parastichy

American  

[pi-ras-ti-kee] / pɪˈræs tɪ ki /

noun

Botany.

PLURAL

parastichies

1. one of a number of seemingly secondary spirals or oblique ranks winding around the stem or axis to the right and left in a spiral arrangement of leaves, scales, etc., where the internodes are short and the members closely crowded, as in the houseleek and the pine cone.

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parastichy British  

/ pəˈræstɪkɪ /

noun

1. a hypothetical spiral line connecting the bases of a series of leaves on a stem

2. an arrangement of leaves so connected

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Other Word Forms

• parastichous adjective

Etymology

Origin of parastichy

First recorded in 1870–75; para- ¹ + stich ¹ + -y ³