thyrse

From Middle French thyrse, from Latin thyrsus, from Ancient Greek θύρσος (thúrsos).^[1] Doublet of thyrsus, torse, and torso.

thyrse (plural thyrses)

1. (botany) A type of inflorescence; a compact panicle having an obscured main axis and cymose subaxes.
   • 1804, Benjamin Smith Barton, Elements of Botany, page 143:

     The Thyrsus *, or Thyrse, is a mode of inflorescence very nearly allied to the panicle, being, in fact, a panicle contracted into an ovate, or egg-shaped form. In the thyrse, the middle footstalks, which are longer, extend horizontally, whilst the upper and lower oes are shorter, and rise up vertically.

   • 1840, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, translated by Boughton Kingdon, Vegetable Organography, volume II, page 24:

     The example of the thyrse of Eugenia leads us to understand several inflorescences which resemble also racemes or panicles; such are the thyrses of the Lilac.

   • 1998, D. W. Stevenson, M. Colella, B. Boom, Rapateaceae, Klaus Kubitzki, H. Huber (editors), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, Volume IV: Flowering Plants, Monocotyledons: Alismatanae and Commelinanae (except Gramineae), page 417,

     The number of spikelets is variable, and some genera have thyrses with 70 spikelets (Saxofridericia, Spathanthus) or only 1-3 spikelets per inflorescence (Stegolepsis, Monotrema).

2. (archaic) A thyrsus (staff with conical ornament).

• thyrsic
• thyrsiform
• thyrsoid

• ethyrs

Inherited from Middle French thyrse, borrowed from Latin thyrsus, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek θύρσος (thúrsos). Doublet of torse, a borrowing from Italian.

• IPA^(key): /tiʁs/

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thyrse m (plural thyrses)

1. thyrsus
2. thyrse

• “thyrse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

thyrse

1. vocative singular of thyrsus