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zamia

(zā′mē ə)

noun

any of a genus (Zamia) of cycads growing in Florida and tropical regions, having a short, thick trunk, pinnately compound, palmlike leaves, and short, thick cones

Origin: ModL < L zamiae (pl.), false reading in Pliny the Elder for (nuces) azaniae, pine (nuts)

See zamia in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Any of various chiefly tropical American cycads of the genus Zamia, having a thick, usually underground trunk, palmlike terminal leaves, and seeds borne in woody cones.

Origin:

Origin: New Latin Zamia, genus name

Origin: , from misreading of (nūcēs) azāniae, pine cone (nuts)

Origin: , probably from Greek azainein, to dry up

Origin: , from azein, to dry; see as- in Indo-European roots

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