floret
/ˈflɒrɪt
/ /ˈflɔːrɪt/noun Botany
1One of the small flowers making up a composite flower head.The outermost two rows of florets on the flower head opened and anthesed on the same day....
- Each panicle was individually labelled with its flowering date, defined as the day on which pollen had been released in approximately two-thirds of the florets composing the panicle.
- It starts blooming in midsummer with huge panicles of showy, white florets surrounding smaller fertile flowers.
1.1A small flower.For the piece de résistance, set all within a naturalized sea of camassia bulbs with their tall greenish spires and soft blue florets that bloom for weeks on end in late spring....
- Similarly, in freesia florets the increase in perianth sugars was more than 10 times higher than the decrease in starch content.
- Subsequent growth determines the fraction of the potential florets that develop into flowers, and eventually to fruits and seeds.
2One of the flowering stems making up a head of cauliflower or broccoli.The accompanying vegetables were good too; finely-sliced gratin potatoes in a light cheese sauce, delicious boiled new potatoes in their skins, deep-fried cauliflower florets in batter, broccoli and carrots....
- The base could be covered with puréed spinach and topped with florets of broccoli and cauliflower, still with cheese.
- We serve broccoli stems and florets steamed and tossed with a vinaigrette salad dressing just as you would a salad.
Origin
Late 17th century: from Latin flos, flor- 'flower' + -et1.