Definition of "cyme"

cyme¹

/saɪm/

noun
plural cymes
1. (obsolete, rare) A “head” (of unexpanded leaves, etc.); an opening bud.
2. (botany) A flattish or convex flower cluster, of the centrifugal or determinate type, on which each axis terminates with a flower which blooms before the flowers below it. Contrast raceme.
  Quotations
  The inflorescence is some form of cyme, and the flowers are usually regular.
  1906, “Gentianaceæ”, in Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby, editors, The New International Encyclopædia
  The plant bears small groups of two or three yellowish coloured flowers on an axillary cyme.
  2003, S. M. Reddy, S. J. Chary, University Botany 2: Gymnosperms, Plant Anatomy, Genetics, Ecology, page 190
  The flower cluster is a cyme (terminal flower is the most advanced), is terminal within the bud and may contain up to six individual flowers.
  2003, David Curtis Ferree, Ian J. Warrington, Apples: Botany, Production and Uses, page 157
3. (architecture) = cyma

cyme²

noun
plural cymes
1. Misspelling of senna.