Related Words

  • kermes

    A little red gall, occasioned by the puncture of the Coccus ilicis on the leaves of the Quercus cocc...

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