raceme

American  

[rey-seem, ruh-] / reɪˈsim, rə- /

noun

Botany.

1. a simple indeterminate inflorescence in which the flowers are borne on short pedicels lying along a common axis, as in the lily of the valley.

2. a compound inflorescence in which the short pedicels with single flowers of the simple raceme are replaced by racemes.

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raceme British  

/ rəˈsiːm /

noun

1. an inflorescence in which the flowers are borne along the main stem, with the oldest flowers at the base. It can be simple, as in the foxglove, or compound See panicle

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raceme Scientific  

/ rə-sēm′ /

1. An indeterminate inflorescence in which each flower grows on its own stalk from a common stem. The lily of the valley and snapdragon have racemes.

2. See illustration at inflorescence

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Other Word Forms

• racemed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of raceme

First recorded in 1775–85, raceme is from the Latin word racēmus cluster of grapes, bunch of berries

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

raceme

I know the difference between a raceme and a rhizome, I explicate photosynthesis, I can spell Scrofulariaciae.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Seeds oblong, horizontal.—Slender perennials, mostly tufted, with short or creeping rhizomes, and simple stems leafy only at the base, bearing small flowers in a close raceme or spike.

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

Scape 1° high or more; leaves keeled; raceme elongated; bracts longer than the pedicels; sepals pale blue, 3-nerved, 4–7´´ long; capsule acutely triangular-globose.

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

Leaves ovate; raceme loose and slender; flowers very small, on minutely glandular-pubescent pedicels twice the length of the ovary; lip linear, 3–4 times the length of the sepals, 2-parted, the divisions linear-setaceous.—Damp thickets, Oswego Co.,

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

A large-flowered perennial, with oblong smooth leaves and a glandular-downy raceme; sepals short; corolla 1½–2´ long, purple or white.—Eastward, escaping from gardens.

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