Catkin - Wikipedia Catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster ( a spike ), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind - pollinated ( anemophilous ) but sometimes insect - pollinated ( as in Salix ). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping. They are found in many plant families, including Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Moraceae, and Salicaceae. For some time, they were believed to be a key synapomorphy among the proposed Hamamelididae, also known as Amentiferae ( i.e., literally plants bearing aments ). Based on molecular phylogeny work, it is now believed that Hamamelididae is a polyphyletic group. This suggests that the catkin flower arrangement has arisen at least twice independently by convergent evolution, in Fagales and in Salicaceae. Such a convergent evolution raises questions about what the ancestral inflorescence characters might be and how catkins did evolve in these two lineages. In many of these plants, only the male flowers form catkins, and the female flowers are single ( hazel, oak ), a cone ( alder ) or other types ( mulberry ). In other plants ( such as poplar ) both male and female flowers are borne in catkins. Catkin - bearing plants include many other trees or shrubs such as birch, willow, hickory, sweet chestnut and sweetfern ( Comptonia ). The word catkin is a loanword from the old Dutch katteken, meaning `` kitten '', on account of the resemblance to a kitten 's tail. Ament is from the Latin amentum, meaning `` thong '' or `` strap ''. Occurrence In Britain, they are can be seen in January or February, when many trees are bare for winter. They can even occur in December. Catkins in Fagales Male catkins of hop - hornbeam ( Ostrya carpinifolia ) Young male catkins of hazel ( Corylus avellana ) Mature male catkins of hazel ( Corylus avellana ) Alder female catkins ( Alnus sp. ) Catkins in Salicaceae Young male catkin of a willow ( Salix sp. ) Three male catkins on a willow ( Salix sp. ) Detail of a male flowering catkin on a willow ( Salix sp. ) Female flowering catkin on a willow ( Salix sp. ) References Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catkins. Jump up ^ Savolainen, V., M.W. Chase, S.B. Hoot, C.M. Morton, D.E. Soltis, C. Bayer, M.F. Fay, A.Y. De Bruijn, S. Sullivan, and Y. - L. Qiu. 2000. Phylogenetics of flowering plants based on combined analysis of plastid atpB and rbcL gene sequences. Systematic Biology 49 : 306 - 362. Jump up ^ Soltis, D.E. et alii. ( 28 authors ). 2011. `` Angiosperm phylogeny : 17 genes, 640 taxa ''. American Journal of Botany 98 ( 4 ) : 704 - 730. doi : 10.3732 / ajb. 1000404 Jump up ^ Cronk Q.C.B., Needham I., and Rudall P.J. 2015. Evolution of catkins : inflorescence morphology of selected Salicaceae in an evolutionary and developmental context. Frontiers in Plant Science. 2015 ; 6 : 1030. doi : 10.3389 / fpls. 2015.01030 Jump up ^ `` Catkin '', Oxford English Dictionary ( Second ed. ), 1989, retrieved 30 November 2009 Jump up ^ `` Ament '', Oxford English Dictionary ( Second ed. ), 1989, retrieved 30 November 2009 Jump up ^ An early catkin year LCCN : sh85021249 This botany article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catkin&oldid=841079471 '' Categories : Plant morphology Botany stubs Talk About Wikipedia Беларуская Български Boarisch Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto فارسی Français Galego Íslenska Italiano עברית Lietuvių Limburgs Lumbaart Македонски Nederlands Nedersaksies 日本 語 Norsk nynorsk Occitan Picard Polski Português Română Русский Slovenščina Српски / srpski Suomi Türkçe Tiếng Việt Žemaitėška 中文 29 more Edit links This page was last edited on 13 May 2018, at 23 : 22. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where did the catkin get it's name
Answer: a loanword from the old Dutch katteken, meaning "kitten", on account of the resemblance to a kitten's tail