Botanical Dictionary
Word | Definition | Image |
Abaxial | The part of the organ not facing the axis. | |
Aberrant | Not typical, not of the normal type. | |
Absciss | Scar tissue formed when organs are shed. | |
Abscission layer | This is a layer of cells that develop across the peduncle or petiole that becomes weak allowing the leaf or flower to fall off. | |
Acanthophyll | A large spine normally derived from a leaflet. | |
Acaulescent | With out a stem or appears to have no stem. | |
Accrescent | A part of the plant that increases in size, as in the calyx after flowering. | |
Accumbent | When cotyledons are adjacent to the radicle. | |
Achlamydeous | A flower with out a perianth as in Salix species. | |
Acicle | A stiff bristle or slender prickle that may have a gland at its apex. | |
Acid Soils | A soil with a pH value lower than 6.5 | |
Acidophile | A plant that thrives in acid soils. | |
Acorn | The fruit type/nut fruit of the genus Quercus | |
Acrogen | A flowerless plant that only grows from the tip as in a fern. | |
Acropetal | A plant that develops flowers that open in succession from the base. | |
Acroscopic | A plant that is one sided towards the apex. | |
Acrotonic | Where the greatest growth of branching is towards the apex. | |
Actinomorphic | The flower being mirror imaged when divided through the centre in longitudinal planes. | |
Aculeate | Having prickles. | |
Acyclic | When arranged spirally rather than whorled. | |
Adaxial | On the side facing the stem or axis. | |
Adherent | When plant parts are in close contact but not fused with each other. | |
Adnate | Dissimilar organs joined or attached to each other. | |
Adventitious Bud | A bud that occurs from any part of the plant, apart from the stem apex or a leaf axil. | |
Adventitious Root | A root that occurs from any part of a plant other than the primary root system. | |
Adventive | A plant that has naturalised in a region but is not native. | |
Aerenchyma | Water plants with tissues that have large air spaces in the roots or stems. | |
Aerial Root | An adventitious root that will not usually contact the ground as in, epiphytic plants. | |
Aerotropic | Turning towards or away from a source of oxygen. | |
Aestivation | Is the arrangement of the calyx or corolla in bud. | |
After-ripening | A term that describes the physiological changes after harvest that allows the seed to germinate. | |
Aggregate Fruit | A fruit that is formed by joined carpels, that are separate in flower. | |
Alate (Winged) | Having a wing or wings. | |
Albumen | The nutritive material stored in a seed. | |
Alkaline Soils | Soil types with a pH above 7.5 | |
Allogamy (Cross Fertilisation) | When the ovule of a flower is fertilised by pollen of a different flower. | |
Ament (Amentum Catkin) | A spicate, normally pendulous inflorescence of unisexual apetalous flowers. | |
Amentum | A spike of unisexual apetalous flowers with bracts and arranged in a catkin. | |
Amplexicaul | Clasping the stem but not completely encircling it. | |
Anastomosing | Connected by cross-veins and forming a network close towards the margins. | |
Anastomosis | When veins cross connect in a leaf, producing a denser network towards the margin. | |
Anatomy | The study of the structure of plants, based on dissection. | |
Ancipitous | Having two edgedand being flattened, as in pseudobulbs of 'Laelia rubescens'. | |
Androecium | The male parts of a flower; the stamens. | |
Androgynophore | Column on which stamens and carpels are borne. | |
Androphore | The receptacle extension above the calyx, appearing as a short stalk and bearing the corolla, stamens, and ovary. (elongated receptacle) | |
Anemochorous | When seed or fruit are dispersed by wind. | |
Angiosperm | Plant producing seeds enclosed in an ovary. | |
Anisophyllous | When a pair of leaves differ in size or shape. | |
Annual | Completing a life-cycle from seed germination to seed production within twelve months. | |
Annular | Ring-like. | |
Annulus | A group of cells in a fern that are located in the sporangium to control the release of spores. | |
Anther | Pollen-containing part of a stamen. | |
Anthesis (Efflorescence) | The flowering time. | |
Anthocarp | A structure with a fruit, which is enclosed in a persistent perianth. | |
Anthophore | The receptacle extension above the calyx, appearing as a short stalk and bearing the corolla, stamens, and ovary. | |
Antrorse | When pointing forward or upwards. | |
Aperture | An opening that is normally circular. | |
Apetalous | Without petals. | |
Apex (plural Apices) | The tip of an organ, normally referring to leaves. | |
Apical | Pertaining to the apex. | |
Apical Placentation | Describing the position of a placenta when located at the top of the ovary and with the ovules hanging down from it. | |
Apiculus | Describing a short sharp point. | |
Apocarpous | Having free carpels. | |
Apomixis | Production of seed without sexual fusion of reproductive cells. | |
Appendage | An additional attached part. | |
Appressed | Closely and flatly pressed against. | |
Aquatic | A plant that lives in water or in waterlogged soils. | |
Arborescent | Having a tendency to become a tree. (A vine that becomes self supporting). | |
Arching or Arcuate | Bending over or curved. | |
Areole | A small area on the leaf that is surrounded by reticulate venation or commonly a condensed or modified short shoot growing in the leaf axil that has a felted cushion bearing spines. | |
Aril | Often fleshy outgrowth, from the stalk or scar left by the stalk of the seed; related structures are called arillodes, caruncles and strophioles. | |
Arista | An awn or stiff bristle. | |
Ascending | When sloping or curved upwards. | |
Asepalous | Without sepals. | |
Asexual | Reproduction: No fusion of male and female cells. | |
Assimilatory | To convert inorganic substances into the constituents of the plant system. | |
Assurgent | To rise upwards. | |
Asymmetrical | Not symmetrical; lop-sided. | |
Attenuate | Becoming gradually narrow. | |
Atypical | Not conforming to type. | |
Auricle | Ear-like projection at the base of a leaf, stipule or bract. | |
Autochory | When a plant disperses seeds by its self as in explosive or ejective mechanism. | |
Autogamy | When a flower pollinates its self (self fertilisation). | |
Autumn | The third season of the year, between summer and winter. Also known as 'Fall', relating to the loss of leaves from deciduous plants. | |
Auxin | A plant hormone that controls the growth and development of a plant. | |
Awn | Stiff extension, usually from the tip of an organ. | |
Axil | The angled area that is formed between parent structure and a plant part, for example; where a leaf joins the stem. | |
Axil ( adj. Axillary) | Type of placentation of ovules situated on a central axis of an ovary having two or more chambers. It is also the angle that is formed between the upper side of the petiole and the stem. | |
Axis (pl. Axes) | Central stem of a plant or an inflorescence, or elongated part of receptacle on which floral organs are situated. | |
Baccate | Berry-like. | |
Barb | The wife of Herb or a hooked hair. | |
Bark | A term describing the tissue outside the cambium of a woody stem. | |
Basal | Borne at or near the base, as in placentation of ovules in an ovary or leaves arranged from the base. | |
Basal Plate | This is a disk or reduced stem at the base of a bulb. | |
Basifixed | Where the filament is attached to the base of an anther. | |
Basitonic | Describing shoots from the lower part of the plant with the greatest development. | |
Beak | A slender projection from the apex of certain fruit types. | |
Beard | The arrangement of dense hairs in a line at the base of the outer perianth segments. | |
Being grass-like. | Being grass-like. | |
Biennial | Completing a life-cycle within two years, with flowering usually in the second year. | |
Bifid | Forked, normally up to half way of its length. | |
Bimonthly | Meaning both "twice a month" and "every two months | |
Bipinnatifid | When a leaf is pinnately lobed and each lobe is equally divided. | |
Bisexual | Having male and female reproductive organs on the same flower, inflorescence, or bract. | |
