glochid

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek γλωχίς (glōkhís, “barb of an arrow”).

Noun

glochid (plural glochids)

1. A small, detachable, irritant spine occurring in dense clusters in the areoles of certain cacti such as the prickly pear.
   • 2016, Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 29:

     [The bunny-ears cactus is] a particularly unpleasant cactus with thousands of nearly invisible, glochid [...] spines.

Synonyms

• glochidium