‖ spadix
(ˈspeɪdɪks)
Pl. spadices (speɪˈdaɪsiːz) and ˈspadixes.
[L. spādīx, a. Gr. σπάδιξ palm-branch, palm-coloured. Cf. F. spadice.]
1. Bot. A form of inflorescence consisting of a thick fleshy spike, closely set with flowers, and enclosed in a spathe; a succulent spike, whether enclosed in a spathe or not.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. viii. (1765) 18 Spadix is the Receptacle of a Palm produced within a Spatha, or Sheath, on the Branches that bear Fruit. 1785 Martyn Lett. on Bot. x. (1794) 107 All..growing upon a spadix. [Note.] The spadix is the receptacle in this tribe, and has no English name. 1793 ― Lang. Bot. s.v. Spatha, The calyx of a spadix. Ibid., Some flowers which have no spadix. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 285 Flowers unisexual, arranged upon a naked spadix. 1847 W. E. Steele Field Bot. 204 Sterile and fertile spadices cylindrical. 1871 Kingsley At Last vii, Round our feet are Arums, with snow-white spadixes and hoods. 1897 J. C. Willis Flower. Plants & Ferns II. 17 They are often so deceived as to lay their eggs on the spadix. |
2. Zool. A part in cephalopods and hydrozoans having some analogy to a spadix in plants.
| 1871 Allman Monogr. Gymnoblastic Hydroids I. p. xv, Spadix,..the hollow body which projects from the floor of the sporosac into its cavity, and round which the generative elements are developed. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. viii. 534 On the left side, the four tentacles of the posterior division..are converted into a peculiar organ termed the spadix. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 674/2 The spadix is in fact the hectocotylized portion of the fore-foot of the male Nautilus. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 762 The term ‘spadix’ is applied to the central closed endodermic structure representing the manubrial cavity in a gonophore or sporosac. |