Definition of "hypanthium" []

• The ringlike, cup-shaped, or tubular structure of a flower on which the sepals, petals, and stamens are borne, as in the flowers of the rose or cherry. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The magnificent trumpet that thrusts out of the flower and announces the arrival of spring is a freak of nature, an elongated portion of the flower called the hypanthium."
• "The calyx and corolla are fused to form a floral tube (also called a hypanthium) that is cylindrical (4-6 mm long), greenish, and 8-12 nerved."
• "It's only revealed in certain flowers after pollination – when you eat an apple, for instance, you are biting into a thick, fleshy hypanthium."