rhizome Bot.
(ˈraɪzəʊm)
[Anglicized f. rhizoma, and now more usual.]
A prostrate or subterranean root-like stem emitting roots and usually producing leaves at its apex; a rootstock.
| 1845 Lindley Sch. Bot. i. 4 If prostrate and rooting into the ground..[the stem] is a rhizome, as in the Iris. 1862 Jrnl. Roy. Soc. Dubl. Apr. 346 Whilst ferns have nutritive rhizomes. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 411 Similar rudimentary leaves..occur also on the ordinary rhizome-shoots. 1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 228 Phanerogams in which lateral branches with foliage-leaves spring from a rhizome clothed only with scales. |