spadix

American  

[spey-diks] / ˈspeɪ dɪks /

noun

Botany.

plural

spadices

1. an inflorescence consisting of a spike with a fleshy or thickened axis, usually enclosed in a spathe.

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spadix British  

/ ˈspeɪdɪks /

noun

1. 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

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spadix Scientific  

/ spā′dĭks /

plural

spadices

1. A fleshy spike of minute flowers, usually enclosed within a spathe, as in the arums.

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Etymology

Origin of spadix

1750–60; < Latin spādīx a broken palm branch and its fruit < Greek spā́dīx a torn-off palm bough, chestnut brown; akin to spân to tear off

Example Sentences

Its hoodlike structure is called a spathe, which envelopes a bulb-shaped structure called the spadix, a fleshy knob dotted by dozens of tiny, petal-less yellow flowers.

From Salon • May 27, 2025

The plant contains several hundred flowers in the base of its spadix.

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2025

In another of her arrangements, a mass of tissue-petaled ivory peonies is disrupted by an alabaster anthurium, its spadix jutting up from the flower’s platelike surface.

From New York Times • Mar. 4, 2020

When the spathe finally unfurls, the chartreuse spadix heats up to about 90 degrees and releases a rancid blend of chemicals.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2018

Flowers monœcious, covering the spadix; anthers above, ovaries below.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa