Peduncleplant

Peduncle (plant) (from the Low Latin pedunculus, "a little foot"), the axis, or foot-stalk, as it is sometimes called, bearing an inflorescence. Its branches, if any, are called secondary peduncles, or, if they are the ultimate ones bearing the flowers, pedicels. The tulip has an unbranched peduncle; in the fig (q.v.) it becomes fleshily enlarged and, by peripheral growth, concave, bearing the flowers within its cavity. In many plants it bears leaves below the flowers, known as bracts (q.v.), or, when collected together, as the involucre (q.v.); and in the Cupuliferse (q.v.) it gives off a cup-shaped outgrowth which contributes to the formation of the cupule. [Receptacle.]