flower head
Noun: A dense, compact cluster of small individual flowers (florets) that together form a single, unified structure resembling a single flower. This botanical structure is characteristic of plants in the aster/daisy family (Asteraceae/Compositae) and some other families, such as clover.
The term "flower head" is used specifically in botany to describe a particular type of inflorescence (flower arrangement). It refers to the entire composite structure, not to the individual tiny flowers within it.
- The bright yellow flower head of a dandelion is actually made up of hundreds of tiny florets.
- Botanists study the intricate structure of a sunflower's flower head.
- Clover has a dense, rounded flower head composed of many small flowers.
- Botanical Context: In technical descriptions, "flower head" specifies the capitulum type of inflorescence. The structure often consists of two types of florets: ray florets (the "petals") and disk florets (the central "eye").
- The flower head of a daisy has white ray florets surrounding yellow disk florets.
- Capitulum (n): The technical botanical term for a flower head.
- Inflorescence (n): The complete flower structure of a plant, of which a "flower head" is one specific type.
- Composite flower (n): Another common name for a flower head, referring to its composite nature.
- Bloom (when referring to the entire composite structure in a non-technical sense).
- Blossom (similarly, in a general, non-technical sense for the whole structure).
This term has a precise botanical meaning. It is not typically used in everyday language to refer to a single, simple flower (like a rose or tulip). In casual speech, people might simply call a "flower head" a "flower" (e.g., "Look at that pretty daisy"), but botanically, that "daisy" is a flower head.
- a shortened compact cluster of flowers so arranged that the whole gives the effect of a single flower as in clover or members of the family Compositae