cyme
/sʌɪm
/noun Botany
A flower cluster with a central stem bearing a single terminal flower that develops first, the other flowers in the cluster developing as terminal buds of lateral stems. Compare with raceme.The flat, star-shaped flowers are 1-cm across, range in color from maroon in the sun to pale beige in the shade, and are displayed in loose cymes in the leaf axils....
- This pattern is most clearly observed in shoots with five to seven cymes, while in shoots with two to four cymes male flowers are also frequently produced in basal positions.
- Leaves of C. orbiculatus are broader, and the flowers are borne in axillary cymes.
Derivatives
cymose
/ adjective ...- The buckwheat inflorescence is a compound raceme that produces laterally flowered cymose clusters, the number of which was affected by the position of the inflorescence along the main stem.
- Inflorescences are terminal or axillary, and are usually cymose, but less often racemose, capitate, clustered or spicate; the flowers are seldom solitary.
- The terminal and erect cymose inflorescence bears actinomorphic, hexamerous, dish-shaped flowers.
Origin
Early 18th century (denoting the unopened head of a plant): from French, literally 'summit', from a popular variant of Latin cyma.