symplasmn.

1916 Löhnis & Smith in Jrnl. Agric. Res. VI. 680 Type D is in most cases the dissolution product either of the large forms [of Bacillus azotobacter]..or of the small cells... As it is made up by a thorough mixing or melting of a frequently large number of cells, spores, or gonidia, the term symplasm or symplastic stage seems to be a correct and convenient name.

1923 Anat. Rec. XXVI. 69 The bacteria coalesce and resolve into a sort of plasmodium. This plasmodium is the symplasm. Later, in the completion of the life-cycle, bacteria are again formed by the breaking up of the symplasm.

1934 A. T. Henrici Biol. Bacteria ix. 153 Such symplasms are found in old cultures and they probably represent masses of gum secreted by the bacteria, or more likely, masses of débris formed from dead and dissolved bacterial cells.

1948 Recueil d. Travaux botaniques Néerlandais XLI. 5 Up until now, only a few publications have dealt with estimations as to what extent the symplasm is permeable for solutes.

1954 Nature 31 July 223/2 The transport in the cytoplasm from cell to cell..without loss to the outer solution indicates that plasma connexions between the cells must exist. The cells behave like a ‘symplasm’.

1973 Planta CXII. 293 Stelar tissues only accumulate ions when these are supplied through the root symplasm.