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Heraldry distinguishes dozens of crosses by the treatment of their arm-ends alone, and treats each as a separate charge rather than as a decoration of one. A blazon reading simply 'a cross' means the plain form spanning the shield. The variants here are the ones most often met and most often confused: patonce and fleury differ so slightly that heraldic writers disagree about individual examples, and the pattée and the Maltese cross differ only in whether the outer ends are notched. Several underlie later decorations and badges, which is why they turn up outside heraldry entirely.
A cross whose arms widen outward and end in three flowing points each.
A cross whose arms end in fleurs-de-lis.
A cross whose arms split and curl outward at the ends, like a millrind.
A cross with narrow arms that flare broadly at the ends.
A cross whose arms each end in a crossbar, forming T-shapes.
A cross each of whose arms is itself crossed near the end.
A cross of four arrowhead-shaped arms meeting at a point, with eight outer points.