spadix
an inflorescence consisting of a spike with a fleshy or thickened axis, usually enclosed in a spathe.
Origin of spadix
1Words Nearby spadix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use spadix in a sentence
The pistillate flowers are clustered round the bottom of the spadix, and consist of a number of sessile ovaries.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. FurneauxThese creep down the spadix, passing through the narrow neck into the closed compartment below.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. FurneauxThe whole of the spadix is surrounded by a large bract or spathe which is contracted a little distance above its base.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. FurneauxFlowers moncious or by abortion dicious, covering only the base of the spadix, which is elongated and naked above.
Flowers moncious, thickly covering the long and tapering spadix throughout (or only its apex naked).
British Dictionary definitions for spadix
/ (ˈspeɪdɪks) /
a racemose inflorescence having many small sessile flowers borne on a fleshy stem, the whole usually being surrounded by a spathe: typical of aroid plants
Origin of spadix
1Collins 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 spadix
[ spā′dĭks ]
A fleshy spike of minute flowers, usually enclosed within a spathe, as in the arums.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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