rachilla

[ ruh-kil-uh ]

/ rəˈkɪl ə /

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noun, plural ra·chil·lae

[ruh-kil-ee]. /rəˈkɪl i/. Botany.

a small or secondary rachis, as the axis of a spikelet in a grass inflorescence.

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Origin of rachilla

1835–45; <New Latin, diminutive of rachisrachis

Words nearby rachilla

racetracker, race-walk, race walking, raceway, Rachel, rachilla, rachiotomy, rachis, rachitis, Rachmaninoff, Rachmanism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rachilla in a sentence

The third and the subsequent glumes are regularly arranged on the slender rachilla alternately in two rows.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses|Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
This prolonged rachilla sometimes bears a minute glume, which is of course rudimentary.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses|Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
In Eriochloa it is reduced to a minute ridge lying just close to the swollen ring-like joint of the rachilla.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses|Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
The rachilla is jointed just above the empty glumes and it is produced or not beyond the flowering glumes.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses|Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar

The rachilla is produced behind the palea and it ends in two small teeth, one being slightly larger than the other.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses|Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar

British Dictionary definitions for rachilla

rachilla

rhachilla

/ (rəˈkɪlə) /

noun

(in grasses) the short stem of a spikelet that bears the florets

Word Origin for rachilla

C19: from New Latin, diminutive of rachis

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for rachilla

rachilla

[ rə-kĭl′ə ]

Plural rachillae (rə-kĭl′ē)

The stalk that bears the florets in the spikelets of grasses and similar plants, such as rushes and sedges. The rachilla often has a zigzag shape, with florets at each point at which the orientation of the rachilla turns.