cormophyte

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κορμός (kormós, “trunk stripped of its boughs”) -phyte (“plant”); see also corm (“swollen underground stem”), Latin cormus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːməʊfaɪt/

Noun

cormophyte (plural cormophytes)

1. (now informal, botany) Any plant having a proper stem or axis of growth, which is distinct from its leaves, phyllophyte
   • 1940, Edgar Nelson Transeau, Homer Cleveland Sampson, Lewis Hanford Tiffany, Textbook of botany, Part 1, page 156:

     Very careful developmental or anatomical investigation may be required to show that the variously-constructed organs of many cormophytes are derived by the metamorphosis of the three primary organs, root, stem, and leaf, and to ascertain with which of these any particular structure is really homologous.

   • 2002, E. J. H. Corner, The Life of Plants‎^[1], page 108:

     Botany used to recognize, if vaguely, these two kinds of plant, namely the thallophyte which grew and absorbed superficially, and the cormophyte, which is the root-shoot system with internal accommodation.

   • 2008, Giulia Caneva, Maria Pia Nugari, M. P. Nugari, O. Salvadori, editors, Plant Biology for Cultural Heritage: Biodeterioration and Conservation, page 91:

     The morphology of cormophytes exhibits considerable variations in size, appearance of the various parts, and duration of the life cycle.

Coordinate terms

• thallophyte

Derived terms

• cormophytic

Anagrams

• chromotype, ectomorphy