Pappus (botany) pappus function as a "parachute" which enables the seed to be carried by the wind. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word "pappos", Latin "pappus", meaning "old man", so used for a plant (assumed to be an "Erigeron" species) having bristles and also for the woolly, hairy seed of certain plants. 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
Plant life-form invasiveness: According to establishment time in a ecological succession: According to human cultivation: According to importance to humans (see ethnobotany): Plant life-form Plant life-form schemes constitute a way of classifying plants alternatively to the ordinary species-genus-family scientific classification. In colloquial speech, plants may be classified as trees, shrubs, herbs (forbs and graminoids), etc. The scientific use of life-form schemes emphasizes plant function in the ecosystem and that the same function or "adaptedness" to the environment may be achieved in a number of ways, i.e. plant species that are closely related phylogenetically may have widely different life-form, for example "Adoxa" and