Amenta

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A botanical term referring to a catkin or flowering spike that bears clusters of flowers on a long stem
2. A structure in certain plants that produces flowers in a dense, elongated form
3. A flowering shoot characteristic of certain trees, usually appearing in spring or early summer

Etymology: Amenta is the plural of "amentum," a Latin word meaning "thong" or "strap," the kind used to tie things together or to fasten a load. Romans applied it to anything that hung loose from a tie, and that picture carried into botany, where the term now names the catkin: the dangling, usually unisexual flower cluster of willows, birches, hazels and oaks. The English form follows the Latin directly. Botanists took "amentum" over as a technical term, and its plural "amenta" is the form that appears in plant descriptions. The shape of the flower explains the borrowing: the thin, flexible spike swings from its stalk much as a leather thong dangles from a belt.