petiole

Etymology

Borrowed from French pétiole, and its source, Late Latin petiolus (“little foot”), diminutive form of Latin pēs (“foot”).

noun

1. (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.
   (stalk of a flower)
   Most insects consume tissue from the leaf blade were measured just past the twist on the side away only, leaving the leaf petioles unscathed. 1978, Harry T. Valentine, Estimating Defoliation of Hardwoods Using Blade-petiole Relations, Forest Service Research Paper NE 405, US Department of Agriculture, page 1
   By contrast, the petioles of large pinnate leaves, as well as stems, typically resist torsion by placing stiff materials with high elastic moduli (like sclerenchyma) toward the perimeters of their cross sections. 1992, Karl J. Niklas, Plant Biomechanics, University of Chicago Press, page 167
   An example of this is leaf petioles. Some species of trees have pinnate leaves which, when the leaves fall, shed pinnae from the petiole, which is then left as a tapering, somewhat flexible rod. 2000, Mike Hansell, Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, page 116
2. (entomology, insect anatomy) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.
   (used more generally, of arthropods)
3. (entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.