Biternate | When a structure (leaf) is divided again into three segments. | |
Bivalved | Having two valves. | |
Blind | When a flower bud fails to develop into a flower. | |
Blossom | A flower, normally referring to fruit trees. | |
Bole | Describing the trunk of a tree. | |
Bough | A main branch of a tree. | |
Bract (adj. Bracteate) | Modified or reduced leaf subtending a flower or inflorescence in its axil. | |
Bracteole | Small leaf-like organ situated on a stalk between a subtending bract and other organ. | |
Branchlet | A twig or small branch. | |
Bristle | A stiff hair. | |
Bud | Undeveloped shoot, leaf, or flower with or without protective scales. | |
Bulb | Underground compacted stem, surrounded by a number of swollen leaf bases or scales enclosing next year's bud, and functioning as a perennating device. | |
Bulbil | Small bulb often arising on aerial organs (eg leaf axil or inflorescence). | |
Bullate | With blister-like swellings on the surface | |
Bur, Burr | A prickle on fruit that aids in dispersal of the seed by animals. | |
Buttress Root | An adventitious root occurring at the base of a tree and connecting with the ground. | |
Caducous | Falling off easily at an early stage. | |
Caespitose | Tufted | |
Calcarate | Spurred. | |
Calciphile | A plant that prefers soils that contain lime. | |
Califlorous | When the flowers and fruits grow on short stems from the trunks and large branches. | |
Callus | The hardened and thickened tissue over a damaged area. Protective covering. | |
Calyptra | This is a hood or lid-like structure on a bud, fruit and sporogonia. | |
Calyx (pl. Calyces) | A part (floral receptacle) of the flower that is made up of the sterile sepals | |
Canaliculate | Having a longitudinal groove. | |
Cane | A hollow stem that is jointed and woody, as in bamboo. | |
Canescent | Is when a surface is covered in tiny white hairs giving a whitish appearance. | |
Capillary | Hair-like | |
Capitate | Head shaped, in a dense cluster as in the flowers of the Asteraceae family. | |
Capitulum | Condensed inflorescence, as found in daisies, composed of numerous stalkless flowers. | |
Capsule | In angiosperms it is a dry dehiscent fruit that consists of two or more united carpels with an enclosed membrane. Loculicidal; splitting when mature midway between the partitions of the capsule. Septicidal; splitting at maturity along the partitions of the capsule. Septifragal; when the valves break away from the partitions. | |
Carbohydrate | A compound based on carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, as in sugar or starch. | |
Carbon Dioxide (Co2) | A gas that is colourless and odourless that is required for photosynthesis. | |
Carina (Keel) | Two united petals in the lower part of a flower. | |
Carnivorous | Plant capable of trapping and digesting insects. | |
Carnose (Carnous) | With a fleshy or pulpy texture. | |
Carotens | Red or orange pigments that occur in the chromoplast of cells, as in carrots. | |
Carpel | Unit of the gynoecium containing one or more ovules. | |
Caryopsis | Dry fruit of grasses. | |
Cataphylls | A leaf that is modified to form other specialised functions such as a bud-scale or rhizome and a cotyledon. | |
Catkin | The pendulous, bracteate (spike or raceme-like) inflorescence of usually unisexual flowers, falling as a unit. | |
Caudate | Having a tail-like appendage. | |
Caudex | A trunk or stem of a woody monocotyledon with slow incremental or long durational growth. | |
Caulifory | When flowers are produced from the trunk or branches rather than the branchlet or twigs. | |
Cell | This is the smallest unit of plant tissue that can function by its self. | |
Centripetal | Developing from the margin towards the centre, normally referring to petals. | |
Cephalium | Having a dense mass of hair at the top of a stem, as in some cacti species. | |
Cereal | A grass that produces editable grain. | |
Chaff | Describing thin, membranous bracts or scales normally found at the base of florets. | |
Chalaza | The basal part of a nucellus of an ovule. | |
Chamaephyte | Small woody or herbaceous perennial that has resting buds that are less than 25cm (10in) above the soil. | |
Chaparral | Chaparral biome consists of mountains and plains similar to deserts but receives more rainfall per year. | |
Chartaceous | Having a papery, colourless appearance. | |
Chasmophyte | A plant that grows in rock crevices. | |
Chimaera | A plant that has two different genetic types, as in a grafted plant. | |
Chiropterophily | When pollinated by bats. | |
Chlorophyll | Green photosynthetic pigment. | |
Chlorosis | Deficiency of chlorophyll, causing plants to become unhealthy with green areas turning yellow. | |
Chromosomes | Small bodies visible when suitable stained at certain stages of cell development, the bodies carrying most of the inherited characters of organisms. | |
Cincinnus | An inflorescence that is cylindrical with the axis on different planes and branching alternately to one side then the other. (spiral cyme) | |
Circinate | Coiled in a flat spiral as in a developing fern frond. | |
Cirrhiferous | Having tendrils. | |
Clad | When plants are derived from a common ancestor. | |
Cladode (phylloclade) | Shoot or stem that takes the form and functions as a leaf. | |
Class | A taxonomic rank between division and order and ending with -opsida. | |
Clavate | Club-shaped. | |
Clavate | A bud shape that is slender conical with a pointed or rounded apex. | |
Claw | Narrow lower part of some petals and sepals. | |
Cleft | When the apex is deeply divided into two lobes. | |
Cleistogamy (adj. Cleistogamous) | Self-pollination mechanism taking place in unopened flowers. | |
Climber | A plant that grows upward by using tendrils or twinning as a support on other plants. | |
Cline | A gradual variation of one or more character within a species. | |
Clone | A group of plants that have produced vegetatively and are genetically identical. | |
Coalescent | Grown together. | |
Cob | A woody stem with grains attached. | |
Coccus (pl. Cocci) | Part of a fruit which splits into one-seeded portions. | |
Coenocarpium | When a fruit is produced from an entire inflorescence as in Ficus species. | |
Coherent | Simular parts that are in close contact with each other but not fused. | |
Coleoptera (Beetles) | These insects have chewing mouthparts and a complete metamorphosis. They have two pairs of wings in which the forewings are covering the hindwings when at rest. The larvae are grubs or wireworms. | |
Coleoptile | A protective sheath that surrounds the plumule in grasses as it grows through the soil. | |
Colpate | Possession of colpi (of pollen) or pollen-wall apertures. | |
Column | The combined style and stigma organ seen in orchid flowers. | |
Coma | The tuft of hair that appears at the end of some seeds or the apical crown of leaves on the pineapple fruit. | |
Comose | Having a tuft of hairs. | |
Compatible | When two plants can fertilise each other. | |
Compound | Consisting of several similar parts. | |
Compressed | Flattened | |
Concave | Having a hollowed out appearance. | |
Concolorous | When both surfaces of a leaf are of equal colour intensity. | |
Conduplicate | Folded together lengthwise. | |
Conifer | A plant that produces cones. | |
Connate | Similar organs joined or attached to each other. | |
Connective | Tissue connecting together the pollen chambers of an anther. | |
Connivent | Parts coming into contact or converging. | |
Contorted | Sepals or petals twisted together in one direction in bud. | |
Convex | A surface that is rounded. | |
Convolute | Rolled together. | |
Coppice Shoot | A shoot that develops from a dormant bud of a trunk after the trunk has been reduced to a stump. | |
Coriaceous | Leathery. | |
Corm | A bulb-like structure, formed from a large underground stem base, and stores food. Protective dry scales may contain cormels or offsets. | |
Cormel (Cormlet) | A small corm. | |
Corolla | This is the collection of petals that make up the flower. | |
Corona | Ring of appendages, or ring-like appendage on the inside of the petals or perianth. | |
Cortex (plural Cortices) | The tissue in a stem or root between the epidermis and the vascular tissue on the outer part of the plant. | |
