Pappus (botany) Pappus (botany) The pappus is the modified calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the corolla tube in flower heads of the plant family Asteraceae. The term is sometimes used in other plant families such as Asclepiadaceae (milkweeds), whose seeds have a similar structure attached, although it is not related to the calyx of the flower. The Asteraceae pappus may be composed of bristles (sometimes feathery), awns, scales, or may be absent. In some species, the pappus is too small to see without magnification. In species such as Dandelion or "Eupatorium", feathery bristles of the
Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences systematic and evolutionary botany, vegetation and environmental change, plant molecular physiology and development, photosynthesis, and the sustainable use of plant resources. IB-CAS comprises five research units: the National Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, the National Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, the CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Physiology, the CAS Key Laboratory of Photobiology and the CAS Key Laboratory of Plant Resources. In addition, it is also home to the largest herbarium in Asia, 10 field stations, the Beijing Botanical Garden and the Hua Xi Subalpine Botanical Garden in Sichuan Province. IBCAS’s herbarium collections comprise 2.63 million