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n. Any of various chiefly tropical American cycads of the genus Zamia, having a thick, usually underground stem, palmlike terminal leaves, and seeds borne in woody cones. [New Latin Zamia, genus name, from misreading of (nūcēs) azāniae, pine cone (nuts), probably from Greek azainein, to dry up, from azein, to dry; see as- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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