thyrse

plural thyrses

1. biologyA type of inflorescence; a compact panicle having an obscured main axis and cymose subaxes.

   The example of the thyrse of Eugenia leads us to understand several inflorescences which resemble also racemes or panicles; such are the thyrses of the Lilac.

   1840, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, translated by Boughton Kingdon, Vegetable Organography, volume II, page 24

   2 more examples

   The Thyrsus *, or Thyrse, is a mode of inflorescence very nearly allied to the panicle, being, in fact, a panicle contracted into an ovate, or egg-shaped form. In the thyrse, the middle footstalks, which are longer, extend horizontally, whilst the upper and lower oes are shorter, and rise up vertically.

   1804, Benjamin Smith Barton, Elements of Botany, page 143

   1998, D. W. Stevenson, M. Colella, B. Boom, Rapateaceae, Klaus Kubitzki, H. Huber (editors), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, Volume IV: Flowering Plants, Monocotyledons: Alismatanae and Commelinanae (except Gramineae), page 417, The number of spikelets is variable, and some genera have thyrses with 70 spikelets (Saxofridericia, Spathanthus) or only 1-3 spikelets per inflorescence (Stegolepsis, Monotrema).

2. archaicA thyrsus (staff with conical ornament).