Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fleshy clublike spike bearing minute flowers, usually enclosed within a sheathlike spathe, characteristic of aroid plants such as the jack-in-the-pulpit.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In botany, a form of inflorescence in plants, in which the flowers are closely arranged in a spike or head which has a fleshy or thickened rachis.
- noun In zoology:
- noun The hectocotylus of the male cephalopod: a specialized part of the fore foot, on one side, which becomes hectocotylized, or assumes a sexual function. On the opposite side is a corresponding part, not subject to hectocotylization, called the antispadix.
- noun In Hydrozoa, the manubrium of the hydromedusans, an offset of a blastostyle bearing the genital products, like the part of a pea-pod which bears the peas.
- noun A genus of cœlenterates.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A fleshy spike of flowers, usually inclosed in a leaf called a
spathe . - noun (Zoöl.) A special organ of the nautilus, due to a modification of the posterior tentacles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun botany A
fleshy spike (inflorescence ) with reducedflowers , usually enclosed by aspathe . - noun zoology A special
organ of thenautilus , due to a modification of theposterior tentacles .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the fleshy axis of a spike often surrounded by a spathe
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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When emerging above the ground, the flower shows itself as a pale-green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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When emerging above the ground, the flower shows itself as a pale-green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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When coming out from the ground, the [[flower]] shows itself as a green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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Starting Sept. 2, Metis prepared to bloom by sending up the spadix, which is growing daily and will keep growing during the blossoming process.
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When emerging above the ground, the flower shows itself as a pale-green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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When emerging above the ground, the flower shows itself as a pale-green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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When coming out from the ground, the [[flower]] shows itself as a green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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When emerging above the ground, the flower shows itself as a pale-green, bud-shaped configuration composed of a petal-like spathe that surrounds a central spike-like spadix, which is concealed inside at first, and eventually grows in size and finally revealing itself as the entire flower swells.
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Anthurium flowers are small (about 3 mm) and develop crowded in a spike on a fleshy axis, called a spadix, a characteristic of the Araceae.
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Here again we are struck by resemblances to the forms that were the subjects of our previous study, we even come across direct transitional forms, which differ from the others only by the lateral curve of the apex of the leaf; sometimes it is the central part, the spadix, that is bent outward, and the very details show a striking agreement with the structure of the aroid inflorescence, so much so that one might regard them as actually copied from them.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 Various
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