umbel
/ʌmbəl/ noun
Forms umbels
- noun (botany) A flat-topped or rounded flower-cluster (= inflorescence) in which the individual flower stalks arise from the same point, the youngest flowers being at the centre.
- noun The pileus of certain fungi.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin umbella (“umbrella”). Compare umbrella, composed of the same etymological elements but formed independently.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A kind of flower cluster in which the flower stalks radiate from a common point, as in the carrot and milkweed. It is simple or compound; in the latter case, each peduncle bears another little umbel, called umbellet, or umbellule.
Etymology [L. umbella a little shadow, umbrella, dim. of umbra shade. See Umbrella.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “umbel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details