cambium

[ kam-bee-uhm ]

/ ˈkæm bi əm /

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noun, plural cam·bi·ums, cam·bi·a

[kam-bee-uh]. /ˈkæm bi ə/. Botany.

a layer of delicate meristematic tissue between the inner bark or phloem and the wood or xylem, which produces new phloem on the outside and new xylem on the inside in stems, roots, etc., originating all secondary growth in plants and forming the annual rings of wood.

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Origin of cambium

1665–75; <Late Latin: an exchange, barter; akin to Latin cambiāre to exchange

OTHER WORDS FROM cambium

cam·bi·al, adjective

Words nearby cambium

Camberwell beauty, Camberwell carrot, cambiata, cambio, cambist, cambium, Cambodia, Cambodian, cambogia, camboose, Camborne-Redruth

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cambium in a sentence

When summer comes, adult beetles attack and larva feed in the cambium layer, girdling the trees and sealing their doom.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The larv hatch and begin their work by burrowing across the cambium at right angles to the egg galleries.
Our National Forests|Richard H. Douai Boerker
They are evidently made to get at the tender, juicy bark, or cambium layer, next to the hard wood of the tree.
A Year in the Fields|John Burroughs
The bud is rooted in the branch, and draws its sustenance from the milk of the pulpy cambium layer beneath the bark.
A Year in the Fields|John Burroughs

In some cases he seems to refer to the phloem and cambium by this name, and in other cases to the perimedullary zone.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists|Various
Coniferin, C16H22O8, occurs in the cambium of coniferous woods.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2|Various

British Dictionary definitions for cambium

cambium

/ (ˈkæmbɪəm) /

noun plural -biums or -bia (-bɪə)

botany a meristem that increases the girth of stems and roots by producing additional xylem and phloemSee also cork cambium

Derived forms of cambium

cambial, adjective

Word Origin for cambium

C17: from Medieval Latin: exchange, from Late Latin cambiāre to exchange, barter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for cambium

cambium

[ kăm′bē-əm ]

Plural cambiums cambia

A cylindrical layer of tissue in the stems and roots of many seed-bearing plants, consisting of cells that divide rapidly to form new layers of tissue. Cambium is a kind of meristem and is most active in woody plants, where it lies between the bark and wood of the stem. It is usually missing from monocotyledons, such as the grasses.♦ The vascular cambium forms tissues that carry water and nutrients throughout the plant. On its outer surface, the vascular cambium forms new layers of phloem, and on its inner surface, new layers of xylem. The growth of these new tissues causes the diameter of the stem to increase.♦ The cork cambium creates cells that eventually become bark on the outside and cells that add to the cortex on the inside. In woody plants, the cork cambium is part of the periderm. See also secondary growth.

Cultural definitions for cambium

cambium

[ (kam-bee-uhm) ]

The layer of a tree where growth occurs, just under the bark.