corymb

American  

[kawr-imb, -im, kor-] / ˈkɔr ɪmb, -ɪm, ˈkɒr- /

noun

Botany.

1. a form of inflorescence in which the flowers form a flat-topped or convex cluster, the outermost flowers being the first to open.

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corymb British  

/ ˈkɒrɪmb, -rɪm /

noun

1. an inflorescence in the form of a flat-topped flower cluster with the oldest flowers at the periphery. This type of raceme occurs in the candytuft

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corymb Scientific  

/ kôr′ĭmb,-ĭm /

1. An indeterminate inflorescence whose outer flowers have longer stalks than the inner flowers, so that together they form a round cluster that is rather flat on top. The outer flowers open before the inner ones. Yarrow and the hawthorn have corymbs.

2. See illustration at inflorescence

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Other Word Forms

• corymbed
  adjective
• corymblike
  adjective
• corymbose
  adjective
• corymbosely
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of corymb

1700–10; < Latin corymbus < Greek kórymbos head, top, cluster of fruit or flowers

Example Sentences

Flowers yellow, terminal in a sort of corymb.

From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Thomas, Jerome Beers

Cyme, in appearance much like a corymb, but it differs in the fact that the central flower blooms first.

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

It is a plant with a very slender erect green stem, which, when full grown, branches at the top into a loose corymb of blue flowers.

From Men of Invention and Industry by Smiles, Samuel

That is, a raceme becomes a corymb by lengthening the lower pedicels while the uppermost remain shorter.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

A large number of the stigmas on several of the other corymbs were repeatedly smeared with pollen from their own corymb; but they yielded only five very poor seeds, which were incapable of germination.

From Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom by Darwin, Charles