umbel

American  

[uhm-buhl] / ˈʌm bəl /

noun

Botany.

1. an inflorescence in which a number of flower stalks or pedicels, nearly equal in length, spread from a common center.

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umbel British  

/ ʌmˈbɛlə, -ˌleɪt, ˈʌmbɪlɪt, ˈʌmbəl /

noun

1. an inflorescence, characteristic of umbelliferous plants, in which the flowers arise from the same point in the main stem and have stalks of the same length, to give a cluster with the youngest flowers at the centre

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umbel Scientific  

/ ŭm′bəl /

1. A flat or rounded indeterminate inflorescence in which the individual flower stalks (called pedicels) arise from about the same point on the stem at the tip of the peduncle. The geranium, milkweed, and onion have umbels. Umbels usually show centripetal inflorescence, with the lower or outer flowers blooming first.

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Other Word Forms

• umbellate adjective
• umbellately adverb

Etymology

Origin of umbel

1590–1600; < Latin umbella a sunshade, parasol, derivative of umbra shadow, shade; for formation castellum

Example Sentences

Capsule many-seeded, splitting at the top into 5 valves or 10 teeth.—Low perennial herbs, producing a tuft of veiny leaves at the root, and simple scapes, bearing the flowers in an umbel.

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

Involucre, a whorl or set of bracts around a flower, umbel, or head, &c.,

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

So no more at present from your obegent umbel Servant, Bung.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 62, January 1, 1872 by Various

Prostrate, forming patches; leaves spatulate, clustered in whorls at the joints, where the 1-flowered pedicels form a sort of sessile umbel, stamens usually 3.—Sandy river-banks, and cultivated grounds.

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

Partial involucre, same as an involucel; partial petiole, a division of a main leaf-stalk or the stalk of a leaflet; partial peduncle, a branch of a peduncle; partial umbel, an umbellet, 76.

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