Here is a glossary of terms used in the fireworks industry.

✓ Aerial — A round or canister-shaped device containing stars or inserts, fired from a mortar that bursts in the air, igniting the contents.

✓ Black powder — A mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur. It is the principal ingredient in most fireworks.

✓ Bottom shot — A loud salute that punctuates the end of a multibreak device.

✓ Brocade — A spiderlike effect in the sky, much like fine lace. The brocade effect is generally a silver tail effect, and is brighter than the willow or tiger tail effect.

✓ Chrysanthemum — A flowerlike aerial pattern.

✓ Comet — A type of star that leaves a long trail of sparks as it flies through the air.

✓ Crossette — A type of comet that breaks into multiple comets, usually forming a cross shape.

✓ Falling leaves — A beautiful aerial effect that consists of glowing embers that tumble slowly in the air, flickering back and forth as they fall to Earth.

✓ Firefly — A stroboscopic effect that consists of many distinct bright flashes of light.

✓ Fish — An aerial effect that looks like a swarm of objects squirming though the air.

✓ Flitter — Similar to glitter, flitter is a type of star that contains bright flashes of light in the trail the star leaves behind.

✓ Fountain — A ground device that emits showers of sparks several feet in the air.

✓ Girandola — A large horizontal wheel that rotates quickly enough to rise into the air. Once it reaches its peak, it usually explodes or shoots flaming stars.

✓ Glitter — A tail effect that contains flashes of light and small explosive bursts lasting several seconds.

✓ Lance — A tube of pyrotechnic composition, usually 5 inches long, that burns for one minute. Lances come in various colors used in set pieces for fireworks.

✓ Mine — An aerial device that shoots stars into the sky in an upward spray pattern.

✓ Mortar — A mortar is a paper or HDPE tube. A shell or device is loaded in the mortar. Most display fireworks are shot from mortars.

✓ Palm tree — An aerial effect that produces a gold or silver stem as the shell rises into the sky followed by a brocade or willow effect that creates palm fronds.

✓ Peony — An aerial effect that looks like a spherical ball of colored lights in the sky.

✓ Report — A loud explosion. Items with reports explode with a bang.

✓ Rising tail — A rising tail is a gold or silver tail effect that is created when a shell is shot into the sky, similar to the trunk of a tree. Used often with palm tree shells.

✓ Rocket — A tubelike pyrotechnic device made out of a paper tube that propels itself into the air in order to fly.

✓ Salute — An item that explodes, also known as a report or bottom shot.

✓ Set piece — A ground item consisting of colored lances used to draw a picture.

✓ Shell — An aerial item fired into the sky. It consists of a fuse, a lift charge, and a paper ball filled with stars and burst media.

✓ Star — A small pellet of composition that produces a pyrotechnic effect. Stars are used in aerial shells, rockets, roman candles, cakes and fountains.

✓ Strobe — A blinking effect.

✓ Tail — A burning trail that follows a star in the sky. Most comets have tails, and so do willow and brocade effects.

✓ Titanium salute — An aerial salute producing white sparks along with a report.

✓ Whistle — Generally small paper tubes filled with a composition that makes a sharp howling sound. Whistles can be found in rockets and inserts.

✓ Willow — An aerial effect that looks like a giant gold willow tree in the sky. A true willow effect has delicate golden trails that hang in the sky 10 seconds or more.

Source: The Fireworks Alliance