capitate

American  

[kap-i-teyt] / ˈkæp ɪˌteɪt /

adjective

1. Botany. forming or shaped like a head or dense cluster.

2. Biology. having an enlarged or swollen, headlike termination.

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capitate British  

/ ˈkæpɪˌteɪt /

adjective

1. botany shaped like a head, as certain flowers or inflorescences

2. zoology having an enlarged headlike end

   a capitate bone

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capitate Scientific  

/ kăp′ĭ-tāt′ /

1. The largest of the carpal bones.

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1. Forming a headlike mass or dense cluster, as the flowers of plants in the composite family.

Other Word Forms

• multicapitate adjective

Etymology

Origin of capitate

1655–65; < Latin capitātus headed, equivalent to capit- (stem of caput ) head + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Stems very slender; flowers capitate; corolla-lobes spreading, the cylindrical tube longer than the suberect acute sepals; scales large, contiguous, toothed; stamens exserted.—Occasionally found in clover-fields.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Styles 5 or more, tipped with capitate stigmas; the ripe fruit separating into as many 1-seeded carpels, which are closed, or commonly 2-valved at the top, and tardily separate from the axis.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Stems ascending; leaves round-ovate, petioled, crenate-toothed; whorls capitate; calyx with 10 recurved teeth, the alternate ones shorter; corolla small, white.—Escaped from gardens into waste places.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Ovary.—One-celled; with a disklike summit, tapering into two stout styles with large capitate stigmas.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

Globose; leaves broad 97 Perigynium nearly linear, beakless 96 Perigynium long, spindle-shaped 1 Spikes several or numerous, sessile, spicate or capitate; stigmas 2.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa