petiole
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈpɛtɪəʊl/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈpɛdiˌoʊl/
Noun

petiole (plural petioles)

  1. (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.
    Synonyms: pedicel stalk of a flower
    • 1978, Harry T. Valentine, Estimating Defoliation of Hardwoods Using Blade-petiole Relations, US Forest Service Research Paper NE 405, US Department of Agriculture, page 1 ↗,
      Most insects consume tissue from the leaf blade were measured just past the twist on the side away only, leaving the leaf petioles unscathed.
    • 1992, Karl J. Niklas, Plant Biomechanics, University of Chicago Press,page 167 ↗,
      By contrast, the petioles of large pinnate leaves, as well as stems, typically resist torsion by placing stiff materials with high elastic moduli (like sclerenchyma) toward the perimeters of their cross sections.
    • 2000, Mike Hansell, Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, page 116 ↗,
      An example of this is leaf petioles. Some species of trees have pinnate leaves which, when the leaves fall, shed pinnae from the petiole, which is then left as a tapering, somewhat flexible rod.
  2. (entomology, insect anatomy) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.
    Synonyms: pedicel (used more generally, of arthropods)
  3. (entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.
Translations


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