Search the Dictionary

ennial climbing plants, usually with a prickly woody stem; green brier, or cat brier. The rootstocks of certain species are the source of the medicine called sarsaparilla.

The Virginia snakeroot. See Snakeroot.

An East Indian climbing shrub (Ophioxylon serpentinum) which has the roots and stems twisted so as to resemble serpents.

That stratum of the surface of the soil which is filled with the roots of grass, or any portion of that surface; turf; sward. She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. Collins.

Of a fleshy, uniform, undivided substance, as a bulb or root; not spongy or hollow within, as a stem.

the genus Polygonatum, having simple erect or curving stems rising from thick and knotted rootstocks, and with white or greenish nodding flowers. The commonest European species is Polygonatum multiflorum. P. biflorum and P. giganteum are common in the Eastern United States. See Illust. of Rootstock. False Solomon's sea…

zed by the marked development of the sporophyte, with great differentiation of its parts (root, stem, leaves, flowers, etc.); by the extreme reduction of the gametophyte; and by the development of seeds. All the Spermatophyta are heterosporous; fertilization of the egg cell is either through a pollen tube emitted by th…

cients is the Nardostachys Jatamansi, a native of the Himalayan region. From its blackish roots a perfume for the hair is still prepared in India.

Thickest in the middle, and tapering to both ends; fusiform; -- applied chiefly to roots.

A supposed spongelike expansion of the tip of a rootlet for absorbing water; -- called also spongelet.

The shoot of a plant; a shoot from the seed, from the stump, or from the root or tuber, of a plant or tree; more rarely, a shoot from the stem of a plant, or the end of a branch.

A sharp, narrow spade, usually with a long handle, used by farmers for digging up large-rooted weeds; a similarly shaped implement used for various purposes. My spud these nettles from the stone can part. Swyft.

One of the large or principal roots of a tree. Shak.

To continue upright in a certain locality, as a tree fixed by the roots, or a building resting on its foundation. It stands as it were to the ground yglued. Chaucer. The ruined wall Stands when its wind worn battlements are gone. Byron.

The fossil root stem of a coal plant of the genus Sigillaria.

em, or main body, of a tree or plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the trunk. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. Job xiv. 8,9.

A trailing branch which is disposed to take root at the end or at the joints; a stole.

y borer (Zoöl.), any one of several species of insects whose larvæ burrow in the crown or roots of the strawberry vine. Especially: (a) The root borer (Anarsia lineatella), a very small dark gray moth whose larvæ burrow both in the larger roots and crown, often doing great damage. (b) The crown borer (Tyloderma fragari…

To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; to set in the earth; as, a tree strikes its roots deep.

A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root. Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom. Bacon.