Etymology From French stipe, from Latin stīpes (“a stock, post, branch”).
1
The stem of a mushroom, kelp, etc.
Habitually, the phosphorescence is distributed in an unequal manner upon the stipe, and the same upon the gills.1880, Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, Fungi: Their Nature, Influence, and Uses, New York: D. Appleton and Company, page 107:
2
The trunk of a tree.
3
The caudicle within the pollinarium of an orchid flower
4
The petiole of the frond of a fern or palm
The stipes or bare portion of the frond is, as a rule, about the same length as the leafy portion.1917, S. Leonard Bastin, How to Know the Ferns, London: Methuen & Co:
The lay magistrates in many parts of the country were cautious about the infringement by stipendiaries on to their particular patch, not least being that the stipe would take the more interesting work and leave them the dross.2015, Barrington Black, Both Sides of the Bench, page 186: