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pappus
5 dictionary results for: Pappus
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
pap·pus       [pap-uhs] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural pap·pi       [pap-ahy] Pronunciation Key. Botany.
a downy, bristly, or other tuftlike appendage of the achene of certain plants, as the dandelion and the thistle.
[Origin: 1695–1705; < NL < Gk páppos down, lit., grandfather (taken as greybeard, white hairs, down)]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pap·pus       (pāp'əs)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. pap·pi (pāp'ī)
A modified calyx, composed of scales, bristles, or featherlike hairs, in plants of the composite family, such as the dandelion and the thistle.


[Latin, old man, down on certain seeds, from Greek pappos; see papa in Indo-European roots.]

pap'pose (-ōs), pap'pous (-əs) adj.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
pappus

noun
calyx composed of scales or bristles or featherlike hairs in plants of the Compositae such as thistles and dandelions 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pappus       (pāp'əs)  Pronunciation Key 
Plural pappi (pāp'ī)
A structure made of scales, bristles, or featherlike hairs that is attached to the seeds (called cypselae) of plants of the composite family and that aids in dispersal by the wind. The downy part of a dandelion or thistle seed is a pappus. The pappus is derived from a modified calyx.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pappus

Pap"pus\, n. [L., an old man or grandfather; hence, a substance resembling gray hairs, Gr. ?.] (Bot.) The hairy or feathery appendage of the achenes of thistles, dandelions, and most other plants of the order Composit[ae]; also, the scales, awns, or bristles which represent the calyx in other plants of the same order.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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