TRIMORPHISM
Etymology
Noun
trimorphism (countable and uncountable, plural trimorphisms)
(crystallography) The property of crystallizing in three distinct forms.
(biology) The coexistence among individuals of the same species of three distinct forms, not generally connected by intermediate gradations.
Source: Wiktionary
Tri*mor"phism, n. Etym: [See Trimorphic.]
1. (Crystallog.)
Definition: The property of crystallizing in three forms fundamentally
distinct, as is the case with titanium dioxide, which crystallizes in
the forms of rutile, octahedrite, and brookite. See Pleomorphism.
2. (Biol.)
Definition: The coëxistence among individuals of the same species of three
distinct forms, not connected, as a rule, by intermediate gradations;
the condition among individuals of the same species of having three
different shapes or proportions of corresponding parts; -- contrasted
with polymorphism, and dimorphism. Heterogonous trimporphism (Bot.),
that condition in which flowers of plants of the same species have
three different lengths of stamens, short, medium, and long, the
blossoms of one individual plant having short and medium stamens and
a long style, those of another having short and long stamens and a
style of medium length, and those of a third having medium and long
stamens and a short style, the style of each blossom thus being of a
length not represented by its stamens.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition