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.

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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

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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

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Other Word Forms

Derived 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

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

Fruiting catkin large, � to 1 in. long, � in. thick, usually solitary, ovoid to oblong.

From Trees of the Northern United States Their Study, Description and Determination by Apgar, A. C. (Austin Craig)

So far as I have been able to judge, the most ornamental of the Willows in catkin time is Salix smithiana, known also as S. mollissima.

From Trees and Shrubs for English Gardens by Cook, Ernest Thomas