Corticate | Having bark. | |
Corymb (adj. Corymbose) | Flat-topped inflorescence of racemose sort, the upper flower stalks becoming shorter so that all the flowers tend to occur at the same level. | |
Costa (pl. Costae) | A rib or a prominent ridge. | |
Costapalmate | A simple leaf with segments to half its depth that have ribs or strong ridges running longitudinally and forming a circular outline. | |
Costate | Ribbed. | |
Cotyledon | First leaf-like organ(s) of a plant either remaining within the seed coat (in hypogeal germination) or raised above the ground (in epigeal germination). | |
Creeper | A plant that grows across the ground, up walls or over fences. | |
Cremocarp | A dry fruit that has two one seeded carpels that separates on maturity into mericarps, as in Umbelliferae family. | |
Crest | Toothed or irregular edge on the upper part of an organ. | |
Crossing | The term used for the process of cross-fertilisation. | |
Crown | In a tree it is the part above the first branches and in turf it is compressed stem where the leaves, roots, tillers and stems emerge. | |
Crozier | This is the coiled young frond of ferns. | |
Cruciform (Cruciate) | When in the form of a cross. | |
Cryptogam | Having the capability to remain dormant for a long period in the absence of water. | |
Cryptophyte | A plant with resting buds, that is either beneath the ground as in a rhizome or bulb, or under water. | |
Cucullate | Hood-shape. | |
Culm | Stalk of grass or sedge. | |
Cultigen | A plant that has been cultivated and hybridised so extensively that the wild origins are uncertain or lost. | |
Cultivar | A cultivated variety that may not be attached to a particular species, but has been selected for a particular attribute or attributes. | |
Cupule | Cup-shaped sheath or bract surrounding some fruits. | |
Cuticle | A waxy layer of cutin, covering the outer surface of the epidermis restricting the movement of water and gases in and out of a plant. | |
Cyathium | A leaf that is modified to form other specialised functions such as a bud-scale or rhizome and a cotyledon. | |
Cyathophylls | The bract-like structure of a euphorbia on which the involucre sits, usually but not always occurring in twos | |
Cylindric (cylindrical) | With the shape of a straight tube but is solid. | |
Cyme (adj. Cymose) | Inflorescence with tip terminated by a flower, so further flowers arise from new lateral growth, and the central or terminal flowers opening first. | |
Cypsela | Small, single-seeded indehiscent fruit, as seen in daisies and an achene fruit derived from an inferior ovary. | |
Cyst | A bladder or sack containing a liquid secretion. | |
Cystolith | Crystalline inclusion(s) within cell, visible in leaves of certain plants. | |
Cystolith | This is a rounded stone-like mass like calcium carbonate that appears in the epidermal cells in some plant species. | |
Cytoplasm | The protoplasm of a plant cell excluding the nucleus. | |
DBH | The standard measurement of a tree trunk, diameter at breast height normally 1.4m (4½ft). | |
Deciduous | Seasonal shedding of leaves in perennial plants. | |
Declinate | Downward curvature of the stamens of a flower. | |
Decumbent | A shoot that is mainly prostrate turning upwards and ascending towards the tip. | |
Decurrent | As when a leaf blade extends past its place of insertion giving the stem a ribbed appearance. | |
Decussate | Arrangement of organs in opposite pairs at right angles to each other successively, at regular intervals, at different heights on an axis, as in leaves on a stem. | |
Deflexed | Abruptly bent downwards. | |
Dehiscent | Opening or splitting, with the purpose of shedding pollen or seed. | |
Deltoid | Triangular shape. | |
Dendriform | Tree-like. | |
Dendritic | Hairs that are branched like a tree. | |
Dendrology | The study of trees. | |
Depauperate | Poor conditions lacking essential elements for growth. | |
Dermal | The outer covering of an organ. | |
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Diatropism | The growth of a plant at right angles to the growth source, as in a horizontal rhizome. | |
Dichasial (cyme) | A cyme having two lateral flowers or branches originating from opposite points beneath a terminal flower. | |
Dichotomously | Dichotomously branched is when the terminal bud divides forming two equal branches that are not derived from axillary buds. | |
Dichotomy | When divided into two parts. | |
Dicotyledon | A plant, the embryo of which has two cotyledons. | |
Digitate | When arranged like the fingers on a hand. | |
Dilated | Become broad or enlarged. | |
Dimorphism (adj. Dimorphic) | Having two forms, such as in the life cycle of ferns. | |
Dioecious | Male and female flowers borne on separate plants. | |
Diploid | When a cell containing two sets of chromosomes. | |
Diptera (Flies) | The larvae of this insect, which are maggots, have chewing mouthparts and the adults have piercing and or sucking mouthparts. They have a complete metamorphosis and one pair of wings. | |
Dipterous | Having two wings. | |
Disc Floret | A single regular flower, from the centre of a flower head, normally in the Compositae family. | |
Discolorous | Varying or different colours. | |
Disjunct | Having a widely separated disontinuous geographical distribution. | |
Disk | Fleshy or nectar-secreting part of the receptacle surrounding, or on top of the ovary. Also the reduced stem at the base of a bulb or the name referring to the central part of a capitulum. | |
Dispersal | The scattering of seeds away from the parent plant. | |
Dissected | Divided into segments. | |
Distichous | When leaves are arranged in 2-ranks, opposite sides of the stem and on the same plane. | |
Diurnal | Occurring during daylight. | |
Divaricate | When forked or widely divergent. | |
Divergent | When plants spread away from each other. | |
Domatia | Small projections, often on leaves. | |
Dormancy | The lack of growth in any plant part as a result of internally or external induced factors. | |
Dormant seed | A seed that fail to germinate though the embryo is alive and has absorbed water in favourable environmental conditions. | |
Dorsifixed | Where the filament is attached to the back of an anther. | |
Double Flower | A flower with additional petals to the typical form. | |
Drip Tip | This is a long pointed apex that aids in the rapid shedding of water from the leaf surface. | |
Droppler | A downward growing shoot from a bulb, producing a bulb at its apex. | |
Drupe | The inevitable results of imbibing excessive quantities of cheap plonk. Or, a fleshy fruit with one or more seeds surrounded by a hard or stony layer (eg cherry). | |
Dwarf | A variety of plant that is much smaller than the average in a species. | |
Ear | A description of an inflorescence in a cereal grass. | |
Echinate | Having spines which are not sharp. | |
Ecology | This is the study of plants and animals and there interaction with the environment. | |
Elaiosome | Fleshy, oily outgrowth of seed attractive to ants. | |
Ellipse | A flattened circle shape. | |
Ellipsoid | A three dimensional elliptical shape. | |
Emarginate | Notched at the tip. | |
Embryo | Rudimentary plant contained within the seed. | |
Emulsion | When the droplets of one fluid are suspended in another such as in oil and water. | |
Endemism (adj. Endemic) | Restricted geographically location to a single area, place, region or country. | |
Endocarp | Innermost layer of the fruit wall; often becomes hard and stony in drupes. | |
Endogenous | Developing within the plant. | |
Endophyte | When a plant lives inside another plant. | |
Endosperm | Nutritive tissue or food reserve surrounding the embryo in some seeds of flowering plants. | |
Endozoic | Editable fruits that are dispersed by animals, normally in its waste material. | |
Entomophily | When a flower is pollinated by insects. | |
Environment | All external influence acting on a plant. | |
Enzyme | A protein produced by a cell that is a catalyst for a biochemical reaction. | |
Epharmonic | Modification in a form for a specific ecologic condition. | |
Ephemeral | When lasting for a short period of time. | |
Epicalyx | Whorl of sepal-like appendages outside the true calyx. | |
