Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of the erect sterile filaments often occurring among the reproductive organs of certain fungi, algae, and mosses.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An outgrowth of the roof of the fore-brain, developed in front of the epiphysis, in the hinder region of the prosencephalon.
  • noun An erect, usuallycolorless,sterile, unicellular or pluricellular filament or plate accompanying the spore-bearing or sexual organs of cryptogamous plants.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A minute jointed filament growing among the archegonia and antheridia of mosses, or with the spore cases, etc., of other flowerless plants.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany A minute jointed filament growing among the archegonia and antheridia of mosses, or with the spore cases, etc., of other flowerless plants.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a sterile simple or branched filament or hair borne among sporangia; may be pointed or clubbed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin : para– + Greek phusis, nature, growth; see physic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek beside + growth.

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