CATKIN n.
t; a species of inflorescence, consisting of a slender axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar, and (as to the staminate flowers) in the chestnut, oak, hickory, etc. -- so called from its resemblance to a cat's tail. See Illust. of Ament.
CELLULAR a.
; of or pertaining to a cell or cells. Cellular plants, Cellular cryptogams (Bot.), those flowerless plants which have no ducts or fiber in their tissue, as mosses, fungi, lichens, and algæ. -- Cellular theory, or Cell theory (Biol.), a theory, according to which the essential element of every tissue, either vegetable…
CENTURY n.
Commanded by a centurion. Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly supposed to flower but once in a century; - - hence the name. See Agave. -- The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes, compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars…
CHAFF n.
The scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Compositæ, as the sunflower. Gray. Chaff cutter, a machine for cutting, up straw, etc., into "chaff" for the use of cattle.
CHARITY n.
ns. The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers. Wordsworth. Sisters of Charity (R. C. Ch.), a sisterhood of religious women engaged in works of mercy, esp. in nursing the sick; -- a popular designation. There are various orders of the Sisters of Charity.…