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rhachis

rhachis is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.(Bot.) (a) The continued stem or midrib of a pinnately compound leaf, as in a rose leaf or a fern. (b) The principal axis in a raceme, spike, panicle, or corymb.
  2. 2.(Zoöl.) (a) The shaft of a feather. The rhachis of the after-shaft, or plumule, is called the hyporhachis. (b) The central cord in the stem of a crinoid. (c) The median part of the radula of a mollusk. (d) A central cord of the ovary of nematodes.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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