capitulum

[ kuh-pich-uh-luhm ]

noun

, plural ca·pit·u·la [k, uh, -, pich, -, uh, -l, uh].

1. Biology. any globose or knoblike part, as a flower head or the head of a bone.

capitulum

/ kəˈpɪtjʊləm /

noun

1. a racemose inflorescence in the form of a disc of sessile flowers, the youngest at the centre. It occurs in the daisy and related plants
2. anatomy zoology a headlike part, esp the enlarged knoblike terminal part of a long bone, antenna, etc

capitulum

/ kə-pĭch′ə-ləm /

, Plural capitula

1. A small knob or head-shaped part, such as a protuberance of a bone or the tip of an insect's antenna.
2. An inflorescence consisting of a compact mass of small stalkless flowers, as in the English daisy. The yellow central portion of the capitulum of a daisy consists of disk flowers, while the outer white, petallike structures are actually ray flowers. The capitulum is the characteristic inflorescence of the composite family (Asteraceae) of flowering plants.

Word History and Origins

Origin of capitulum¹

1715–25; < Latin, equivalent to capit- (stem of caput ) head + -ulum, neuter of -ulus -ule

Word History and Origins

Origin of capitulum¹

C18: from Latin, literally: a little head, from caput head

Example Sentences

But just how do the knobs—called capitula—attract ants?

From Science Magazine

Jerome, in fact, seems to have been the first to unambiguously use the term capitulum to refer to a numbered, titled segment of a text.

From The New Yorker

On the attachments of the Urodele rib to the vertebra and their homologies with the capitulum and tuberculum of the Amniote rib.

From Project Gutenberg

Disc, or Disk, the central part of the capitulum of composit�, surrounded by the ray.

From Project Gutenberg

The sterile bracts of the daisy occasionally produce capitula, and give rise to the hen-and-chickens daisy.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• brain
• skull