Also (after Ger.) -om. [ad. Gr. στερέωμα solid body or part, firmament, f. στερεοῦν to make solid, strengthen, f. στερεός solid.] a. Bot. Schwendener’s term for those elements of a fibro-vascular bundle which contribute to its strength or stability; ‘mechanical’ tissue: cf. MESTOME. b. Zool. A proposed general term for the hard strengthening or skeletal tissues of animals in general, including invertebrates: see quot. 1891.
1885. Goodale, Physiol. Bot., 191. To the elements which impart strength to a bundle Schwendener has given the name stereom.
1887. Hillhouse, Strasburger’s Handbk. Pract. Bot., 88. The system of mechanical tissue, the Stereome.
1891. F. A. Bather, in Nature, 12 Feb., 345/1. Among wants long felt … is some word that shall express for Invertebrata the idea that the word bone expresses for Vertebrata…. I … venture to suggest the adoption of the word Stereom.… This word … may … be thus defined: any hard calcareous tissue forming skeletal structures in Metazoa Invertebrata, and in Protozoa.
1898. H. C. Porter, trans. Strasburger, etc. Text-bk. Bot., 169. Mechanical Tissues (Stereome).
