thyrsus

plural thyrsi

1. A staff topped with a conical ornament, carried by Bacchus or his followers.

   1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Poet's Calendar In my hand I bear / The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.

   2 more examples

   As good to grow on graves / As twist about a thyrsus.

   1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Second Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC

   The champagne was done, and she upturned the bottle to hold it like a thyrsus.

   1968, Anthony Burgess, Enderby Outside

2. biologyA species of inflorescence; a dense panicle, as in the lilac and horse-chestnut.