any of the granules of calcium carbonate occurring in a statocyst: movement of statoliths, caused by a change in position of the animal, stimulates hair cells, which convey the information to the brain by nerve fibres
2.
any of various movable inclusions, such as starch grains, that occur in plant cells and are thought to function in geotropic responses
Derived forms
statolithic (ˌstatoˈlithic)
adjective
statolith in American English
(ˈstætəˌlɪθ)
noun
1. Botany
any of the small, freely moving concretions, often a starch grain, found in statocysts