Epicarp (exocarp) | The outer layer of the pericarp. | |
Epichile | This is the apical portion of the labellum found in an orchid. | |
Epicormic | Shoots that occur from large branches or from the side of a trunk. | |
Epidermis (adj. Epidermal) | Outermost layer of living cells affording a protective cover to herbaceous plant organs. | |
Epigeal | When the seed coat is carried to the surface of the soil by the cotyledons. | |
Epigynous | Having stamens and perianth inserted on top of the ovary. | |
Epipetalous | Attached to the petals or corolla. | |
Epiphyte | This is an independent plant that requires another plant for support, with no soil and some superficial nutrients from decaying matter. | |
Epiphyte (adj. Epiphytic) | Plant growing on the surface of another, without deriving nourishment from its support as a parasite does. | |
Episepalous | Attached to the sepals or calyx. | |
Epithelium | Secretory cells that line internal cavities in plants, producing gum or resin. | |
Epizoic | When seeds are dispersed by animals fur using hooks or barbs. | |
Erect | Upright, with its stalk at the base (of ovules). | |
Escape | When a plant has established its self out side the defined garden. | |
Espalier | A method of pruning and tying branches to a frame or against a wall. | |
Etiolated (Adj. Etiolation) | When a plant is weak or pale in colour, drawn out with a long internodal spacing from the lack of light. | |
Evergreen | A plant that retains its leaves throughout the year. | |
Exfoliation (Adj. Exfoliating) | It is the process of shedding bark in plates, layers or flakes. | |
Exindusiate | Without an indusium | |
Exine | Outer layer of pollen grain wall. | |
Exocarp | Outermost layer of the fruit wall. | |
Exotic | A plant that is not native to the area and originated from another country. | |
Exserted | Sticking out from surrounding parts. | |
Exstipulate | Without stipules. | |
Extrorse | Opening away from the central axis of the flowers (of anthers). | |
Eye | Eye Botanically it describes the pits on a potato tuber, the roundish areas on the base of a coconut or indicates the position where a shoot will emerge, from a germinating seed. | |
F1 | The first resulting hybrid from a cross of two different parent plants. | |
F2 | The second generation resulting from F1 crosses. | |
Fall | Describing the outermost perianth segments of certain flowers, i.e. Iris. Also a description of autumn, (when leaves fall). | |
Family | Group of genera resembling each other by a combination of characteristics more closely than they resemble other groups and, in plants, given a Latin name, usually based on one of the genera, with the family suffix ~ae or ~aceae (eg Palmae, Ericaceae, etc). | |
Farinose | When covered in fine powder. | |
Fasciation | When a stem has a flattened appearance as if several stems are placed side to side. Caused by meristem damage resulting from bacteria or mutation, i.e. the flower of Celosia cristate is a mutation. | |
Fascicle | Bundle. | |
Felted | When densely matted with intertwined hairs. | |
Female | Containing functional gynoecium but no stamens, or only their rudiments (of flowers). | |
Fenestration | This is a translucent area found in a leaf or flower. | |
Fern | A plant that is in the Filicopsida class and having large fronds. | |
Fern Ally | A plant in the class of Psilotopsida (forked ferns) or Lycopsida (club mosses and quillworts) and Equisetopsida (horsetails). | |
Fertilisation | Fusion of male and female reproductive cells in the ovule after pollination. | |
Fibres | Cells that are elongated and pointed at both ends. (thread-like) | |
Filament | The supporting thread-like structure of the anther in the flower. | |
Filament | Anther stalk. | |
Filiform | Thread-like. | |
Fimbriate | Fringed (of edges). | |
Firfuraceous | Scaly or scurfy. | |
Fissure | Normally a narrow opening caused by the separation of organs. | |
Flabellate | Fan-like. | |
Flaccid | Having a withered or limp appearance. | |
Floccose | Having small tufts of hairs. | |
Flora | The plants that grow in a particular region. | |
Floral Diagram | A detailed cross section drawing of a flower, showing the position of all parts. | |
Floret | Generally a very small flower and in grasses an individual flower that is enclosed by a lemma and a palea. | |
Floriferous | Having numerous flowers. | |
Flower | Reproductive structure comprising calyx, corolla, androecium, and gynoecium found in angiosperms. | |
Foetid (Fetid) | Pungent, with a highly unpleasant smell. | |
Foliage | Relating to all the leaves of a plant. | |
Foliose | Leafy | |
Forb | Herbaceous plants other than a grass. | |
Form | A description of a slight variation in a plant, i.e. flower colour. | |
Free | Unfused. | |
Frond | It is a combination of a leaf and stem (not leaves). | |
Fructification | The production of fruit in flowering plants or the spore bearing structures of a fern. | |
Fruit | Structure containing the seeds and comprising the ripened ovary, or also parts of the receptacle. | |
Fruticose | Shrubby habit. | |
Funicle | Ovule stalk. | |
Fused | Completely united. | |
Galea | A hood structure that is composed of the perianth segments of a flower. | |
Gamete | A male or female sex cell that unites at fertilisation to form a zygote. | |
Gametophyte | When plants cells are reduced by half during the sex stage of the life cycle, normally diploid is reduced to haploid. | |
Gamophyllous | When a flower has petals and sepals that are united. | |
Geminate | When arranged in pairs. | |
Gemma | When a plantlet develops from adventitious bud on a fern frond. | |
Gene | A fixed unit on a chromosome that by its self or with other units determines such things as flower colour, hight or any of the characteristics of a plant. | |
Genet | The production of one or more individuals from the asexual reproduction of a single zygote. | |
Genus (pl. Genera) | Group of species resembling each other by a combination of characteristics more closely than they resemble other groups, and the generic name forming the first part of the two-word species name (eg Ficus, Santalum, etc). | |
Geocarpy | Fruits that ripen below the ground with the flowers born above the ground. | |
Geophyte | A herbaceous plant that perennates by using underground buds as in bulbs, corms and tubers. | |
Germination | This is the process of reactivation of the metabolic machinery of the seed. The emergence of the root and shoot. | |
Gibbose | Having a pouch-like swelling. | |
Girdle Scar | A scar that is left from the previous years terminal bud. | |
Glabrous | Without hairs or other large projections. | |
Gland (adj. Glandular) | Organ secreting oil, resin, nectar or water. | |
Glaucous | Bluish cast produced by waxy substance on organs. | |
Globose | Spherical or rounded. | |
Glochidium | Having barbed hair or bristles. | |
Glume | A state of unhappiness. Or, a pair of bracts present at the base of a spikelet as in grasses and sedges. | |
Glutinous | Sticky. | |
Graft | Joining of living parts of differant origins to form a single plant. | |
Graminoid | Grass-like. | |
Gregarious | Growing in open clusters. | |
Guard Cell | A pair of cells in the stoma that control the size of the aperture, and regulate the flow of gases in and out of the plant. | |
Guttation | Secretion of water droplets from the leaf apex or margin from the hydathodes. | |
Gymnosperm | A seed bearing vascular plant that normally produces cone structures. | |
Gynobasic | Arising near the base of a deeply lobed ovary (of styles). | |
Gynoecium | The female parts of a flower; unfused carpels or an ovary of fused carpels. | |
Gynophore | Gynoecium stalk. | |
Habit | The form and shape of growth of a plant. | |
Habitat | The location where a plant lives and is governed by soil type, moisture, temperature and other environmental conditions. | |
Halophyte | A plant that has adapted to tolerate saline conditions. | |
Hamate | Hooked. | |
Haploid | When a cell has half the number of chromosomes. | |
Haplostele | A central core of xylem surrounded by a ring of phloem. | |
Hardiness | The ability of a plant to withstand unfavourable conditions, normally relating to cold temperature. | |
