Definition of "axile" [ax•ile]

• Situated along the central axis of an ovary having two or more locules: axile placentation. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "AXILE, or AXIAL, a term (= related to the axis) used technically in science; in botany an embryo is called axile when it has the same direction as the axis of the seed."
• "= -- This condition is scarcely to be distinguished from multiplication of the axile organs (which see)."
• "That the outer portion (so-called calyx-tube) of these fruits is really an axile product there can now be little doubt; and, as if to show their axile nature, they occasionally produce leaves from their sides, as before mentioned."