spadix

American  

[spey-diks] / ˈspeɪ dɪks /

noun

Botany.

spadices plural

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

---

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

---

spadix Scientific  

/ spā′dĭks /

spadices plural

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• spadices
  plural

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

See Examples For:

spadix spadices

The central stalk, called a spadix, can grow above caretakers’ heads just weeks after first sprouting above the soil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

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

But once she blooms, viewers can expect to see Putricia unfold a vibrant maroon or crimson skirt, known as a spathe, around her spadix which is the large spike in the middle of the plant.

From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2025

We may look for a Jack-in-the-Pulpit later today, hoping to find the purple and green leaf curled around the tiny white spadix, nestled there like a prayer.

From New York Times ● May 1, 2020

Marsh or aquatic herbs, with nerved and linear sessile leaves, and monœcious flowers on a spadix or in heads, destitute of proper floral envelopes.

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

The flowers are borne in enormous fleshy spadices, the male and female on distinct plants.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6 "Cockaigne" to "Columbus, Christopher" by Various

The flowers spring in branching spadices from the axils of the leaves, and as the trees are unisexual it is necessary in cultivation to fertilize the female flowers by artificial means.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 9 "Dagupan" to "David" by Various

P: And tilled fields and heavy-sheathed palm-trees, S: And cornfields and palm-trees having fine spadices?

From Three Translations of The Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by side by Ali, Abdullah Yusuf