Hartwood (Duramen) | The older inner layers of wood in the trunk of a tree. | |
Hastate | Halberd (or pole-axe)-shaped. | |
Hastula | Tissue that forms a flap and is found at the junction of the petiole and lamina of some palm species. | |
Haustorium | Fleshy outgrowth attaching a parasitic plant to its host. | |
Head | Description of a dense inflorescence as in the capitulum in the Compositae. | |
Heel | Is a small piece of tissue that is torn from the stem when a cutting is taken. | |
Helices (pl. helix) | The curve formed by a straight line drawn on a plane when that plane is wrapped around a cylindrical surface. | |
Heliophyte | When a plant adapts to living under high light intensities. | |
Heliotropic | When a plant turns towards the light. | |
Helophyte | A plant that grows in a marsh with its resting buds below the surface. | |
Hemi-parasite (Half-parasite) | When a plant derives some of its nourishment from a host. | |
Hemiptera (True Bugs)- | These insects have piercing and sucking mouthparts with an incomplete metamorphosis. They have two pairs of wings with the forewings thicker at the base and covering the hindwings at rest. | |
Herb (adj. Herbaceous) | The old bloke who lives next-door. Also, any non-woody plant excluding mosses and algae, or a general name for medicinal or culinary plants (which are not always non-woody). | |
Herbaceous Perennial | A herb that shoots partially or wholly dies back at the end of the growing period and re-shoots after a period of dormancy. | |
Hermaphrodite | Having functional male and female organs in the same flower, or on the same plant. | |
Heterostyly (adj. Heterostylous) | Having styles and stamens of different lengths in flowers on different individuals of the same species. | |
Hetrophyllous | When a plant has more than one type of leaf. | |
Hibernaculum | A winter bud that the plant regenerates from, after dying down. | |
Hibernal | Occurring during winter. | |
Hip | This is the false fruit in the genus Rosa, forming a fleshy hollow containing achenes. | |
Hirsute | When the surface is covered in coarse hairs. | |
Hispid | When having stiff, bristly hairs. | |
Hoary | When covered in small whitish hairs giving a frosted appearance. | |
Homogeneous | When a structure is uniform, composed of simular or identical parts. | |
Homologous | Having simular structure and origin. | |
Homoptera (Aphids, Mealy Bugs) | These insects have piercing and sucking mouthparts and an incomplete metamorphosis. They have either two pairs of wings or none and both pairs of wings are the same. This includes Scales. | |
Hormone | A substance that has a specific effect on the plants growth or development. | |
Hose-in-hose | When a flower grows from within another flower, normally in pairs. | |
Host | The plant that supplies the nutrients for a parasite. | |
Husk | The outer covering of certain seeds, as in Zea mays, (sweet corn). | |
Hybrid | Offspring resulting from fertilisation of a member of one sub-species, species or genus by a different member. | |
Hydrochory | The dispersal of seeds by water. | |
Hydrophyte | When pollination occurs by water. | |
Hydrophyte | An aquatic plant, requiring waterlogged soils to grow in. | |
Hydrotropism | When a plant grows towards water, normally roots seeking water. | |
Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, Ants) | These insects have two pairs of similar wings and chewing mouthparts. Their metamorphosis is complete and the larvae are grubs. It includes Sawflies. | |
Hypanthium | This is a floral cup or tube-like structure that is created from the fusion of calyx lobes. It is also fused to other floral parts including the stamens and petals at the apex. | |
Hypocotyl | The part that gives rise to the roots below the cotyledons in a seedling. | |
Hypogeal | When the cotyledons remain underground during germination. | |
Hypogynous | Having stamens and perianth inserted around the base of the ovary. | |
Imbricate | Overlapping organs, like tiles on a roof. | |
Imperfect Flower | When a flower has only the androecium or the gynoecium functioning. | |
In Vitro Culture | Under glass, study of plants under sterile conditions and away from the parent. | |
Incised | A deep cut into narrow angular divisions. | |
Incompatible | Unable to produce viable offspring. | |
Incurved | Curved upwards, normally associated with leaf margins. | |
Indehiscent | Not opening or splitting for the purpose of releasing seed or pollen. | |
Indumentum | Hair covering. | |
Induplicate | When folded inwards or upwards. | |
Indurate | Hardened. | |
Indusium | This is the membrane that covers the sorus. | |
Inferior ovary | An ovary that is embedded in the pedicle with the perianth and stamens above. | |
Inflorescence | Flowering part of a shoot comprising axes, flowers and bracts. | |
Inserted | When growing out from another part of the plant. | |
Internode | Portion of stem between two successive nodes. | |
Intrafloral | Within the flower. | |
Intramarginal | Close to or within the margins. | |
Introduced | A plant that has its origin in another region. | |
Introrse | Opening towards the central axis of the flower (of anthers). | |
Introrse | When the anthers face inwards towards the centre of the flower. | |
Involucre | One or more whorls of bracts at the base of the flower. | |
Involute | When the leaf margins are rolled inwards on the upper surface of the leaf. | |
Irregular | Not in regular symmetry. | |
Isomorphic | With simular form. | |
Isthmus | When an organ has a narrow part connecting two broader parts. | |
Jugate | When joined together in pairs. | |
Juvenile Foliage | Young leaves, normally different to adult foliage, as in some Eucalyptus species. | |
Keel | A term to describe a ridge or sharp fold on the back of a sheath or blade in turfgrass. | |
Keiki | A plantlet produced asexually by an orchid plant appearing from a node. | |
Kernel | A cereal grass grain or an editable nut within a hard pericarp. | |
Key-out | A method of sorting a plant into family, genus and species. | |
Kingdom | A taxonomic rank including all plants with a number of divisions. | |
Knot | This is the hard tissue formed where a branch grows from a trunk and is seen clearly in cross section. | |
Labellum | A modified petal, a lip in the Orchidaceae family or a showy petaloid structure in Zingiberaceae and Costaceae family. It is a part of a flower the attracts insects and acts as a landing platform for pollination. | |
Lacerate | Irregular cut or jagged. | |
Laciniate | Split into narrow, slender lobes. | |
Lacuna | A space or cavity. | |
Lamina | Thin flat blade of a leaf or petal. | |
Lanate | Woolly. | |
Lateral | On the side. | |
Latex | Milky juice characteristic of some plants. | |
Lax | Not dense, loose and open. | |
Leaf | Aerial, sterile appendages of the stem, together comprising the shoot system, the chief function being food manufacture by photosynthesis. | |
Leaf Apex | The point at the top of a leaf, the apex. | |
Leaf Sheath | When the lower part of a leaf stalk is encloses the stem. | |
Leaflet | A separate piece of a compound leaf. | |
Legume | Capsular fruit opening along one or two sutures in Leguminosae. | |
Lemma | In a grass it is the lowermost scale of a floret. | |
Lenticel | A space or pore that appears corky on the bark and allows for gaseous exchange from the inner tissues to the atmosphere. | |
Lepidoptera (Moths, Butterflies) | The larvae of these insects are grubs or caterpillars and they have chewing mouthparts. The adults have sucking mouthparts, a complete metamorphosis and two pairs of similar wings. | |
Lepidote | When covered in small fine scales. | |
Liana (Liane) | A climber with woody stems and grows in rainforests from the ground to the tree canopy. | |
Life Cycle | The development of a plant from a stage in its life through to that stage again. | |
Ligneous | Woody. | |
Lignotuber | A swelling growth at the base of the plant and maybe underground, containing dormant buds that shoot when top growth is lost. | |
Ligulate | Strap-like, small tongue-like | |
Ligule | Scale-like membrane on leaf surface, or strap-shaped corolla of some Compositae, or appendage on palm petiole. | |
