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

See Examples For:

capitate

Spikelets and numerous flowers compressed, crowded in a densely spiked or capitate panicle.

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

This plant is fleshy, capitate, head ovate, bay-brown, stem yellow, then blackish.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Hard, Miron Elisha

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

Stamens very numerous, 5-adelphous; styles 5, united below, the stigmas capitate; pod 5-celled, the placentæ turned far back into the cells; perennial herb; flowers very large.

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

Stamens 5–12, distinct or in 3 clusters; pod 1-celled, with 3 strictly parietal placentæ; styles short, distinct, with capitate stigmas; petals oblong or linear; sepals narrow, erect; slender annuals, with 4-angular branches; flowering all summer.

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