Pl. stipites. Also anglicized as STIPE, q.v. [L. stīpes (stem stīpit-): see STIPE.]
1. Bot. A stalk, esp. of some special kind, other than an ordinary leaf- or flower-stalk; e.g., one supporting a carpel or other part of a flower, or the pappus of the ‘seed’ or fruit of some composites; that of the frond of a fern or sea-weed (also, the stem or caudex of a tree-fern); that supporting the pileus or cap of certain fungi.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., I. vii. (1765), 15. Pappus, a Down,… a feathery or hairy Crown … connected with the seed by Stipes, a Trunk, which here signifies the Thread on which the Down is raised and supported.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), I. 84. Stipes, a pillar, or pedicle. Also the stem of some kind of Fungi.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 597. The stipites or younger branches are directed for use, and may be employed either fresh or dried.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 307. The stipes of Ferns, composed only of the united bases of the leaves or fronds, is scarcely analogous to the trunk of Vascular plants.
1847. Henfrey, Outl. Bot., 114. When the indusium is torn by the expansion of the pileus and the elongation of the stipes or stem.
1864. T. Moore, Brit. Ferns, 10. The fronds of Ferns consist of two parts—the leafy portion; and the stalk, which latter is called the stipes.
1871. W. A. Leighton, Lichen-flora, 41. Stipites and capitula cinereo-suffused.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 274/1. Morel,… one of the few fungi … which may be eaten with safety. The stipes or stalk is hollow.
2. Zool. A part or organ resembling a stalk; esp. the footstalk or second joint of the maxilla of an insect; also applied to certain parts of the mouth-appendages in myriapods.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 357. Stipes (the Stalk).
1861–2. Le Conte, Classif. Coleoptera N. Amer., I. Introd. p. xii. The hind portion or base of the maxillæ is composed of two pieces; the one articulating with the head is called the cardo, the second piece the stipes; attached to the stipes are the appendages.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., vii. 429. The short and almost rudimentary palp is attached to the extremity of the stipes.
1895. D. Sharp, Insects, I. 95. The maxilla is a complex organ consisting of numerous pieces, viz. cardo, stipes, palpiger, galea, lacinia, palpus.