Ligule (Costus) | It is an extension of the leaf sheath that continues above the place where the petiole is joined to the sheath. The length is used as an identifier in the Costus species. | |
Lineate | Marked with lines. | |
Lip | One or two divisions of a bilabiate corolla. | |
Lithophyte | A plant that grows on bare rock or rocks (substratum). | |
Littoral | In relation to a seashore or lakeside region. | |
Loam | A loose soil that is composed of clay and sand with organic matter and is fertile. | |
Lobe | A division of an organ, normally rounded. | |
Locule | Chamber. | |
Loculicidal | Splitting open longitudinally along the mid-rib of each fruit segment wall. | |
Lustrous | Glossy, smooth and shiny. | |
Lyrate | Is a pinnate leaf with the terminal lobe being large and rounded with successive leaflets being rounded and smaller. | |
Macrophyll | A term to describe larger leaves. | |
Macrophyte | A plant that can be seen with the naked eye, especially an aquatic species. | |
Maculate | Having spots or markings. | |
Male | Containing functional androecium but no carpels or ovary, or only their rudiments (of flowers). | |
Malodorous | Having a bad smell. | |
Massula | When a single cell develops a cluster of pollen grains. | |
Mat | In grasses this is the area between the top of the green vegetation and the soil. This includes living and dead stems, root material and top dressing soil. | |
Mealy | Covered in flower-like, coarse powder. | |
Medial (Median) | The middle. | |
Medulla | Centre of an organ, as in the pith of a young stem. | |
Megaspore | When a spore develops into a female gametophyte. | |
Membranous | When thin and transparent. | |
Mericarp | One-seeded piece of a fruit that splits apart when mature (eg Umbelliferae). | |
Meristem | Tissue that undergoes cell division throughout the plants life and is found in the tips of shoots and roots, also in the cambium. | |
Mesic | A habitat with a well balanced supply of moisture in the soil and organic matter. | |
Mesocarp | The mid-layer of the fruit (between exocarp and endocarp). | |
Mesophyll | The photosynthetic tissue inside a leaf. | |
Mesophyte | A plant that grows and is adapted to moist positions. | |
Metamorphosis | Changing from one structure to another, as in stamens to petals. | |
Microclimate | The climatic conditions that occur in a small area or region. | |
Micronutrients (Trace Elements) | Elements that are only required in small amounts for plant growth, such as, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, molybdenum, chlorine and copper. | |
Microsporangium | Is a spore sack where the microspores are produced. | |
Microspore | A spore that develops into a male gametophyte. | |
Microsporophyll | A leaflike structure that bears microsporangia such as a the male cones of conifers and corresponds to the stamen of a flowering plant. | |
Midrib | The middle and main vein of a leaf. | |
Moniliform | A cylindrical structure that has constrictions at regular intervals. Looks like a chain of beads. | |
Monocarpic | Flowering and fruiting once before dying. | |
Monocotyledon | A plant, the embryo of which has one cotyledon. | |
Monoecious | Male and female flowers borne on the same plant. | |
Monopodial | Branches arising from a single main axis. | |
Monospecific | A genus containing only one species. | |
Monotypic | Genus or family comprising of a single species. | |
Montane | When growing in mountainous regions. | |
Morphology | The study of a plants form. | |
Mucro | A short, sharp tip. | |
Muricate | Roughness caused by tiny excrescences. | |
Mutant | A sport, an individual plant that has occurred from a mutation. | |
Mycorrhiza | Symbiotic fungi associated with the roots of certain seed plants. | |
Myrmecochory | Seed dispersal by ants. | |
Naked | Lacking perianth (of flowers). | |
Nastic Movement | Independent movement of a plant, such as opening or closing flowers in response to temperature or light. | |
Natant | Floating in water. | |
Naturalised | Established after being introduced from another region. | |
Necrosis | Localised dead tissue surrounded by live tissue. | |
Nectar | Sugary secretion from the flowers of some plants. | |
Nectary | Gland from which nectar is secreted. | |
Needle | A narrow leaf description, as in conifers. | |
Neotropical | A zoogeographical region that includes Central and South America, tropical Mexico and the Caribbean. | |
Net-veined | Veins that are joined forming a network across the leaf. | |
Neutral Soils | Soils with a pH of 7. | |
Nitrogen Fixation | A bacterial process converting gaseous nitrogen into compounds that are used by plants. | |
Nocturnal | Occurring at night. | |
Node | Part of the stem which bears a leaf or bract. | |
Nodule | A rounded growth on plant roots that contains nitrogen-fixing bacteria. | |
Nose | The pointed end of a bulb. | |
Nuciferous | Bearing nuts. | |
Nut (dim. nutlet) | Simple, dry indehiscent one-seeded fruit with woody pericarp. | |
Nutrient | A substance required for plant growth. | |
Obligate | A plant which is unable to grow on its own without recourse to parasitism, saprophytism, or carnivory. | |
Obvolute | When one leaf half raps around another leaf when in bud. | |
Ochrea | Cup-shaped or tubular sheath formed from joined stipules above a node. | |
Odorous | With a distinct smell. | |
Offset (Offshoot) | A runner that produces a new plant from the parent. | |
Oleiferous | Producing oil. | |
Ombrophytic | A plant that grows in rainy habitats. | |
Operculum | A shedding cover or cap of a flower. | |
Opposite | Arrangement of organs in pairs adjacent to each other successively at regular intervals on an axis. | |
Orbiculate | More or less circular in outline. | |
Order | A taxonomic rank composed of a group of families, ending with ‘-ales’ | |
Ornithophily | Pollination by birds. | |
Orthoptera (Grasshoppers Locusts) | This insect has chewing mouthparts and two pairs of wings with the thicker forewings covering the hindwings when at rest. They have an incomplete metamorphosis and their hindlegs are modified for jumping. | |
Orthotropic | When growing directly towards the source of the stimulus. | |
Osmosis | When molecules of a solution of low concentration move to one of high constriction through a membrane that is semi-permeable until they are balanced. | |
Outgrowth | A structure that grows out from the main body. | |
Ovary | Fusion together of more than one carpel into a protective structure enclosing the ovules and surmounted by a style (or styles) and stigma(s). | |
Ovule | Structure containing the egg-cell, developing in to a seed after fertilisation and situated in the carpels or ovary. | |
Pachycaulous | A plant with a disproportionately thick trunk for its height, and has few branches. | |
Palea | Generally it is a bract that has a thin and stiff texture and in grass it is the upper scale of a floret partially enclosed by the lemma. | |
Pannose | When densely matted with woolly hairs, felty. | |
Papillose | Having tiny, pimple-like projections. | |
Pappus | Compositae fruit that forms a feathering or tufted bristles. | |
Parasite | Organism deriving its food from another living organism, via a physical attachment. | |
Parenchyma | Soft tissue consisting of thin walled cells and often having spacing, as in pulp of fruit. | |
Parietal | Type of placentation of ovules situated on the inner surface of the outer wall of the ovary. | |
Pathogen | This is an organism that causes disease. | |
Pectinate | Comb-like | |
Pedate | A palmate leaf with the primary leaflets are again divided (foot-shape). | |
Pedicel | A stalk of a single flower. | |
Peduncle | The stalk of an inflorescence. | |
Pellucid | Being transparent, clear | |
Peltate | The leaf-stalk (petiole) inserted through the leaf blade. | |
Pendent (Pendulous, Pensile) | Hanging downwards. | |
Pepo | A hard-walled berry with many seeds, as found in the family Curcurbitaceae. | |
Perennate | To live for many years like a perennial. | |
Perennial | Living longer than two years, usually flowering each year. | |
Perfect | Functional male and female organs present (of flowers). | |
Perfect Flower | A flower with functioning androecium and gynoecium. | |
Perianth | The sterile floral organs comprising sepals and petals or, where indistinguishable, the tepals as in lilies. | |
