Culms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A slender vertical stem found in grasses and similar plants supports leaves and flowers, forming the main structure of the plant
2. In botanical terms, this type of stem specifically denotes the stalk of grasses and sedges, characterized by distinct nodes and internodes
3. The thin, upright stalk that forms the central support of grass-like plants

Etymology: "Culms" is the plural of "culm," and the word has two distinct histories that meet in English. The grass-stalk sense was borrowed from Latin "culmus," meaning stalk or straw, and the same Latin root gave English "haulm," the stems of plants such as peas or potatoes, along with "calamus," the reed used for ancient writing, and "shawm," a medieval woodwind. Through French, the Latin word also produced "calame," a pen or reed, so these words are doublets: one root, reaching English by several routes. The coal sense is a separate story. Middle English "culme" or "colme" referred to fragments of coal, and its origin is uncertain. It may come from an Old English form related to "col," meaning coal, or from a Welsh word meaning knot or tie, a reference to how this coal is often found in balls or knots in parts of Wales. Early English speakers may have simply reused a spelling for a similar-sounding word.