panicle
Americannoun
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a compound raceme.
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any loose, diversely branching flower cluster.
noun
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a compound raceme, occurring esp in grasses
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any branched inflorescence
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A branched indeterminate inflorescence in which the branches are racemes, so that each flower has its own stalk (called a pedicel) attached to the branch. Oats and sorghum have panicles.
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See illustration at inflorescence
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of panicle
1590–1600; < Latin pānicula tuft (on plants), diminutive of pānus thread wound on a bobbin, a swelling, ear of millet < Doric Greek pânos ( Attic pênos ) a web; see -i-, -cle 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The vine produces a panicle of lovely half-inch flowers in midsummer, each pointing downward and similar in shape to a tomato’s, but far more dramatically colored.
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2017
Inflorescence a dense spiked panicle, or apparently a cylindrical spike.—Annuals, in cultivated or manured grounds, with linear or lanceolate flat leaves.
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 Asa Gray
Glabrous, leafy, 2–5° high; leaves oblong, sinuate-pinnatifid and spinulosely dentate, ciliate; heads in an open panicle; involucre more imbricate; flowers yellow.—Minn.,
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 Asa Gray
Stems 1–2½° high; leaflets obovate wedge-form, 2–3-lobed, a smaller biternate leaf often at the base of the panicle; flowers appearing while the leaf is yet small.—Deep rich woods; common westward.
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 Asa Gray
The most slender form; radical leaves 4–8´ long and 4–6´´ wide, the upper very small, erect, branches of panicle rather few, one-sided; rays 2–5.
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 Asa Gray
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