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
History of botany his "Libellus De Re Herbaria Novus" (1538) published names, descriptions and localities of many native British plants. Herbals contributed to botany by setting in train the science of plant description, classification, and botanical illustration. Up to the 17th century botany and medicine were one and the same but those books emphasising medicinal aspects eventually omitted the plant lore to become modern pharmacopoeias; those that omitted the medicine became more botanical and evolved into the modern compilations of plant descriptions we call Floras. These were often backed by specimens deposited in a herbarium which was a collection of dried plants that