spicate, a.
(ˈspaɪkət)
Also 9 spikate.
[ad. L. spīcāt-us, pa. pple. of spīcāre to furnish with spikes, to make pointed, f. spīca spike n.1]
1. Bot. a. Of plants: Having an efflorescence in the form of a spike. b. Of flowers: Arranged in a spike.
| α 1668 Wilkins Real. Char. ii. iv. §4. 93 Spicate flowers. Ibid. 94 Spicate herbs. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. xxi. (1765) 217 Spicate, with the Flowers in Spikes. 1857 A. Gray First Less. Bot. 231 Spicate, belonging to or disposed in a spike. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 173 A perennial erect herb, with..terminal spicate rose or purple flowers. 1876 Harley Royle's Mat. Med. 780 The flowers whitish, in long branched spicate racemes. |
| β 1847 W. E. Steele Field Bot. 192 Infl. capitate, spikate, unilateral, recurved. 1896 G. Henslow Wild Fl. 113 The terminal portion of the spikate inflorescence. |
2. Zool. Having the form of a spike; pointed.
| 1856 W. Clark Van der Hoeven's Zool. I. 314 Athericera. Antennæ..presenting the form of a patella or capitulum, and in most supplied with a seta or spicate appendage. |