catkin

American  

[kat-kin] / ˈkæt kɪn /

noun

Botany.

1. a spike of unisexual, apetalous flowers having scaly, usually deciduous bracts, as of a willow or birch.

---

catkin British  

/ ˈkætkɪn /

noun

1. Also called: ament. an inflorescence consisting of a spike, usually hanging, of much reduced flowers of either sex: occurs in birch, hazel, etc

---

catkin Scientific  

/ kăt′kĭn /

1. A long, thin, indeterminate inflorescence of tiny, petalless flowers growing on willows, birches, oaks, poplars, and certain other trees. The flowers on a catkin are either all male or all female. The female flowers are usually pollinated by the wind.

2. Also called ament

3. See illustration at inflorescence

---

Other Word Forms

• catkinate
  adjective

---

Etymology

Origin of catkin

First recorded in 1570–80, catkin is from the Dutch word katteken little cat (now obsolete). See cat, -kin

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

catkin

Probably the best-known catkin showoff — beloved by bees, gardeners and flower arrangers — is the Japanese pink pussy willow Mt.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 6, 2024

You can see this in the oak catkin “tumbleweeds” on street corners and that yellow coating all over surfaces.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2023

Small balls of gray catkin fluff blew on the wind, seedpods from poplars, which bloom all over Warsaw in the spring.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 29, 2019

They make the nuts, but there is not even one catkin.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 41st Annual Meeting Pleasant Valley, New York, August 28, 29 and 30, 1950 by Northern Nut Growers Association

Female flowers arranged, two to three together on scale-like structures formed by the union of bracts, in catkins; ovary two-celled; fruit small, flattened, protected between the ripened scales of the catkin.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---