Glossary of Botanical Terms
Compiled by Darla |
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Term |
Definition |
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Abaxial....................... | Facing away from the axis | ||||||||||
Abscission................... | The normal shedding of leaves, flowers or fruit from a plant at a special separation layer | ||||||||||
Achene........................ | A small, dry fruit that contains one loose seed and that does not split open spontaneously, e.g., sunflower seed | ||||||||||
Acre............................. | Land measurement of 43,560 square feet, or 0.404686 hectare (ha) | ||||||||||
Acuminate................... | Tapering gradually to a point at the apex | ||||||||||
Acute........................... | Coming sharply to a point at the apex | ||||||||||
Alternate...................... | Arranged Singly at different points along a stem or axis | ||||||||||
Annual........................ | Completing the cycle from seed to death in one year or season | ||||||||||
Apex............................ | The tip | ||||||||||
Appressed.................... | Pressed flat or close up against something | ||||||||||
Aril.............................. | An outer cover or appendage of some seeds | ||||||||||
Ascending................... | Rising upward gradually from a prostrate base | ||||||||||
Awn............................ | A bristle characteristic of the spikelets in some grasses | ||||||||||
Axil............................. | The angle formed by a stem with a branch, leaf stalk, or flower stalk growing from it. | ||||||||||
Axillary....................... | Growing from an axil | ||||||||||
Axis............................ | The main stem of a plant, or a central line of symmetry, development, or growth | ||||||||||
Berry........................... | A stoneless, pulpy fruit containing one or more embedded seeds, e.g., grape | ||||||||||
Biennial...................... | Completing the cycle from seed to death in two years or seasons | ||||||||||
Bilabiate..................... | Two-lipped | ||||||||||
Bipinnate.................... | Pinnate, with pinnate leaflets | ||||||||||
Blade.......................... | The broad, thin part of a leaf or petal | ||||||||||
Bloom......................... | The flower of a plant, or a powdery, whitish coating on leaves, stems, or fruit | ||||||||||
Bract.......................... | A small, sometimes scale-like leaf, usually associated with flower clusters | ||||||||||
Bud............................ | A protuberance on a stem, from which a flower, leaf, or shoot develops | ||||||||||
Bulb........................... | A thick, rounded, underground organ consisting of layered, fleshy leaves and membranes. | ||||||||||
Calyx.......................... | The outer part of a flower, usually consisting of green, leafy sepals | ||||||||||
Capsule....................... | A dry, many-seeded, spontaneously splitting fruit that arises from a compound pistil | ||||||||||
Carpel......................... | The wall of a simple pistil, or part of the wall of a compound pistil | ||||||||||
Catkin........................ | A spike like flower cluster that bears scaly bracts and petal less, unisexual flowers | ||||||||||
Cauline....................... | Relating to or growing on a stem | ||||||||||
Clasping..................... | Partly or completely surrounding the stem | ||||||||||
Claw........................... | The narrow, curved base of a petal or sepal in some flowers | ||||||||||
Compound.................. | Made up of two or more partially or completely united carpels | ||||||||||
Compound pistil......... | A pistil made up of two or more partially or completely united carpels | ||||||||||
Cone........................... | A rounded, more or less elongated cluster of fruits or flowers covered with scales or bracts | ||||||||||
Cordate....................... | Heart shaped, with the point at the apex | ||||||||||
Corm........................... | A bulblike but solid, fleshy underground stem base | ||||||||||
Corolla....................... | The petals of a flower, which may be separate or joined in varying degrees | ||||||||||
Corymb....................... | A generally flat topped flower cluster with pedicels varying in length, the outer flowers opening first | ||||||||||
Creeper....................... | A shoot that grows along the ground, rooting all along its length | ||||||||||
Crenate....................... | Having rounded teeth along the margin | ||||||||||
Culm.......................... | The hollow stem of grasses and bamboos | ||||||||||
Cyme.......................... | A branching, relatively flat-topped flower cluster whose central or terminal flower opens first, forcing the development of further flowers from lateral buds | ||||||||||
Deciduous.................. | Falling off each season (as leaves); bearing deciduous parts (as trees) | ||||||||||
Decompound.............. | Having divisions that are also compound | ||||||||||
Decumbent................. | Lying on the ground but having an ascending tip | ||||||||||
Decurrent................... | Descriptive of leaves whose edges run down onto the stem | ||||||||||
Dentate...................... | Sharply toothed, with the teeth pointing straight out from the margin | ||||||||||
Digitate...................... | Compound, with the elements growing from a single point | ||||||||||
Dilated....................... | Expanded, broadened, flaring | ||||||||||
Disk flower................. | One of the tubular flowers or florets in the center of the flower head of the composite flower such as the daisy | ||||||||||
Dissected.................... | Cut into fine segments | ||||||||||
Double....................... | Descriptive of flowers that have more petals than normal | ||||||||||
Doubly serrate............ | Serrate, with small teeth on the margins of the larger ones | ||||||||||
Drupe......................... | A fleshy fruit containing a single seed in a hard 'stone', e.g., peach | ||||||||||
Entire ........................ | Having no teeth or indentations | ||||||||||
Evergreen................... | Retaining green foliage for more than one season | ||||||||||
Falls........................... | Hanging outer petals, e.g., Iris | ||||||||||
Filiform...................... | Threadlike | ||||||||||
Floret.......................... | A small flower in a flower head or other cluster | ||||||||||
Frond ........................ | The leaf of a fern | ||||||||||
Fruit........................... | The seed bearing part of a plant | ||||||||||
Glabrous.................... | Not hairy | ||||||||||
Glandular.................. | Having glands, which secrete sticky substances | ||||||||||
Glaucous.................... | Covered with bloom | ||||||||||
Globose...................... | Approximately spherical | ||||||||||
Grain.......................... | Achene like fruit, but with the seed not loose | ||||||||||
Head.......................... | A flower spike or raceme shortened to form a compact, flattened to globose cluster | ||||||||||
Hectare (Ha)............. | 2.4710 acres = 1 hectare (ha) | ||||||||||
Herb.......................... | A plant that has no woody tissue and that dies down to the ground at the end of a growing season | ||||||||||
Herbaceous................ | Herblike; not woody | ||||||||||
Hesperidium.............. | A partitioned berry with a leathery, removable rind, e.g., orange | ||||||||||
Hoary........................ | Closely covered with short and fine whitish hairs | ||||||||||
Incised....................... | Sharply and irregularly slashed or cut | ||||||||||
Indigenous................. | Native; naturally occurring | ||||||||||
Inflorescence.............. | Technically, the way flowers are arranged | ||||||||||
Internode................... | The part of a stem or branch between nodes | ||||||||||
Interrupted................ | Describes a structure, the pattern or sequence of whose elements is broken by conspicuous gaps or the insertion of other elements | ||||||||||
Lanceolate................. | Widening to a maximum near the base and tapering to a point at the apex | ||||||||||
Lateral....................... | Occurring on or growing from the side | ||||||||||
Leaf........................... | A vegetative organ which, when complete, consists of a flat blade, a petiole or stalk, and usually two small leafy appendages at the base of the petiole | ||||||||||
Leaflet....................... | A division or part of a compound leaf | ||||||||||
Legume..................... | A one celled fruit that splits along two sutures or seams (e.g., pea) | ||||||||||
Linear........................ | Long and narrow, with nearly parallel sides | ||||||||||
Lip............................. | One of the parts in a corolla or calyx. divided into two unequal parts | ||||||||||
Lobe.......................... | A part of division, especially when rounded, of an organ | ||||||||||
Lyrate ....................... | Lobed to resemble a lyre, with the terminal lobe largest and the lower lobes smaller | ||||||||||
Node......................... | The place where the leaf grows or can grow | ||||||||||
Nut........................... | A hard walled, one seeded fruit that does not split spontaneously, e.g., Filbert | ||||||||||
Ob-........................... | A prefix that indicates reversal or inversion of the usual orientation | ||||||||||
Oblong...................... | Larger than wide and rounded at the ends, with nearly parallel sides for much of the length | ||||||||||
Obtuse...................... | Rounded or blunt | ||||||||||
Opposite.................... | Growing two to a node on opposite sides | ||||||||||
Orbicular................... | Circular or approximately round | ||||||||||
Oval.......................... | Broadly elliptical | ||||||||||
Ovate......................... | Shaped like an egg, with the narrow end at the apex | ||||||||||
Ovoid.......................... | Ovate | ||||||||||
Palmate....................... | Compounded, divided, lobed, or ribbed so that the divisions or ribs spread out like fingers from a single point | ||||||||||
Panicle........................ | A raceme compounded by branching | ||||||||||
Papilionaceous............. | Describes a flower whose petals are arranged to resemble a butterfly | ||||||||||
Pedicel......................... | The stalk of one flower in a cluster | ||||||||||
Peduncle .................... | The stalk of a flower cluster or of a solitary flower | ||||||||||
Peltate ....................... | Having a stalk attached at or near the middle | ||||||||||
Perennial .................... | Living through three or more seasons | ||||||||||
Persistent..................... | Remaining on the plant; not falling off readily | ||||||||||
Petal........................... | One unit of the corolla | ||||||||||
Petiole......................... | The stalk of a leaf | ||||||||||
Pinna ........................ | plural pinnate - A leaflet or primary division of a pinnately compound leaf | ||||||||||
Pinnate....................... | Having leaflets arranged in opposite rows along the petiole | ||||||||||
Pinnatifid.................... | Split about halfway to the midrib, such that the divisions are pinnately arranged | ||||||||||
