noun, plural pap·pi [pap-ahy]. Botany. a downy, bristly, or other tuftlike appendage of the achene of certain plants, as the dandelion and the thistle.

What does Pappus mean?

: an appendage or tuft of appendages that crowns the ovary or fruit in various seed plants and functions in dispersal of the fruit.

What is the pappus of a plant?

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. ... In species such as Dandelion or Eupatorium, feathery bristles of the pappus function as a "parachute" which enables the seed to be carried by the wind.