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.

---

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 /

plural

spadices

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

---

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

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

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

Its central column, the spadix, can grow to be more than 6 feet tall and is surrounded by a scarlet skirt of petals known as the spathe.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 17, 2018

The spadix is cylindrical, slender, terminating in along, whip-like extremity, much longer than the spathe.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885 by Various