Bot. Pl. -ia. [mod.L., f. Gr. σύν SYM- + ποδ-, πούς foot.] An apparent axis or stem in a dichotomously branched plant, made up of the bases of successive branches so arranged as to resemble a simple or monopodial axis; a pseudaxis (see PSEUDO- 2).
1862. F. Currey, trans. Hofmeister’s Higher Cryptogamia, 224. Those plants whose sympodium (which has the appearance of a principal axis) bears no fronds. Ibid., 225. I have met with sympodia four feet long devoid of fronds.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 157. The apparent primary shoot, which in fact consists of the bases of consecutive bifurcations, may … be termed a Pseud-axis or Sympodium.