Pericarp | Fruit wall developing from the ovary wall to encase the seed. | |
Periderm | This is a secondary protective layer replacing epidermis in older stems and roots, normally corky. | |
Perigynous | Having stamens and perianth inserted around (and at the same level as) the ovary. | |
Perisperm | A nutritive tissue that is an accessory to endosperm of a seed. | |
Peristome | The slippery rim of a pitcher in a carnivorous plant or an anatomical feature that surrounds an opening to an organ. | |
Perular Scale | A basial scale that persists after the development of the shoot. | |
Petal | Sterile member of the inner perianth series between sepals and stamens; often coloured. | |
Petaloid | Petal-like. | |
Petiolate | Having a leaf stalk (petiole) | |
Petiole | It is the supporting part that joins the base of a leaf to the branch. It may vary from a simple straight petiole to swollen, winged, or sheathing. | |
Petrophilous | Plants adapted to a rocky environment. | |
pH | The value of hydrogen-ion concentration, with a scale from 1 (extreme acid) to 15 (extreme alkaline). | |
Phloem | This is the vascular tissue that carries sap, which contains nutrients from the leaves to the other parts of the plant. | |
Photoperiodism | A plants response to day or night, normally relating to flower development. | |
Photosynthesis | Process of manufacture of sugars from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, based on the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy, via the agency of chlorophyll. | |
Phylloclade | Is a flattened branch or stem-joint resembling and functioning as a leaf. | |
Phyllode | Is a petiole that functions as an entire leaf. | |
Phyllopodium | An outgrowth on the rhizome of a fern that produces fronds. | |
Phylogeny | Plants relationship determined by evolutionary history. | |
Pigment | The natural colouring in plant tissue. | |
Pilose | Having soft hairs. | |
Pinna (pl. Pinnae) | The primary leaflets in a compound leaf. | |
Pinnatifid | A leaf that is becoming pinnate with the divisions reaching one third to half way to the mid rib. | |
Pinnule | A secondary or tertiary leaflet of a bipinnate leaf. | |
Pistil (adj. Pistillate) | The gynoecium of a flower. Pistillate, referring to a female flower when the only fertile parts are carpels. The pistil includes the ovary, style and stigma when present. | |
Pistillate | A flower where the fertile parts are carpels. | |
Placenta | That part of the ovary-wall vascular system to which the ovules are attached. | |
Placentation | The pattern of arrangement of placentas in the ovary. | |
Plica | A fold. | |
Plicate | Folded together, as in a fan. | |
Plumose | Feathery. | |
Plumule | Rudimentary shoot in the embryo of a seed. | |
Pneumatophore | A special stem-like root for gaseous exchange in poorly aerated soils normally found in mangroves. | |
Pollarding | Is a method of changing a tall but sparsely foliage tree by pruning at a given level to produce pollard-shoots and encourage a denser crown. | |
Pollen | The male's spores produced in the anthers. | |
Pollination | The transfer, by various means, of pollen grains from stamen to stigma. | |
Pollinium (pl. Pollinia) | Coherent pollen mass found in orchid flowers and transferred, as a unit, during pollination. | |
Polyandrous | Having many stamens. | |
Polygamodioecious | With male and bisexual flowers on one plant, and female and bisexual flowers on others. | |
Polygamous | With separate male, female and bisexual flowers on the same plant. | |
Polygynous | Having many styles. | |
Polymorphic | Variation of the appearance within a species in different forms. | |
Polypetalous | Having distinct free petals. | |
Polyploid | Having more than the normal two sets of chromosomes in each cell. | |
Polystichous | When arranged in several or many rows. | |
Polytelic | When the inflorescence branches end with no flowers. | |
Pore | A small aperture that is normally rounded. | |
Precocious Flower | One that opens early in the season before the leaves develop in deciduous plants. | |
Prickle | A sharp outgrowth from a stem, as in Rosa species. | |
Procumbent | Laying flat on the ground with out rooting. | |
Profile | A vertical exposure of soils from the surface to the underlining unweathered material. | |
Progeny | Immediate descendent, as in a offspring. | |
Prolepsis | When a bud forms a lateral shoot after dormancy. | |
Proliferating | When buds are produced in the axils of the perianth segments. | |
Prop Root (Stilt Root) | An adventitious root that grows from the lower stem or branch to the soil for support. | |
Propagation | The multiplication of plants by means of, seed, cuttings, division or under sterile conditions as in Vitro culture. | |
Prophyll | Bracteole. | |
Prothallus | When a plant develops from a spore and lacks roots, stem or true leaves, but has male and/or female sex organs. | |
Protogynous | Receptiveness of stigmas before stamens release pollen. | |
Protoplasm | This is the living material within the plant cell. | |
Provernal | Occurring during early spring. | |
Pruinose | With a bloom. | |
Pseudanthia | A special type of inflorescence that can contain hundreds of flowers. (Greek: false flower) | |
Pseudobulb | This is a thickened upright stem (false bulb which stores food and water). | |
Ptyxis | The way a single leaf is folded up in a bud. | |
Pubescent | Covered in short straight hairs that may be downy. | |
Pullulate | To sprout, germinate or bud. | |
Pulse | Editable seeds in the family Leguminosae, as in beans, peas and lentils. | |
Pulvinate | Cushion-like. | |
Punctate | When marked in dots, depressions or translucent glands. | |
Pungent | Ending in a sharp point. | |
Pyrenes | Nutlets in a drupe. | |
Rachillae | A small or secondary rachis as in a spiklet or a palm inflorescence | |
Rachis (pl. rachides) | The axis of a compound leaf or an inflorescence. | |
Radical | When leaves arise directly from the rootstock. | |
Radicant | Rooting. | |
Rambler | A plant that climbs over adjacent plants, walls or fences. | |
Ramose | Having many branches. | |
Ray | It is the outer modified florets or some composites, when the corolla has an extended strap-like part. It is also referred to the branches of umbles. | |
Ray Floret | One of the outer flowers in a flower head, normally in Compositae family. | |
Recurved | Curved backwards, commonly associated to leaf margins. | |
Reflexed | When bent abruptly backwards. | |
Refracted | When a leaf margin is sharply bent down enclosing some of the underside. | |
Remontant | A plant that blooms more than once in a season. | |
Repent (Reptant) | When a plant creeps along the ground. | |
Resin | A sticky insoluble substance that may be fragrant secreted by special cells in conifers. | |
Resupinate | Turned completely around as to appear upside down. | |
Reticulate | When marked with a network pattern. | |
Retuse | Having a slight notch at the apex. | |
Revolute | Referring to a lamina when the margin rolls back underneath towards the mid-rib. | |
Rhachi | A spine. | |
Rheophyte | Is an aquatic plant that lives in fast moving water. | |
Rhipidium | A cyme in a fan-shape that has axes only on one plane that is branching alternately from one side to the other. | |
Rhizomatous | A plant that forms a rhizome. | |
Rhizome | Horizontal shoot that is subterranean or prostrate, with adventitious roots and buds. Ferns have short, medium and long creeping rhizomes. | |
Riparian | When growing on the banks or streams. | |
Root | A lower part of a plant that absorbs nutrients and may be branched, also anchors the plant to the ground. | |
Rootstock | The basal persistent part of the stem of erect herbaceous perennials where the new shoots and roots arise in the next growing season. Also the root used as stock in propagation. | |
Rostellum | Forming a beak. | |
Rostrate | Forming a beak | |
Rubiginous | With a rusty colour. | |
Ruderal | A plant that grows in waste places. | |
Rugose (Rugulose) diminutive | Having a wrinkled surface. | |
Ruminate | Having a chewed appearance or with irregular depressions. | |
Runner | Having a creeping stem across the ground and produces new plants at the nodes. | |
