Scape (botany)

In botany, a scape is a peduncle arising from a subterranean or very compressed stem, with the lower internodes very long and hence few or no bracts except the part near the rachis or receptacle.

[1] Typically it takes the form of a long, leafless flowering stem rising directly from a bulb, rhizome, or similar subterranean or underwater structure.

[2] The word scape (Latin scapus, from Greek σκᾶπος), as used in botany, is fairly vague and arbitrary; various sources provide divergent definitions.

Some older usages simply amount to a stem or stalk in general,[3] but modern formal usage tends to favour the likes of "A long flower stalk rising directly from the root or rhizome",[3] or "a long, naked, or nearly naked, peduncle, rising direct from the base of a plant, whether 1- or many-fid.

[citation needed] Scapes are found on plants of many families, including Amaryllidaceae, Asphodelaceae, Balsaminaceae, Liliaceae, Papaveraceae, Droseraceae, and Violaceae.