spathe
a bract or pair of bracts, often large and colored, subtending or enclosing a spadix or flower cluster.
Origin of spathe
1Other words from spathe
- spathed, adjective
Words Nearby spathe
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use spathe in a sentence
The striped spathe in some species of Arisaema bears a curious resemblance to the head of a cobra uplifted to strike.
The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir | Sir James McCrone DouieThe 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. FurneauxAquatic, with the aspect of sea-weeds or mosses, with minute naked flowers from a spathe-like involucre.
Aquatics, with dicious or polygamous flowers from a spathe; outer perianth calyx-like, the inner sometimes wanting.
Aquatic, with more or less irregular perfect flowers from a spathe; perianth corolla-like.
British Dictionary definitions for spathe
/ (speɪð) /
a large bract, often coloured, that surrounds the inflorescence of aroid plants and palms
Origin of spathe
1Derived forms of spathe
- spathaceous (spəˈθeɪʃəs), adjective
- spathed, adjective
Collins 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 spathe
[ spāð ]
A large, leaflike, often showy bract that encloses a flower cluster or spadix, as in the jack-in-the-pulpit or calla lily.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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