kukinnoista

Kukinnoista is the ablative plural form of kukinto, a Finnish botanical term meaning inflorescence. In botanical usage kukinto refers to the arrangement of flowers on a plant, i.e., the flowering shoot or the cluster of flowers that forms the inflorescence. The plural kukinnot denotes multiple inflorescences. The ablative plural form kukinnoista is used to indicate origin or source, for example in phrases such as kukinnoista kerätyt näytteet (“samples collected from the inflorescences”).

Etymology and forms: The word kukinto is formed from kukka (flower) with the nominalizing suffix -into. The basic plural nominative is kukinnot, and the ablative plural is kukinnoista. Finnish inflection allows such endings to specify grammatical relations within a sentence, so kukinnoista typically translates as “from the inflorescences” or “of the inflorescences.”

Usage: In plant descriptions and floristic texts, kukinnot are used to discuss the flowering structures of a species. The term helps distinguish the reproductive architecture from leaves, stems, or fruits. When discussing material derived from flowering parts, phrases may use kukinnoista to indicate the source, for instance in methodological notes about sampling or analysis of inflorescences.

See also: kukinto, kukinnot, kukka, kasvitiede.

References: Finnish botanical glossaries and flora handbooks commonly define kukinto and kukinnot as the inflorescence and its plural, with kukinnoista used to denote origin from inflorescences.