main stem
Plant's central axis
Main stem refers to the primary channel of a river system, the central flow into which tributaries empty.
By extension, it means the principal route or central line of anything—a railroad's main stem, or the main stem of a family tree.
In American slang, especially hobo and jazz vocabulary, the main stem was a city's principal street or downtown thoroughfare: We walked the main stem looking for work.
- stalkPlant's vertical support
- tributaryStream entering larger river
- river systemInterconnected flowing waterways
- trunkMain stem or storage
- internodeStem section between nodes
riverbed · shoot · framework · confluence · cambium · bole · core · phloem · axis · vascular tissue · spine · xylem · headwaters · nucleus · channel · structure · hierarchy · family tree