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  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of umbel

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

umbel

When the stalks which in the simple umbel are the pedicels of single flowers themselves branch into an umbel, a Compound Umbel is formed.

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

A variety of fennel, F. dulce, having the stem compressed at the base, and the umbel 6-8 rayed, is grown in kitchen-gardens for the sake of its leaves.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various

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 Asa Gray

P’raps you’ll put that flimsy away, as it might cause futur’ unpleasantry through bein’ used as information again your umbel servant.

From Original Penny Readings A Series of Short Sketches by George Manville Fenn

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

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

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