What is "phylloclade"

n. (context botany English) A flattened stem, a type of cladode that has limited extension growth and resembles a leaf.K.E.V. Goebel, ''Organography of plants, especially of the Archegoniatae and Spermaphyta'', Hofner Publishing Company (1905/1969).

n. a flattened stem resembling and functioning as a leaf [syn: cladode, cladophyll, phylloclad]

Phylloclades and cladodes are flattened, photosynthetic shoots, which are usually considered to be modified branches. The two terms are used either differently or interchangeably by different authors. Phyllocladus, a genus of conifer, is named after these structures. Phylloclades/cladodes have been identified in fossils dating from as early as the Permian.