In botany, a slender bristle-like appendage or extension that grows from the grain or seed of grasses and cereals, like the long whiskers on wheat or barley.
From Latin 'arista' meaning 'ear of grain' or 'bristle,' originally used to describe the actual bristles that naturally grow on grain heads.
Those long whiskers you see on wheat and barley aren't just decorative—aristae help the plant's seeds disperse and catch moisture from the air!
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