Pinnule....................... | One of the divisions of a pinnate leaflet | ||||||||||
Pistil........................... | The female reproduction organ of a flower | ||||||||||
Pod............................. | Generally, a dry fruit that splits open | ||||||||||
Pome.......................... | A fleshy fruit with a central seed bearing core, e.g., apple | ||||||||||
Procumbent................ | Growing along the ground without rooting, and having ascending tips | ||||||||||
Prostrate..................... | Growing flat along the ground | ||||||||||
Pubescent................... | Covered with down or soft, short hairs | ||||||||||
Punctate .................... | Having translucent spots or depressions | ||||||||||
Raceme...................... | An elongated flower cluster in which flowers grow on pedicels along part of the length of the peduncle | ||||||||||
Radical...................... | Growing from or pertaining to a root; growing from a non-aerial stem | ||||||||||
Ray flower................. | One of the flattened, petal like outer flowers or florets ringing the disk in the heads of some composite flowers, such as the daisy | ||||||||||
Receptacle................. | The end of the stem or stalk on which the flower parts are borne | ||||||||||
Rhizome.................... | An underground portion of a stem, producing shoots on top of roots beneath; different from a root in that it has buds, nodes, and scaly leaves; rootstock | ||||||||||
Rootstock.................. | Rhizome | ||||||||||
Rosette...................... | A circular spiral arrangement of leaves growing from a center or crown | ||||||||||
Runner...................... | A thin stem or shoot growing along the ground and producing roots at the nodes | ||||||||||
Sagittate.................... | Arrowhead in shape | ||||||||||
Samara ..................... | A winged fruit that does not split spontaneously, e.g., Maple | ||||||||||
Saponify | To convert (an ester) by saponification. | ||||||||||
Saponification............ | A reaction in which an ester is heated with an alkali, such as sodium hydroxide, producing a free alcohol and an acid salt, especially alkaline hydrolysis of a fat or oil to make soap | ||||||||||
Saprophyte................ | A plant that draws nourishment from decaying material | ||||||||||
Scale.......................... | A small, usually dry leaf that is closely pressed against another organ | ||||||||||
Scape......................... | A leafless flower stalk that grows from the ground | ||||||||||
Sepal.......................... | A leaf or division of the calyx | ||||||||||
Serrate........................ | Saw toothed, with the teeth pointing toward the apex | ||||||||||
Sessile........................ | Having no stalk | ||||||||||
Sheath........................ | An expanded or tubular structure that partially encloses a stem or other organ | ||||||||||
Shoot......................... | A stem or branch and its leaves, especially when young | ||||||||||
Shrub........................ | A woody plant that produces no trunk but branches from the base | ||||||||||
Simple....................... | One piece, not compounded (leaves) or branched (stem, flower clusters) | ||||||||||
Smooth...................... | Not rough | ||||||||||
Solitary...................... | Not growing as part of a cluster or group | ||||||||||
Spadix....................... | A fleshy spike | ||||||||||
Spathe....................... | One or two tracts enclosing a flower cluster, especially a spadix | ||||||||||
Spatulate................... | Shaped like a spoon, with a narrow end at the base | ||||||||||
Spike ........................ | A flower cluster n which sessile flowers grow along part of the length of the peduncle | ||||||||||
Spikelet...................... | A small spike, particularly one of the few flowers spikes making up the inflorescence of a grass | ||||||||||
Spore......................... | A one celled reproductive body produced by relatively primitive plants | ||||||||||
Spur .......................... | A slender, hollow projection from a petal or sepal | ||||||||||
Stamen...................... | The male or pollen bearing organ of a flower | ||||||||||
Strobile...................... | A cone or cone like structure | ||||||||||
Style.......................... | The slender, elongated part of a pistil | ||||||||||
Suture ....................... | A natural seam or groove along which a fruit splits | ||||||||||
Taproot..................... | A single main root that grows vertically into the ground | ||||||||||
Terminal................... | Occurring at or growing from the end opposite the base | ||||||||||
Ternate...................... | Occurring in threes or divided into three parts | ||||||||||
Trifoliate.................... | Having three leaves | ||||||||||
Trifoliolate................. | Having three leaflets | ||||||||||
Tripinnate................. | Descriptive of pinnate leaf having pinnate leaflets with pinnate pinnules | ||||||||||
Tuber........................ | A thick, fleshy part, usually of a rootstock | ||||||||||
Umbel ...................... | A more or less flat topped flower cluster in which the pedicels (rays) arise from a common point. In compound umbels, each primary ray terminates in a secondary umbel | ||||||||||
Valve......................... | One of the parts into which a capsule divides when splitting | ||||||||||
Whorl........................ | A circular arrangement of three or more leaves, flowers, or other parts at the same point or level | ||||||||||