UMBELLA, an UMBEL, in botany; a species of receptacle: or rather a mode of flowering, in which a number of slender foot-stalks proceed from the same centre, and rise to an equal height, so as to form an even, and generally round surface at top. The term differs from corymbus, another mode of flowering, in that there is a common part, the point, to wit, from which issue all the foot-stalks; and in that the foot-stalks are of an equal length, whereas in a corymbus the foot-stalks proceed from different points, and though they altogether form an even surface at top, as in the umbel, yet is each lower foot-stalk of greater length than that immediately above it.