Sap | The fluid of a plant. | |
Saprophytic | Living on dead and decaying organic material. | |
Sapwood | The younger layers of wood with cells that still conduct sap. | |
Sarcotesta | A fleshy seed coat. | |
Scabrous | A rough surface caused by minute protuberances. | |
Scale | This is a dry, papery structure that is born on different parts of a fern. | |
Scandent | Climbing as in the use of tendrils. | |
Scape | The floral stem or peduncle of a stemless plant. | |
Scarification | Physical or chemical means of breaking the dormancy of a seed and allow the penetration of water through the seed coat. | |
Schizocarpic | A fruit that is dried and formed from multiple carpels that split and each carpel contains one seed. Not normally dehiscent. | |
Sclerophyll | When a leaf is tough and leathery, normally associated with plants in a warm dry climate. | |
Scrambler | A climbing plant with weak stems that sprawls over other plants or walls. | |
Secretion | When a fluid is produced from a gland and released. | |
Sedge | Any rush-like or grass-like plant that grows in wet places. | |
Seed | It is a ripened ovule that consists of an embryo with its stored food supply and a protective covering. | |
Sepal | The leaf-like unit of a calyx. | |
Septate | Divided by partitions, (septa) | |
Septum | A partition as in the walls that separate the loculi in an ovary. | |
Serotinal | When occurring during late summer. | |
Sessile | A flower, leaf or plant structure with no supporting part, example; a leaf with no petiole. | |
Seta | A bristle. | |
Setose | When a surface is covered in bristle-like hair. | |
Sheath | A tubular covering. | |
Sicon | A shoot that is inserted into a rootstock for grafting. | |
Siliqua | A capsular fruit from a bicarpellate ovary dehiscent from the base, normally with two valves. | |
Siliqua | A flattened siliqua. | |
Sinus | A recess between two teeth or lobes along a leaf margin. | |
Siphonostele | When the vascula arrangement (stele) forms a hollow tube that has parenchyma in side. | |
Sorus | The fertile part of the frond (collection of sporangia). | |
Spadix (pl. spadices) | An inflorescence, fleshy spike normally with embedded flowers. | |
Spathe | A bract or leaf that encloses the bud stage of a leaf. | |
Spicate | A spike-like structure. | |
Spicula | A secondary spike or needle-like growth. | |
Spikelet | In grasses the inflorescence subtended with a pair of bracts (glumes) with up to five florets. The spikelet may be a Raceme, Spike or Panicle. | |
Spine | An outgrowth that is sharp and woody and may represent an entire leaf. | |
Spinulose | Having small spines. | |
Sporangium | It is a celled structure where the spores are produced. | |
Spore | This is the reproductive unit in a fern. | |
Sporophyll | A leaf or leaf-type that's bearing a sporangium. | |
Sporophylls | Cone scales arranged around a central axis. | |
Sport | Modified version of a plant but not a different species. | |
Spur | A slender projection from a plant or a short leafy branch of a tree, sometimes with clusters of flowers. | |
Squamose | When covered in large coarse scales. | |
Staminode | A sterile stamen-like floral part, like a transition to a petal or a basic stamen. | |
Stele | The primary arrangement of the vascular system. | |
Stipe | This is the leaf petiole (supporting structure) from the rhizome to lamina or from the trunk to the frond. | |
Stipule | Normally a pair of small growths at the union of the twig and petiole of the leaf and commonly falls off as the leaf matures leaving scars. | |
Stock | A rooted stem in which a scion is inserted when grafting. | |
Stolon | A shoot directed towards the ground and developing adventitious roots (natural layering). | |
Stoma (plural Stomata) | A small pore on the underside of leaves that allows gases to pass out of the plant. | |
Stratification | The need to bring a ripe seed out of dormancy by chilling under moist conditions for a period of time. (Depending on the seed) | |
Striate | Having lines, channels or numerous fine parrallel veins with the margin. | |
Strigose | Having stiff hairs or bristles. | |
Strobilus | A structure for reproduction, as in a cone (of conifers) | |
Style | Connects the stigma to the ovary with a sterile filamentous growth through which the pollen tube forms. | |
Suberin | A fatty substance found in cell walls rendering them waterproof and resistant to rot. | |
Suberose | Corky | |
Subshrub (Suffrutex, Undershrub) | A low or small shrub tending to have herbaceous stems. | |
Subulate | When tapering from the base to the apex, awl-shape. | |
Succulent | Having a fleshy and juicy texture. | |
Sucker | A shoot that emerges from the soil close to the parent plant. | |
Sulcate | Describing a surface that is grooved or furrowed. | |
Superior ovary | Above, normally relating to an ovary that is situated above the other floral parts on the receptacle. Hypogynous; with sepals, petals and stamens attached to the receptacle below the ovary. Perigynous; with sepals, petals and stamens arranged around the ovary on an extension of the receptacle (hypanthium). | |
Symbiosis | When two organisms co-exist. | |
Sympodial | Having a branching system. | |
Syn. | An abbreviation for synonym (another name). | |
Syncarp | A fruit type that consists of multiple carpels that is fused to the receptacle. | |
Tannin | An acidic soluble substance with a bitter taste and having astringent properties. | |
Taproot | A large, strong downward root that has smaller lateral roots. | |
Tassel | A male panicle inflorescence. | |
Taxonomy | A type of botany that deals with identification, classification and nomenclature of plants. | |
Temperate Zone | A part of the earth's surface that is located between the tropics and the polar circles. It is a variable zone consisting of cool, warm and subtropical climates. | |
Tendril | A thread-like appendage, which, by coiling around objects, enables plants to climb. | |
Tepal | A perianth segment not clearly identifiable as a petal or sepal. | |
Terete | A circular cross-section. | |
Terminal | Situated at the tip and limiting further growth. | |
Ternate | Compound in three approximately equal parts. | |
Terrestrial | Meaning earth, a plant that grows in the earth. | |
Tessellated | Having chequered markings in square patterns. | |
Testa | Outer protective covering of the seed. | |
Thatch | In grasses this is the layer of undecomposed to decomposed organic matter above the soil. | |
Thsanoptera (Thrips) | These minute insects have an incomplete metamorphosis, they have chewing mouthparts and two pairs of identical wings. | |
Thyrse | An inflorescence whose main axis is indeterminate, and whose secondary axes are cymose. | |
Tiller | A Tiller is an above ground branch that develops from a bud on the stem of a grass plant. | |
Tomentose | Covered with matted hair. | |
Torose | Cylindrical swellings or restrictions at regular intervals. | |
Translocation | The transfer of dissolved substances within the phloem and xylem of the plant. | |
Transpiration | When water vapour is loss into the atmosphere through the stomata. | |
Trimorphic | Occurring in three forms. | |
Tristichous | Arranged in three especially vertical rows | |
Truss | It is a cluster of flowers or fruit that grow on a single stem. | |
Tube | A fused portion of the corolla or calyx. | |
Tuber (adj. Tuberous) | A swollen piece of storage tissue of a stem or root, of one year's duration, that doesn't give rise to new tubers. | |
Tubercle (Podarium) | A little tuberous or warty excrescence. A large modified leaf base or petiole where the leaf no longer exists and is fused to the stem tissues (Podarium). Common in cacti. | |
Tuft | This term describes a loose, compact or dense cluster of vegetative shoots or stems also a small clump of bushes and trees. | |
Tunic | The outer covering of a bulb or corm that is dry and papery. | |
Tunicate | A structure that is surrounded by a membrane or tissue. | |
Turgid | Cells that are, stiff or swollen from the uptake of water. | |
Tussock | Forming a tuft or clump, normally relating to grasses. | |
Typical Insect. | This is a simplified diagram of the external structure. |