petiole

Borrowed from French pétiole, and its source, Late Latin petiolus (“little foot”), diminutive form of Latin pēs (“foot”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛti.əʊl/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛti.oʊl/

petiole (plural petioles)

2. (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.

   Synonym: pedicel (stalk of a flower)

   • 1978, Harry T. Valentine, Estimating Defoliation of Hardwoods Using Blade-petiole Relations, 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^[1], 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^[2], 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.

3. (entomology, insect anatomy) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.

   Synonym: pedicel (used more generally, of arthropods)

4. (entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.

• The presence of a petiole (narrow body segment) is the defining characteristic distinguishing the suborder Apocrita (ants, bees and wasps) from the rest of order Hymenoptera (i.e., from the paraphyletic suborder Symphyta).

• petiolar
• petiolary
• postpetiole

• petiole (botany) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• petiole (insect anatomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia