Home
Virtual Herbarium
Services
Resources
K-12 Educational Materials
Site Map

Home` > Resources > Glossaries > Botanical Dictionary

Botanical Dictionary

The following list of terms and definitions is from Albert E. Radford, William C. Dickison, Jimmy R. Massey, and C. Ritchie Bell, Vascular Plant Systematics, 1974, Harper & Row Publishers. All rights are reserved.

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abaxial.   Away from the axis; the lower surface of the leaf; dorsal

Abcissent.   Falling off or separating at a specific separation (abcission) layer, as in most deciduous plants

Acarpous.   No carpels or carpellate whorl; no pistil

Accessory Bud. Buds lateral to or above axillary buds; Accessory Organs - The calyx and corolla

Accrescent.   Growing after flowering or bud development has occurred, as the sepals in Hypericum and bud scales in Carya

Accumbent or Pleurorhizal.   Reclinate with cotyledon edges against hypocotyl

Acerose.   Needle-shaped; sharp

Achene.   A one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with seed attached to fruit wall at one point only, derived from a one-loculed superior ovary

Achenecetum.   An aggregation of achenes, as in Ranunculus

Achlamydeous.   Without perianth

Acicular.   Needlelike, round or grooved in cross section

Aciculate .   Finely marked as with pin pricks, fine lines usually randomly arranged

Acrocaulous.   With terminal branches

Acrocidal Capsule.   One that dehisces through terminal slits, or fissures, as in Staphylea

Acrodromous.   With two or more primary or strongly developed secondary veins diverging at or above the base of the blade and running in convergent arches toward the apex over some or all of the blade length, the arches not basally curved

Acropetal.   Developing upward, toward apex

Acroramous.   Leaves terminal, near apex of branch

Acroscopic.   Facing apically

Actinodromous.   With three or more primary veins diverging radially from a single point at or above the base of the blade and running toward the margin, reaching it or not

Actinomorphic or Radial.   With floral parts radiate from center like spokes on wheel

Actinostele.   A protostele having a xylem core in the form of radiating ribs, as viewed in transverse section

Aculeate.   Prickly

Acuminate (Base narrowly cuneate).   Margins straight to convex forming a terminal angle of less than 45

Acute (Base cuneate).   Margins straight to convex forming a terminal angle 45-90

Adaxial.   Next to the axis; facing the stem; ventral

Adherent.  With unlike parts of organs joined, but only superficially and without actual histological continuity

Adnate.   With unlike parts or organs integrally fused to one another with histological continuity

Adventitious.   Arising from organ other than root; usually lateral

Aerating or Knee.   Vertical or horizontal aboveground roots

Aerial or Epigeous.   Above the ground or water, in the air; aerial stem - an erect stem arising from a horizontal rhizome

Aerocaulous.   With aerial stems

Aerophyllous.   With aerial leaves

Aestival.   Appearing in summer

Agamandrous.   Inflorescence with neuter flowers inside or above and staminate outside or below (agamandrocephalous)

Agamogynous.   Inflorescence with neuter flowers inside or above and pistillate outside or below (agamogynecephalous)

Agamohermaphroditic.   Inflorescence with neuter flowers inside or above and hermaphroditic outside or below (agamohermaphrodicephalous)

Agamous or Neuter.   Without sex; sexual organs abortive

Agglomerate, Conglomerate, Crowded, or Aggregate.   Dense structures with varied angles of divergence

Aianthous or Semperflorous.   With flowers appearing throughout the year

Alate.   Winged

Allagostemonous.   Having stamens attached to petal and torus alternately

Allautogamy.   Cross- and self-fertilization in same plant, as in Viola

Allogamy or Xenogamy.   Cross-fertilization in plants

Allopatric.   Isolated, separated

Alternate.   One leaf or other structure per node

Alveolate.   Honey-combed

Ament or Catkin.   A unisexual spike or elongate axis with simple dichasia that falls as a unit after flowering or fruiting

Amorphic or Paleomorphic.   Flowers without symmetry; usually with an indefinite number of stamens and carpels, and usually subtended by bracts or discolored upper leaves; e.g., Salix discolor, Echinops ritro (mostly fossil forms)

Amphicarpous.   With fruits in two environments; e.g., aerial and subterranean

Amphiflorous.   Flowers above and below ground, as in Amphicarpum

Amphisarca.   A berry-like succulent fruit with a crustaceous or woody rind, as in Lagenaria

Amphitropous.   With body bent or curved on both sides so that the micropyle is near the medially attached funiculus

Amplexicaul.   Completely clasping the stem

Ampliate.   Enlarged; dilated

Anadromous.   Having the first lobe or segment of a pinna arising basiscopically in compound leaves

Anatropous.   With body completely inverted so that funiculus is attached basally near adjoining micropyle area

Ancipital.   Two-edged

Andragamous.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers inside or above and neuter flowers outside or below (andragamocephalous)

Androdioecious.   Some plants with staminate flowers and some with perfect flowers

Androecium.   One or more whorls or groups of stamens; all stamens in flower

Androgynecandrous.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers above and below pistillate, as in the spikes of some species of Carex

Androgynophore.   The stipe or column on which stamens and carpels are borne

Androgynous.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers inside or above and pistillate outside or below (androgynecephalous)

Androhermaphroditic.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers inside or above and hermaphroditic outside or below (androhermaphrodicephalous)

Andromonoecious.   Plant with staminate and perfect flowers

Anemophily.   Pollinated by wind

Angustate.   Narrow

Anisocarpous.   With unequal carpels

Anisocotylous.   With unequal cotyledons

Anisolateral.   With unequal sides

Anisopetalous.   With unequal petals

Anisophyllous.   With unequal leaves

Anisostylous.   With unequal styles

Annotinal or Yearly.   Appearing yearly

Annual.   Living one year or less. Winter Annual - Living less than one year but through the winter; germination usually in late fall, and usually flowering and fruiting in early spring

Annular.   Ring-like

Annulus.   Thick-walled ring of cells on the sporangium

Anomalicidal or Rupturing Capsule.   One that dehisces irregularly, as in Ammannia

Anterior.   Anterior Lobes - The lobes away from axis, toward the subtending bract, abaxial lobes; Anterior Ridges, Lines, Grooves - The lines, grooves, ridges in or on the dorsal side, abaxial, within the perianth

Anther.   Pollen-bearing portion of stamen

Antheridium.   The male sex organ producing the sperm

Anthesis.   Time of flowering; opening of flower with parts available for pollination

Anthocarpous.   Having a body of combined floral and fruit parts, as in multiple fruits

Anthotaxis.   Arrangement of sporophylls, primarily reproductive in function

Anthropophily.   Pollinated by man

Antipetalous.   Opposite the petals

Antisepalous.   Opposite the sepals

Antitropous.   With radicle pointing away from hilum

Antrorse.   Bent or directed upward

Apetalous.   No petals or corolla

Aphyllopodic.   Without blade-bearing leaves at base of plant

Aphyllous.   Without leaves, no whorls of leaves

Apical or Terminal.   At the top, tip, or end of a structure

Apiculate.   More than 3:1 l/w, usually slightly curled and flexuous

Apocarpous.   With carpels separate

Apogamy.   Producing sporophytes from a gametophyte without fertilization

Apopetalous or Choripetalous.   With separate petals

Apophysis.   Exposed outer surface of either an ovuliferous scale or megasporophyll as seen when the cone is closed

Aposepalous or Chorisepalous.   With separate sepals

Apospory.   Producing gametophytes directly from a sporophyte without producing spores

Apostemonous.   With separate stamens

Appendicular.   Typical stamen with a variously-shaped or modified, protruding connective, as in Viola

Applanate or Plane.   Flat, without vertical curves or bends

Appressed or Adpressed.   Pressed closely to axis upward with angle of divergence 15° or less

Arachnoid.   Cobwebby

Arborescent.   Tree-like in appearance and size

Archegonium.   The female sex organ producing the egg

Arcuate.   Curved like a crescent, can be downward or upward

Areolate.   Divided into many angular or squarish spaces

Areoles.   The spaces formed by a vein network

Arhizous.   Without roots, no whorls of roots

Aril.   Outgrowth of funiculus, raphe, or integuments; or fleshy integuments or seed coat, a sarcotesta at base of the fleshy seed; e.g., Cepalotaxus

Arillate.   General term for an outgrowth from the funiculus, seed coat or chalaza; or a fleshy seed coat

Aristate.   More than 3:1 l/w, usually prolonged, straight and stiff

Articulate.   Generally meaning having a joint as in leaves, leaflets or stems, as in heterophyllous species of Selaginella; or having a swollen area, often discolored, at the point of branching of the stem

Ascending.   Directed upward with an angle of divergence of 16-45°

Asepalous.   No sepals or calyx

Asperous.   Having a rough surface

Assurgent.   Directed upward or forward

Astemonous or Anandrous.   No stamens or androecium

Astylocarpellous.   Without a style and a stipe

Astylocarpepodic.   Without a style, with a stipe

Astylous.   Style absent

Asymmetric.   Without regularity in any dimension

Attenuate.   Elongate, tapering, usually applied to base

Auriculate.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth variable; outer margin concave, inner convex or straight

Auriculiform.   Usually obovate with two small rounded, basal lobes

Autogamy.   Self-fertilization in a single flower

Autumnal.   Appearing in autumn

Awl-shaped Leaf.   Subulate; narrow, flat, stiff, sharp-pointed, usually less than 1/2 in. long; e.g., Juniperus

Axial.   With branches arising from buds in leaf axil

Axile.   With the placentae along the central axis in a compound ovary with septa

Axillary or Lateral.   In axils of leaves or leaf scars; axillary leaves - leaves borne in the axils of branches, as in heterosporous species of Selaginella Baccacetum or Etaerio.   An aggregation of berries, as in Actaea

Baccate.   Juicy and very succulent

Balausta.   Many-seeded, many- loculed indehiscent fruit with a tough, leathery pericarp, as in Punica

Banded.   Transverse stripes of one color crossing another

Barbed.   With short, rigid reflexed bristles or processes

Barbellate.   Minutely barbed

Bark.   Tissues of plant outside wood or xylem

Basal or Radical.   At the bottom or base of a structure

Base.   bottom or lower portion

Basicaulous.   With basal branches

Basicaulous.   Near base of stem

Basicidal Capsule.   One that dehisces through basal slits or fissures, as in some species of Aristolochia

Basifixed.   Anther attached at its base to apex of filament

Basipetal.   Developing downward, toward base

Basipetiolar.   At the base of the petiole

Basiramous.   Leaves on lower part of branch

Basiscopic.   Facing basally

Bast bundles (peripheral strands).   bundles of thick-walled cells parallel to the midrib, as in Isoetes

beard.   A tuft, line or zone of trichomes

Bearded or Barbate.   With long trichomes usually in a tuft, line or zone

Bent.   Foliate embryo with expanded and usually thick cotyledons in an axile position bent upon the hypocotyl in a jacknife position

Berry.   Fleshy fruit, with succulent pericarp, as in Vitis

Bibacca.   A fused double berry, as in Lonicera

Bicarpellate.   Two-carpelled

Bicrenate or Doubly-crenate.   With smaller rounded teeth on larger rounded teeth

Bidentate.   Two-toothed

Biduous.   Lasting two days

Biennial.   Living two years, usually flowering second year

Biferous.   Appearing twice yearly

Bifid.   Cut or divided into two lobes or parts

Biflorous.   Flowering in autumn as well as in spring

Bifoliolate, Geminate, or Jugate.   With two leaflets from a common point

Bifurcate.   Divided into two forks or branches

Bigeminate, Bijugate.   With two orders of leaflets, each bifoliolate; doubly paired

Bilabiate.   Two-lipped, with two unequal divisions

Bilocular.   Two-locular

Bimestrial.   Periodicity: occurring every two months; duration: lasting two months

Binate.   Twinned

Bipalmate.   Twice palmate

Bipinnate.   Twice pinnate

Biseriate.   Two-rowed; in two series

Biserrate or Doubly-serrate.   With sharply cut teeth on the margins of larger sharply cut teeth

Bisexual.   Both sexes in same flower (monoclinous, perfect)

Biternate.   With two orders of leaflets, each ternately compound

Blade.   The expanded portion of a leaf

Blastocarpous.   Germination of seeds while within the pericarp, as in Rhizophora

Blotched.   The color disposed in broad, irregular blotches

Bordered.   One color is surrounded by an edging of another

Botuliform.   Sausage-shaped

Bract.   Modified, usually reduced, leaf in the inflorescence

Bracteal and Laminar.   May be localized or found over entire structure

Bracteole or Bractlet.   A secondary or smaller bract

Bristle.   A stiff, strong trichome, as in the perianth of some members of the Cyperaceae

Bristly.   Beset with bristles

Brochidodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins not terminating at the margin but joined together in a series of prominent upward arches or marginal loops on each side of the primary vein

Bud.   Immature vegetative or floral shoot or both, often covered by scales. Bud Primordium - Meristematic tissue that gives rise to a lateral bud

Bulb.   A short, erect, underground stem surrounded by fleshy leaves

Bulbel.   A small bulb produced from the base of a larger bulb

Bulbil.   A small bulb or bulb-like body produced on above ground parts

Bulblet.   A small bulb, irrespective of origin; a small, bud-like vegetative propagule produced on the leaves of some ferns

Bullate.   Puckered or blistered

Bur (Involucre).   Cypsela enclosed in dry involucre, as in Xanthium

Buttress.   Roots with board-like or plank-like growth on upper side, presumably a supporting structure

Caducous.   Dropping off very early, usually applied to floral parts

Calcarate.   Spurred

Calceolate.   Slipper-shaped, as in the corolla of Cypripedium

Callosity.   A thickened, raised area, which is usually hard; a callus

Calybium.   A hard one-loculed dry fruit derived from an inferior ovary, as in Quercus

Calyx.   The lowermost whorl of modified leaves, sepals

Campanulate.   Bell-shaped; with flaring tube about as broad as long and a flaring limb

Campylodromous.   With several primary veins or their branches diverging at or close to a single point and running in strongly developed, basally recurved arches which converge toward the apex, reaching it or not

Campylotropous.   With body bent or curved on one side so that micropyle is near medially attached funiculus

Canaliculate.   Longitudinally grooved, usually in relation to petioles or midribs

Cancellate or Clathrate.   Latticed

Canescent or Incanous.   Covered with dense, fine grayish-white trichomes

Cantharophily.   Pollinated by beetles

Capillate.   Hair-shapedCapitate.   Head-like Capitulum or Head.   A determinate or indeterminate crowded group of sessile or subsessile flowers on a compound receptacle or torus

Carina.   Keel. Carinal Canal - A canal beneath a stem ridge associated with a vascular bundle

Carinate.   Keeled

Carnose or Sarcous.   Fleshy

Carpel.   The female sporophyll within flower; floral organ that bears ovules in angiosperms; unit of compound pistil

Carpophore.   Floral axis extension between adjacent carpels, as in the Apiaceae

Carpopodium.   Short, thick, pistillate stalk

Carpotaxis.   Arrangement of fruits, reproductive in function

Cartilaginous.   Hard and tough but flexible

Carunculate.   With an excrescent outgrowth from integuments near the hilum, as in Euphorbia; fibrous with stringy or cord-like seed coat, as mace in Myristica

Caryopsis or Grain.   A one-seeded dry, indehiscent fruit with the seed coat adnate to the fruit wall, derived from a one-loculed superior ovary

Catadromous.   Having the first lobe or segment of a pinna arising acroscopically in compound leaves

Cataphyll.   Rudimentary scale leaf produced by seedling, usually in cryptocotylar species

Caudate (Base attenuate).   Acuminate with concave margins

Caudex.   A short, thick, vertical or branched perennial stem usually subterranean, or at ground level

Cauline.   May be all over (general) or along the ribs (costal), or in the grooves (canaliculate)

Caulocarpic.   Plants having the stem living for many years, bearing flowers and fruits

Caulous.   With branches more or less evenly spaced along trunk

Central Canal.   The large centrally located air space in the stem

Centrifugal.   Developing from the inside outward, or from top downward

Centripetal.   Developing from the outside inward, or from bottom upward

Centroramous.   At the center of the branch

Ceraceous.   Waxy

Cernuous.   Drooping

Cespitose.   Short, much-branched, plant forming a cushion

Chaff or Pale.   Scale or bract at base of tubular flower in composites

Chalaza.   End of ovule opposite micropyle

Chalazogamy.   Pollen tube entrance through chalaza

Channelled or Canaliculate.   With a longitudinal groove

Chartaceous.   Papery, opaque and thin

Chasmantheric Pollination.   Pollen transferred from a normally dehisced anther by a pollinating agent with pollen grain germination on the stigma and subsequent growth of the pollen tube through stigma, style and the ovule into the embryo sac

Cheiropterophily.   Pollinated by bats

Chlamydeous.   With perianth

Ciliate.   With conspicuous marginal trichomes

Ciliolate.   With tiny or small marginal trichomes

Cincinnus.   A tight, modified helicoid cyme in which pedicels are short on the developed side

Circinate.   With lamina rolled from apex to base with apex in center of coil

Circumalate.   Winged circumferentially

Circumferential.   At or near the circumference; surrounding a rounded structure

Circumscissle Capsule or Pyxis.   One that dehisces circumferentially, as in Plantago

Cirrhous.   More than 10:1 l/w, coiled and flexuous

Cladode (phylloclad).   A flattened main stem resembling a leaf

Cladodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins not terminating at the margin and freely ramified toward it

Cladoptosic.   Shedding of branches, stems and leaves simultaneously, as in Taxodium

Clambering.   Sprawling across objects, without climbing structures

Clasping.   Partly surrounding the stem.

Clavate.   Club-shaped

Claw.   The long, narrow petiole-like base of a sepal or petal

Cleft.   Indentations or incisions cut 1/4-1/2 distance to midrib or midvein

Cleistantheric Pollination.   Pollen not transferred from a normally dehisced anther by a pollinating agent; pollen grain germinates within the anther with subsequent growth of the pollen tube through the anther wall and ovary wall into the ovule and embryo sac

Climbing.   Growing upward by means of tendrils, petioles, or adventitious roots

Clinanthium.   The compound receptacle of the composite head

Clouded.   Colors are unequally blended together

Clustered, Conglomerate, Agglomerate, Crowded, Aggregate.  Parts dense, usually irregularly overlapping each other

Coalescent.   With like or unlike parts or organs incompletely separated; partially fused in a more or less irregular fashion

Cochleate.   Snail-shaped

Coenocarpium (Various Structures).   Multiple fruit derived from ovaries, floral parts, and receptacles of many coalesced flowers, as in Ananas

Coetaneous.   Flowering as the leaves expand; synantherous

Coherent.   With like parts or organs joined, but only superficially and without actual histological continuity

Coleoptile.   Protective sheath around epicotyl in grasses

Coleorhiza.   Protective sheath around radicle in grasses

Collet.   External demarcation between hypocotyl and root

Columella.   The sterile central part within a mature sporangium or capsule

Column, Gynostemium or Gynandrium.   With fused stamens and carpels (stigma and style) as in Orchis

Columnar.   Erect with a stout main stem or trunk

Comose.   With a tuft of trichomes, usually apical

Complete.   Leaf with blade, petiole, and stipules; flower with four types of floral parts

Compound.   Composed of two or more anatomically or morphologically equivalent units, whether subdivided into them or an aggregate of them

Compressed or Complanate.   Flattened

Conduplicate.   Longitudinally folded upward or downward along the central axis so that ventral and/or dorsal sides face each other

Cone (strobilus).   Aggregation of sporangia-bearing structures at tip of the stem (either sporophylls or scales in the Gymnosperms)

Conical.   Having figure of true cone

Conjugate.   Fused pairs, as the fruits of Lonicera

Connate.   With like parts or organs integrally fused to one another with histological continuity

Connective.   Filament extension between thecae

Connivent.   Convergent apically without fusion

Contiguous.   Touching but not adnate, connate, adherent, or coherent

Continuous.   Symmetry of arrangement even, not broken

Contorted.   Twisted around a central axis; twisted

Contortuplicate.   With weirdly folded corrugate cotyledons

Contractile or Pull.   Roots capable of shortening, usually drawing the plant or plant part deeper into the soil, usually with a wrinkled surface

Convolute.   With one lamina enrolled in another lamina

Cordate (Apex obcordate).   Lobe rounded; sinus depth 1/8-1/4 distance to midpoint of blade; margins convex and/or straight

Cordiform.   Heart-shaped

Coriaceous.   Thick and leathery

Corm.   The enlarged, solid, fleshy base of a stem with scales; an upright underground storage stem

Cormel.   Small corm produced at base of parent corm

Corneous.   Horny

Corniculate.   Horned

Corolla.   The whorl of petals located above the sepals

Corona.   A crown; any outgrowth between the stamens and corolla which may be petaline or staminal in origin

Coronate.   Tubular or flaring perianth or staminal outgrowth; petaloid appendage

Coroniform.   Crown-shaped

Corrugate.   With lamina irregularly folded in all directions, wrinkled

Corymb.   A flat-topped or convex indeterminate cluster of flowers. Compound Corymb - A branched corymb

Costa.   The midvein of a minor divsion of a fern leaf

Costate.   Coarsely ribbed

Cotyledon.   Embryonic leaf or leaves in seed

Cotylespermous.   With food reserve in cotyledon, derived from zygote

Cotyliform.   Cup-shaped

Craspedodromous.   Simple - With a single primary vein, all of the secondary veins and their branches terminating at the margin. Mixed - With a single primary vein, some of the secondary veins terminating at the margin and an approximately equal number otherwise

Crateriform.   Shallow cup-shaped as the involucre of some species of Quercus

Crenate.   Shallowly ascending round-toothed, or teeth obtuse; teeth cut less than 1/8 way to midrib or midvein

Crenulate.   Diminutive of crenate, teeth cut to 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein

Crested or Cristate.   With a terminal ridge or tuft

Crispate.   Curled; margins divided and twisted in more than one plane

Crozier.   The coiled developing leaf of a fern

Cruciform or Cruciate.   Cross-shaped

Crustaceous.   Hard, thin, and brittle

Cryptantherous.   With stamens included

Cryptocotylar or Hypogeous.   With the cotyledons remaining inside the seed; seed usually remaining below ground

Cucullate.   Hooded

Culm.   Flowering and fruiting stems of grasses and sedges

Cupule.   Fused involucral bracts subtending flower, as in Quercus

Curvative or arcuate.   With lamina folded transversely into an arc

Cuspidate.   Acute but coriaceous and stiff

Cyathium.   A pseudanthium subtended by an involucre, frequently with petaloid glands, as in Euphorbia

Cylindric.   Long-tubular

Cymbiform.   Boat-shaped

Cyme or Dichasium.  A determinate, dichotomous inflorescence with the pedicels of equal length. Scorpioid Cyme or Rhipidium - A zigzag determinate inflorescence with branches developed on opposite sides of the rachis alternately. Compound

Cyme - A branched cyme

Cymule.   A simple, small dichasium

Cypsela.   An achene derived from a one-loculed, inferior ovary

Deciduous.   Persistent for one growing season

Declinate.   Directed or curved downward

Decompound.   A general term for leaflets in two or more orders - bi-, tri-etc - pinnately, palmately, or ternately compound

Decumbent.   Reclining or lying on the ground with the tips ascending

Decurrent.   Elongate, extending downward

Decussate.   Opposite leaves at right angle to preceding pair

Deflexed.   Bent abruptly downward

Dehiscent.   Opening regularly by valves, slits, etc., as a capsule or anther

Deliquescent.   Softening and wasting away

Dentate.   Margins with rounded or sharp, coarse teeth that point outwards at right angles to midrib or midvein, cut 1/16 to 1/8 distance to midrib or midvein

Denticidal Capsule.   One that dehisces apically, leaving a ring of teeth, as in Cerastium

Denticulate.   Diminutive of dentate, cut to 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein

Depauperate.   Small and usually poorly developed

Depressed.   Pressed closely to axis downward with angle of divergence of 166-180°

Descending.   Directed downward with an angle of divergence of 136-165°

Determinate.   Growth of plant parts, the size of which is limited by cessation of meristematic activity during the year

Dextrorse.   Rising helically from right to left, a characteristic of twining stems

Diadelphous.   With two groups of stamens connate by their filaments

Diandrous.   With two stamens per flower

Diaphanous.   Translucent

Dichasium.   Cymose inflorescence in which each axis produces a pair of lateral axes

Dichlamydeous.   With perianth composed of distinct calyx and corolla

Dichogamous.   With maturation of stamens or anther and carpels or stigma at different times

Dichotomous.   With branches forking into two more or less equal parts

Diclesium (Calyx).   Achene or nut surrounded by a persistent calyx, as in Mirabalis

Diclinous.   Plant with imperfect flowers; stamens and carpels in separate flowers either monoecious or dioecious

Dicotyledonous.   With two cotyledons

Dictyostele.   A dissected solenostele with each individual bundle a meristele

Dicyclic.   Two-whorled

Didymous.   With stamens in two equal pairs

Didynamous.   With stamens in two unequal pairs

Diffuse.   Spread over a wide surface

Digestive Glands.   Enzyme-secreting glands found mostly on leaves of carnivorous and insectivorous plants

Dilated.   Widened; expanded

Dimerous.   Whorl with two members

Dimidiate.   Divided into unequal halves

Dimorphic.   Having two different sizes and/or shapes within the same species

Dioecious.   Plant with all flowers imperfect, but staminate and pistillate on separate plants

Diplecolobal.   With incumbent cotyledons folded two or more times

Diplostemonous.   With stamens in two whorls, outer opposite the sepals, inner opposite petals

Diplotegium.   A pyxis derived from an inferior ovary

Dipterous.   Two-winged

Disc.   A discoid structure developed from receptacle at base of ovary or from stamens around the ovary

Discoid.   Orbicular with convex faces

Discoidal.   A single large spot of color in the center of another

Discontinuous.   Basal and lateral, basal and terminal, or lateral and terminal; not continuous

Dissected.   Irregularly cut into numerous segments

Distal.   Away from the point of origin or attachment

Distichous.   Leaves 2-ranked, in one plane

Distinct.   With like parts or organs unjoined and separate from one another

Diurnal.   Opening during the day

Divergent, Patent, or Divaricate.   More or less horizontally spreading with angle of divergence of 15° or less up or down from the horizontal

Divided.   Cut 3/4 to almost entire distance to middle of structure

Dolabriform.   Axe-shaped

Dorsal.   Pertaining to the surface most distant from the axis; back of an outer face of organ; lower side of leaf; abaxial. Dorsal Side - Back or abaxial side, or the lower side of a perianth part

Dorsifixed.   Anther attached dorsally and medially to apex of filament

Dorsilaminar.   On dorsal side of blade

Dorsiventral.   Planate and having distinct dorsal and ventral surfaces, the two usually different

Dotted.   The color disposed in very small round spots

Downy.   Covered with short, weak, soft trichomes

Drupe.   A fleshy fruit with a stony endocarp, as in Prunus

Drupecetum.   An aggregation of drupelets, as in Rubus

Drupelet.   A small drupe, as in Rubus

Dwarf.   Very small. Dwarf Shoots or Spurs - Shoots that develop from preformed buds which have very short internodal lengths or intervals

Dyad.   Pollen grains occurring in clusters of two

Eccentric.   Off-center style

Echinate.   Covered with spines

Ectocarp or Exocarp.   Outermost layer of pericarp

Edged.   One color is surrounded by a very narrow rim of another

Elaminate.   Without blade

Elater.   One of four elongate appendages on the spores, as in Equisetum

Elliptic.   With widest axis at midpoint of structure and with margins symmetrically curved

Emarginate.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth 1/16-1/8 distance to midpoint of blade; margins straight or convex

Embryo.   Young sporophyte consisting of epicotyl, hypocotyl, radicle, and one or more cotyledons. Embryo Sac - Female gametophyte. Linear Embryo - Axial embryo several times longer than broad, straight, curved or coiled; cotyledons not expanded; endosperm present or absent

Emergent.   With part(s) of plant aerial and part(s) submersed; rising out of the water above the surface

Emersifolious.   With emergent leaves

Endocarp.   Innermost differentiated layer of pericarp

Endosperm.   Food reserve tissue in seed derived from fertilized polar nuclei; or food reserve derived from megametophyte in gymnosperms

Endospermous or Albuminous.   With food reserve in endosperm or albumen, derived from fertilized polar nuclei

Entire.   Without indentations or incisions on maigins; smooth

Entomophily.   Pollinated by insects

Eophyll.   Term applied to first few leaves with green, expanded lamina developed by seedlings; transitional type leaves developed before formation of adult leaves

Epetiolate.   Without petiole, leaf sessile

Epetiolulate.   Without petiolule, leaflet sessile

Ephemeral.   Germinating, growing, flowering and fruiting in a short period, as most desert herbs

Epicalyx.   Group of leaves resembling sepals below the true calyx

Epicalyx or Calycle.   A whorl of bracts below but resembling a true calyx

Epicormic Shoots or Water Sprouts.   Shoots that develop from dormant lateral buds on the trunk which have very long and frequently variable internodal lengths or intervals

Epicotyl.   Apical end of embryo axis that gives rise to shoot system

Epigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral tube above the ovary with the ovary adnate to the tube or hypanthium

Epihyperigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral tube or hypanthium surrounding the ovary; a combination perigyny and partly inferior ovary

Epihypogyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached about half-way from the base of the ovary to the partly adnate hypanthium tube; half-inferior insertion of parts

Epimatium.   Fleshy covering of the seed and more or less fused with the integument; arising from the chalazal end of the ovule like an additional integument; e.g., Podocarpus

Epiperigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral or hypanthium cup above the ovary with the lower part of the hypanthium completely adnate to the ovary

Epipetalous.   With stamens attached to or inserted upon petals or corolla

Epipetiolar.   With branches arising from buds on the petiole

Epipetric.   Upon rock

Epiphyllous.   From a phylloclad or peculiar bract, as in Tilia

Epiphytic.   Upon another plant

Epirhizous.   With roots upon another plant

Episepalous.   With stamens attached or inserted upon sepals or calyx

Epitropous .  Dorsal - Ovule pendulous or hanging, micropyle above, raphe dorsal (away from ventral bundle). Ventral - Ovule pendulous or hanging, micropyle above, raphe ventral (toward ventral bundle)

Equilateral.   With halves or sides equal in shape and size

Equinoctial.   Having flowers which expand and close regularly at particular hours of the day

Equitant.   Leaves 2-ranked with overlapping bases, usually sharply folded along midrib

Eramous.   With unbranched stems

Erect.   Upright

Erose.   Irregularly, shallowly toothed and/or lobed margins; appearing gnawed

Essential Organs.   The androecium and gynoecium

Ethereal Oil Producing Glands.   Mostly aromatic compound producing glands found on various parts of the plant, without definitely known functions

Eucamptodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins curved upward and gradually iminishing distally within the margin and interconnected by a series of cross-veins without forming conspicuous marginal loops

Eusporangiate.   Having the sporangium develop from a great amount of leaf tissue as opposed to only one or a few cells

Eustele.   A dissected siphonostele with phloem only to the outside of the xylem

Evanescent.   Passing away, disappearing early

Evergreen.   Persistent two or more growing seasons

Evident.   Clearly visible macroscopically

Excentric.   One-sided; off-center

Excurrent.   Running out, as the nerve of a leaf projecting beyond the margin

Exospore or Exine.   Outer spore wall layer

Exsserted.   Projecting out of, beyond

Exstipellate.   Without stipels

Exstipulate.   Without stipules

Falcate or Seculate.   Sickle-shaped

False Veins.   Small vein-like areas of thick-walled cells in the leaves of some lower vascular plants

Farinaceous.   Mealy

Fasciated.   Unnaturally and often monstrously connate or adnate, the coalesced parts often unnaturally proliferated in size and/ or number; e.g., inflorescence of Celosia

Fascicle.   Cluster of needles borne on a minute determinate short shoot in the axil of a primary leaf (bract); e.g. Pinus.

Fascicle Sheath - Closely imbricated bud scales at the base of the fascicle of needles; e.g., Pinus

Fascicled.   Fleshy or tuberous roots in a cluster

Fasciculate.   Leaves or other structures in a cluster from a common point

Fastigiate.   Strictly erect and parallel

Faucal Area.   The throat area

Female, Carpellate, or Pistillate.   Plant with pistillate flowers only

Fetid.   Having an unpleasant, rotten odor

Fenestrate.   With windowlike holes through the leaves or other structures

Fibonacci Phyllotaxis.   A fundamental type of leaf arrangement expressed as a fraction in which each succeeding fraction is the sum of the two previous numerators and the sum of the two previous denominators, i.e., 1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, 5/13, 8/ 21, etc. The numerator represents the number of turns or spirals around a stem before one leaf is directly above another and the denominator represents the number of leaves in the turns or spirals before one is directly above the other. 2/5 phyllotaxy would mean two twists and five leaves before one leaf is directly above the other or an angle of divergence of 144 between succeeding leaves in the stem (2/5 of 360 ).According to Leppik anthotaxis and semataxis do not necessarily follow the same pattern, with anthotaxis in Michelia cited as being in 2/7, 3/7, 3/8, and 4/10 systems of arrangement.

Fibrous.   With fine, threadlike or slender roots or fibers

Filament.   Stamen stalk

Filiferous.  Filamentose or Filiferous With coarse marginal fibers or threads

Filantherous or Typical.   Stamen with distinct anther and filament with or without thecal appendages, as in Rhexia or Vaccinium

Filiform.   Threadlike, usually flexuous

Fimbriate.   Margins fringed

Fimbriolate.   Minutely fimbriate

Fistulose.   Hollow, as without pith

Flabellate.   Fan-shaped branching

Flabelliform.   Fan-shaped

Flaccid.   Lax and weak

Flagellate.   Bearing flagella, whip-like strands or organs

Fleshy.   Succulent roots

Flexuous.   With a series of long or open vertical curves at right angles to the central axis

Floating.   Upon the surface of the water

Floccose.   Covered with dense, appressed trichomes in patches or tufts

Flotophyllous.   With floating leaves

Flower.   Reproductive structure of flowering plants with or without protective envelopes, the calyx and/or corolla; short shoot with sporophylls and with or without sterile protective leaves, the calyx and corolla

Flushing Shoots.   Shoots that develop from mature terminal buds several times during a season. Terminal bud will develop shoot with new terminal bud which will develop more shoots and a terminal bud which will develop etc. --several times in a season with several flushes of growth.

Fly Trap.   Hinged, insectivorous leaf, as in Dionaea

Folded.   Foliate embryo with cotyledons usually thin and extensively expanded and folded in various ways

Follicetum.   An aggregation of follicles, as in Caltha

Follicle.   A dry, dehiscent fruit derived from one carpel that splits along one suture

Fovea.   Pit or depression containing the sporangium in the leaf base of Isoetes 

Foveolate.   Pitted

Free.   Unlike parts or organs unjoined and separate from one another

Free-adnate.   Hypanthium fused with ovary and having a free limb around or above ovary

Free-central.   With the placenta along the central axis in a compound ovary without septa

Fringe.   The modified margin of a petal, sepal, tepal or lip

Frond.   The leaf of a fern

Fruit.   Matured ovary of flowering plants, with or without accessory parts

Fruticose.   Shrubby

Fugacious.   Ephemeral, usually applied to plant parts

Funicular.   With a persistent elongate funiculus attached to seed coat, as in Magnolia

Funiculus.   Stalk by which ovule is attached to placenta

Fusiform.   Spindle-shaped; broadest in middle and tapering to each end

Galeate.   Helmet-shaped, as one sepal in Aconitum

Geitonogamy.   Fertilization of one flower by another on the same plant

Gelatinous.   Jellylike; soft and quivery

Geminate or Binate.   Paired; in pairs

Gemma.   A vegetative reproductive bud borne on the stem, as in Lycopodium; a multicellular reproductive propagule on gametophytes, as in ferns

Geniculate.   Abruptly bent at a node, zigzag

Geoflorous.   With subterranean flower

Geocarpous.   Fruits below ground, as in Amphicarpum

Gibbous.   Inflated on one side near the base

Gigantic.   Very large

Glabrate.   Without trichomes

Glabrescent.   Becoming glabrous

Glabrous.   Smooth; devoid of trichomes

Gland.   A secreting part or appendage

Glandular.   Covered with minute, blackish to translucent glands

Glans (Involucre).   Nut subtended by a cupulate, dry involucre, as in Quercus

Glaucescent.   Sparingly or slightly glaucous

Glaucous.   Covered with a bloom or smooth, waxy coating

Globose.   Round

Glochidiate.   With barbed trichomes, glochids, usually in tufts

Glomerule.   An indeterminate dense cluster of sessile or subsessile flowers

Glume.   Bract, usually occurring in pairs, at the base of the grass spikelet

Glutinous.   Having a shiny, sticky surface

Granular.   Finely mealy, covered with small granules

Greasy or Unctuous.   Slick, oily, slippery to touch

Gynagamous.   Inflorescence with pistillate flowers inside or above and neuter flowers outside or below (gynagamocephalous)

Gynandrial or Gynostemial.   With fused stamens and carpels (stigma and style) as in the Orchidaceae

Gynecandrous.   Inflorescence with pistillate flowers inside or above and staminate outside or below, as in spikes of some species of Carex

Gynehermaphroditic.   Inflorescence with pistillate flowers inside or above and hermaphroditic outside or below (gynehermaphrodicephalous)

Gynobasic.   Attached at base of ovary in central depression

Gynodioecious.   Some plants with perfect flowers and some with pistillate

Gynoecium or Pistil.   The whorl or group of carpels in the center or at the top of the flower; all carpels in a flower

Gynomonoecious.   Plant with pistillate and perfect flowers

Gynophore.   The stipe of a pistil or carpel

Half-inferior.   Other floral organs attached around ovary with hypanthium adnate to lower half of ovary

Half-terete.   Flat on one side, terete on other; semicircular in cross section

Haplomorphic.   Flowers with parts spirally arranged at a simple level in a semispheric or hemispheric form; petals or tepals colored; parts numerous; e.g., Nymphaea, Magnolia

Hastate.   Lobe pointed and oriented outward or divergent in relation to petiole or midrib; sinus depth variable; margins variable

Hastiform.   Triangular with two flaring basal lobes

Haustorial.   Absorbing roots, within host of some parasitic species

Helicoid Cyme or Bostryx.   A determinate inflorescence in which the branches develop on one side only, appearing simple

Hemianatropous or Hemitropous.   With body half-inverted so that funiculus is attached near middle with micropyle terminal and at right angles

Herb.   A usually low, soft, or coarse plant with annual aboveground stems

Herbaceous.   Soft and succulent

Hermaphrodagamous.   Inflorescence with hermaphroditic flowers inside or above and neuter outside or below (hermaphrodagamocephalous)

Hermaphrodandrous.   Inflorescence with hermaphroditic flowers inside or above and staminate outside or below (hermaphrodandrocephalous)

Hermaphroditic or Monoclinous.   Plant with all flowers perfect

Hesperidium.   A thick-skinned septate berry with the bulk of the fruit derived from glandular hairs, as in Citrus

Heterandrous.   With stamens of different sizes and/or shapes

Heteranthous.   Having different states in two different sets of flowers, only one state present in each set

Heteroblasty.   With juvenile foliage distinctly different from adult foliage in size or shape

Heterocarpous.   With carpels of different sizes and/or shapes

Heterocephalous, Heterocymous, Heterospicous.   Heads, cymes, spikes with flowers of different sexual conditions. Note: other inflorescence word stems could be used for appropriate inflorescence type.

Heterocladous.   With stems of different sizes and/or shapes

Heteromerous or Anisomerous.   With different number of members in different whorls

Heteropetalous.   With petals of different sizes and/or shapes

Heterophyllous.   With leaves of different sizes and/or shapes. Heterophyllous Shoots - Shoots that develop from winter buds which do not contain the primordia of all the leaves to develop during the year

Heterophytous.   Having different states in two different sets of plants, only one state present in each set

Heterosepalous.   With sepals of different sizes and/or shapes

Heterosexual.   Inflorescences or flowers within the plant with different sexual conditions

Heterosporous.   Having two kinds of spores, usually differing in sizeHeterostichus.   With unequal rows

Heterostylous.   With styles of different sizes or lengths or shapes within a species

Heterotropous.   Ovule position not fixed in ovary

Hibernal or Hiemal.   Appearing in the winter

Hilum.   Funicular scar on seed coat

Hip or Cynarrhodion (Receptacle and Hypanthium).   An aggregation of achenes surrounded by an urceolate receptacle and hypanthium, as in Rosa

Hippocrepiform.   Horseshoe-shaped

Hirsute.   Covered with long, rather stiff trichomes

Hirsutullous or Hirtellous.   Minutely hirsute

Hispid.   Covered with very long, stiff trichomes

Hispidulous.   Approaching hispid, minutely hispid

Homandrous.   With stamens of same size and shape

Homanthous.   Having more than one state within each individual flower, all flowers the same

Homocarpous.   With carpels of same size and shape

Homocephalous, Homocymous, Homospicous.   Heads, cymes, spikes with flowers sexually uniform

Homochlamydeous.   With perianth composed of similar parts, each part a tepal

Homogamous.   With maturation of stamens or anther and carpels or stigma at same time

Homophytous.   Having more than one state within each individual plant, all plants the same

Homosexual.   Inflorescences or flowers sexually uniform

Homosporous.   Having spores of only one kind

Homostylous.   With styles of same sizes or lengths and shapes

Hood.   A cover-shaped perianth part, usually with a turned down margin

Horn.   A curved, pointed and hollow protuberance from the perianth

Hyaline.   Thin and translucent or transparent

Hydrophily.   Pollinated by water

Hymenopterophily.   Pollinated by bees

Hypanepigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the elongate floral tube or hypanthium above the inferior ovary, as in Oenothera

Hypanthium.   The fused or coalesced basal portion of floral parts (sepals, petals, stamens) around the ovary

Hypanthodium.   An inflorescence with flowers on wall of a concave capitulum, as in Ficus

Hyphodromous.   With a single primary vein and all other venation absent, rudimentaryj or concealed within a coriaceous or fleshy blade

Hypocotyl.   Embryonic stem in seed, located below cotyledons

Hypocotylespermous or Macropodial.   With food reserve stored in hypocotyl, derived from zygote

Hypogynium.   Perianth-like structure of bony scales subtending the ovary, as in Scleria and other members of the Cyperaceae

Hypogyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached below the ovary

Hypophyllous.   With small leaves, as bracts, scales, cataphylls

Hypotropous.   Dorsal - Ovule erect, micropyle below, raphe dorsal (away from ventral bundle). Ventral - Ovule erect, micropyle below, raphe ventral (toward ventral bundle)

Hysteranthous.   With leaves appearing after flowers

Imbricate.   Having margins overlapping

Imparipinnate.   Pinnate with a conform terminal leaflet. Imparipinnately Compound - Odd-pinnately compound, with a terminal leaflet

Imperfect or Unisexual.   With stamens or carpels absent in the flower

Implicate.   With both lamina margins folded sharply inward

Incised.   Margins sharply and deeply cut, usually jaggedly

Inclinate.   With lamina folded or curved transversely near the apex

Inclined.   Ascending at 46-75° angle of divergence

Included Veinlets.   Veins ending inside areoles

Incomplete.   Leaf without one or more parts: blade, petiole, stipules; one or more types of floral parts absent

Incrassate.   Thickened

Incumbent or Notorhizal.   Reclinate with sides of cotyledons against hypocotyl

Incurved.   Curved inward or upward

Indehiscent Capsule.   One that does not dehisce at maturity, as in Peplis

Indeterminate or Evergrowing.   Continual growth of plant parts, not limited by a cessation of meristematic activity

Induplicate.   Having margins bent inward and touching margin of each adjacent structure

Indurate.   Hardened

Indusium.   A flap of tissue covering a sorus

Inequilateral.   With unequal sides

Inermous.   Unarmed, without prickles or spines

Inferior.   Other floral organs attached above ovary with hypanthium adnate to ovary

Inflated.   Swollen or thickened, as in Eichhornia

Inflexed.   Bent abruptly inward or upward

Infrafoliar.   On the stem below the leaves, as in the Arecaceae

Infrapetiolar or Subpetiolar.   Axillary bud surrounded by base of petiole

Infundibular.   Funnel-shaped

Integuments.   Outer covering of ovule; embryonic seed coat

Intercalary.   Growth region near the base of an internode or base of blade

Interfoliar.   On the stem between the leaves, as in the Arecaceae

Intermittent.   A renewal and cessation of meristematic activity which produces clusters of stems and/or leaves along an axis

Internode.   A section or region of stem between nodes

Interpetiolar.   With connate stipules from two opposite leaves

Interrupted or Discontinuous.   Symmetry of arrangement broken, with uneven lengths of internodes

Interstitial.   Growth all-over in an organ, no localized meristems, as in some fruits

Investing.   Axial embryo usually erect with thick cotyledons overlapping and encasing the somewhat dwarfed hypocotyl; endosperm wanting or limited

Involucel.   Small involucre; secondary involucre

Involucre.   A group or cluster of bracts subtending an inflorescence

Involute.   Margins or outer portion of sides rolled inward over upper or ventral surface

Irregular.   With floral parts within a whorl dissimilar in shape and/ or size

Isocotylous.   With cotyledons of same size and shape

Isodynamous.   With equally developed structures

Isomerous.   With same number of members in different whorls

Isopetalous.   With petals of same size and shape

Isophyllous.   With leaves of same size and shape

Isosepalous.   With sepals of same size and shape

Isostichous.   With equal rows

Jointed.   With stems that can be pulled apart easily at the nodes, as in Equisetum

Keel.   The two united petals of a papilionaceous flower; any structure ridged like the bottom of a boat

Lacerate.   Margins irregularly cut, appearing torn

Laciniate.   Cut into closely parallel ribbonlike or straplike projections

Lacuna.   Chamber or internal air space

Lamina.   The leaf tissue other than the veins or axes

Laminar.   Leaf-like stamen without a distinct anther and filament but with embedded or superficial microsporangia, as in Degeneria

Laminate.   With the placenta over the inner surface of the ovary wall

Lammas Shoots.   Abnormal late season shoots that develop from the terminal bud, not a recurring phenomenon as in flushing shoots

Lanate.   Covered with long, intertwined trichomes, cottony

Lanceolate.   Lance shaped, much longer than wide; widened at or above the base and tapering to the apex

Lanuginose.   Cottony, similar to lanate but trichomes shorter

Lateral or Axillary.   On the side of a structure or at the nodes of the axis. Lateral Embryo - Basal or baso-lateral embryo, discoid or lenticular, usually surrounded by copious endosperm. Lateral Leaf - Leaf on the side of the stem, as in heterophyllous species of Selaginella

Laterospermous.   On the side of the seed

Latiflorous.   With broad-flowers

Leaf.   A photosynthetic and transpiring organ, usually developed from leaf primordium in the bud; an expanded, usually green, organ borne on the stem of a plant. Leaf Primordium - Meristematic tissue that gives rise to a leaf. Leaf Scar - A mark indicating former place of attachment of petiole or leaf base. Linear Leaf - Narrow, flattened, triangular, or quadrangular leaf usually 1/2-2 in. long; e.g., Taxus, Picea

Leaflet.   A distinct and separate segment of a leaf

Leaf-opposed.   On stem opposite the base of the leaf, as in Alchemilla

Legume.   A usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from one carpel that splits along two sutures

Lemma.   Outer scale subtending grass floret

Lenticel.   A pore in the bark

Lenticular.   Biconvex, usually elongate and flattish

Lepidote or Squamulose.   Covered with minute scales

Leptophyllous.   With leaves to 25 sq. mm in size.

Leptosporangiate.   Having the entire sporangium develop from a periclinal division of a superficial cell or small group of cells

Ligneous.   Woody

Ligulate or Ray.   Strap-shaped

Ligule.   An outgrowth or projection from the top of the sheath, as in the Poaceae; the strap-shaped portion of a ray or ligulate corolla; a small membranous outgrowth or projection at the base of the leaf, appearing above the sporangium in fertile leaves, as in Selaginella and Isoetes

Limb.   Expanded portion of corolla or calyx above the tube, throat or claw

Lineate.   In lines, stigmatic surface linear

Lingulate.   Tongue-shaped, plano-convex in cross section

Lip or Labellum.   Either of two variously shaped parts into which a corolla or calyx is divided, usually into an upper and lower lip, as in the Lamiaceae and Orchidaceae. Lip Cells - The line of cells between which the sporangium dehisces

Lobate.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth variable; outer and inner margins concave

Lobe.   Any, usually rounded, segment or part of the perianth

Lobed.   Divided into lobes

Locule.   Compartment of an anther; ovary cavity

Loculicidal Capsule One that dehisces longitudinally into the cavity of the locule, as in Epilobium

Lodicule.   Abortive perianth part in the Poaceae; hyaline scales at base of ovary in the Poaceae

Loment.   A legume that separates transversely between seed sections

Long Shoot.   Elongated internodes, rapid annual growth. Long Bud Shoots - Abnormal buds or shoots which elongate, then have arrested growth without the development of leaves and lateral branches

Longitudinal.   Dehiscing along long axis of theca

Loose, Distant, or Scattered.   Parts widely separated from one another, usually irregularly

Lorate.   With elongate vertical waves in the margins or sides at right angles to the longitudinal axis

Lunate.   Crescent-shaped, with acute ends

Lyrate.   Lyre-shaped; pinnatifid with large terminal lobe and smaller lower lobes

Major.   Greater in size

Malacophily.   Pollinated by snails or slugs

Male or Staminate.   Plant with staminate flowers only

Marbled.   A surface traversed by irregular veins of color; as block of marble often is

Marcescent.   Usually ephemeral with persistent remains; withering persistent

Marginal.   Pertaining to the border or edge

Massula.   A clump of microspores, as in Azolla

Matutinal.   With flowers opening in the morning

Medial.   Upon or along the longitudinal axis

Median.   With stipules adnate to petiole with free part of stipules near middle of petiole

Median Leaf.   Leaf on top of stem, as in heterophyllous species of Selaginella

Megasporangium.   The sporangium in which megaspores are produced

Megaspore.   A spore that gives rise to a female gametophyte

Megasporophyll.   Modified leaf bearing ovules; e.g., Zamia

Melittophily.   Pollinated by bees

Membranous.   Thin and semi-translucent; membrane-like

Meniscoidal.   Thin and concaveconvex

Mericarp.   A portion of fruit that seemingly matured as a separate fruit

Mermaphrodigynous.   Inflorescence with hermaphroditic flowers inside or above and pistillate outside or below (hermaphrodigynecephalous)

Mesocarp.   Middle layer of pericarp

Metaphyll.   Adult leaf

Micro.   Axial embryo in minute seeds, less than 0.2 mm long; minute and undifferentiated to almost total size of seed

Micromelittophily.   Pollinated by small bees

Micropyle.   Hole through integument(s)

Microsporangium.   The sporangium in which microspores are produced

Microspore.   A spore that gives rise to a male gametophyte

Microsporophyll.   Modified leaf bearing microsporangia or pollen sacs

Midrib.   The central conducting and supporting structure of the blade of a simple leaf

Midvein.   The central conducting and supporting structure of the blade of a leaflet

Minor.   Smaller in size

Minute.   Very small

Mixed.   Contains flower, leaf, and stem primordia; will give rise to branch with leaves and flower(s)

Monad.   Pollen grains occurring singly

Monadelphous.   With one group of stamens connate by their filaments

Moniliform.   Elongate roots with regularly arranged swollen areas

Monocarpellate.   One-carpelled

Monocarpic, Hapaxanthic.   Perennial or annual, flowering and fruiting once, then dying; fruiting once

Monocephalous.   One-headed, as in composites

Monochasium.   A cymose inflorescence with one main axis

Monocotyledonous.   With one cotyledon

Monocyclic.   One-whorled

Monoecious.   With staminate and carpellate flowers on same plant

Monoecious.   Plant with all flowers imperfect, but staminate and pistillate flowers on same plant

Monolete Spore.   Bean-shaped, with a single scar line

Monomerous.   Whorl with one member

Monomorphic.   All of the same shape and size

Monophyllous.   One-leaved

Monopodial.   Branching with a main axis and reduced or missing laterals; excurrent

Mucilaginous.   Gummy or gelatinous

Mucronate.   Less than 3:1 l/w, straight and stiff

Mucronulate.   1:1 l/w or broader than long; straight

Multicellular.   Many-celled

Multicipital.   With many axes or stems from one rootstock or caudex

Multicostal.   Many-ribbed

Multilocular.   Many-locular

Multinodal Shoot.   Spring shoot developing from the terminal winter bud and producing 2 or more whorls of branches; the cones are partly lateral in the middle of the shoot; e.g., Pinus echinata

Multiseriate.   Many-rowed; in many series

Multistriate.   Many-lined

Muricate.   Covered with short, hard protuberances

Muriculate.   Minutely muricate

Muticous.   Without a vein extension, awn or hair

Myiophily.   Pollinated by diptera

Myrmecophily.   Pollinated by ants

Nanophyllous.   With leaves to 225 sq. mm in size.

Napiform.   Turnip-shaped

Navicular.   Boat-shaped

Neck.   Narrowed portion of hypanthium, between the base and a flared limb

Necrocoleopterophily.   Pollinated by carrion beetles

Nectar Secreting Glands.   Sugary compound producing glands found mostly on floral parts that produce attractants for pollinators

Nectary.   A specialized nectar-secreting structure or area

Needle.   Acicular; slender, elongated leaf, usually over 2 in long; e.g., Pinus

Net.   Veins uniting to form a network

Neuter or Agamous.   Without stamens and carpels in flower; or sex organs abortive

Nocturnal.   Opening during night

Nodal.   At the nodes

Node.   Point on the stem where leaves are attached; or the point of branching of the stem

Nodiform or Nodulose.   Knotty or knobby, as the roots of most of the Fabaceae

Nucellus.   Female sporangium within ovule; megasporangium in seed plants

Nut.   A one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with a hard pericarp, usually derived from a one-loculed ovary

Nutlet.   A small nut

Obconic.   Inversely conical

Obcordiform.   Inversely cordiform

Obdiplostemonous.   With stamens in two whorls, outer opposite petals, inner opposite the sepals

Oblique.   Having an asymmetrical base

Oblong.   With widest axis at midpoint of structure and with margins essentially parallel

Obovate.   Inversely ovate

Obscure.   Not clearly visible macroscopically, usually owing to incomplete differentiation

Obtriangular.   Inversely triangular

Obtrullate.   Inversely trullate

Obtuse.   Margins straight to convex, forming a terminal angle more than 90

Ocellated.   A broad spot of some color has another spot of a different color within it

Ocreate.   Having a stipular tube surrounding stem above insertion of petiole or blade

Ocreolate.   Diminutive of ocreate; usually applied to bract bases

Oligomerous.   With reduction in number of members within whorl

Oligotaxy.   Reduction in number of whorls

Opaque.   With a dull surface

Operculate Capsule.   One that dehisces through pores, each of which is covered by a flap, cap, or lid, as in Papaver

Opposite.   Two leaves or other structures per node, on opposite sides of stem or central axis

Ornithophily.   Pollinated by birds

Orthotropous or Atropous.   With straight body so that funicular attachment is at one end and micropyle at other

Osseous.   Bony

Ovary.   Ovule-bearing part of pistil

Ovate.   With widest axis below middle and with margins symmetrically curved; egg-shaped

Ovulate.   Female; bearing ovules only in the flowers

Ovule.   Embryonic seed consisting of integument(s) and nucellus

Ovuliferous Scale.   Highly modified lateral branch in the axil of a leaf (bract), and bearing ovules; may be flat or peltate, woody or fleshy; e.g., Pinaceae

Pachycauly.   Short, thick, frequently succulent stems, as in

Painted.   Colors disposed in streaks of unequal intensity

Palate.   The raised area in the throat of a sympetalous corolla

Palea.   Inner scale subtending grass floret

Paleaceous.   With small membranous scales, chaffy

Palinactinodromous.   Actinodromous, the primary veins with one or more subsidiary radiations above the primary one

Palmate.   Radiately lobed or divided. Palmately Compound - With leaflets from one point at end of petiole

Palmate-pinnate.   With first order leaflets palmately arranged, second order pinnately arranged

Palmatifid.   Cut palmately

Palmatisect.   Sectioned or divided palmately into distinct segments

Panduriform.   Fiddle-shaped; obovate with sinus or indentation on each side near base and with two small basal lobes

Panicle.   Branched inflorescence with pedicelled flowers

Pannose or Felted.   With matted, feltlike layer of trichomes

Papilionaceous.   With large posterior petal (banner or standard) two lateral petals (wings) and usually two connate lower petals (keel); as in the Fabaceae

Papillose.   Covered with minute tubercles

Pappus.   Bristly or scaly calyx in the Asteraceae

Parallel.   Thecae or anther cells along side of the connective or longitudinal to each other; with veins extending from base to apex, essentially parallel

Parallelodromous.   With two or more primary veins originating beside one another at the blade base and running more or less parallel to the apex where they converge

Paraphyses.   Hairs or hair-like structures in the sorus

Parietal.   With the placentae on the wall or intruding partitions of a unilocular compound ovary

Paripinnately Compound.   Even-pinnately compound, without a terminal leaflet

Parted.   Indentations or incisions cut 1/2-3/4 distance to midrib

Patelliform.   Knee-shaped; disk-shaped

Patent.   Spreading

Pectinate.   Pinnatifid with closely set segments; comb-like

Pedate.   Palmately cut or divided with the lower pair basiscopically exaggerated

Pedicel.   Individual flower stalk

Peduncle.   Main stalk for entire inflorescence

Peg (sterigmata).   Lateral stem projection to which leaf is attached and persistent after leaf dehiscence; ie., abscission layer between peg and leaf; leaf may be sessile; e.g., Picea; or petiolate; e.g. Tsuga, on the peg

Pellucid.   Clear, transparent

Peltate.   Usually having petiole attached near the center on the underside of blade

Peltiform.   Rounded with petiole attached to center of blade or apparently to laminar tissue

Pendent.   Drooping, hanging down; pendulous

Pendulous.   Hanging loosely or freely; pendent

Penni-parallel.   With veins extending from midrib to margins, essentially parallel

Pentacyclic.   Five-whorled

Pentagonal.   Five-angled

Pentamerous.   Whorl with five members

Pentandrous.   With five stamens

Pepo.   A berry with a leathery nonseptate rind derived from an inferior ovary, as in Cucurbita

Perennial, Polycarpic.   Living more than two years; fruiting more than once

Perfect or Bisexual.   With both stamens and carpels or pistils in the flower

Perfoliate.   Having base completely surrounding stem

Perianth.   An aggregation of tepals or combined calyx and corolla

Pericarp.   Fruit wall

Pericarpous.   Around the fruit

Pericladial.   With a sheathing base, as in the Apiaceae

Perigynium.   Sac-like bract subtending the pistillate flower, as in Carex

Perigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral tube or hypanthium surrounding the ovary with the tube or hypanthium free from the ovary

Peripheral.   On the outer surface or edge

Perisperm.   Food reserve in seed derived from diploid nucellus or integuments

Perispermous.   With food reserve in perisperm, derived from diploid nucellus or integuments

Perispore or Perine.   An outer covering of some fern spores, with different configuration than that of the exospore

Persistent.   Remaining attached; applied to individual parts

Personate.   Two-lipped with the upper arched and the lower protruding into corolla throat

Petal.   A corolla member or segment; a unit of the corolla

Petalantherous.   With a terminal anther and distinctly petaloid filament, as in Saxifraga

Petaliferous.   Most frequently at the base of petals

Petaloid.   Petal-like in shape, texture and/or color

Petalostemonous.   With filaments fused to corolla, anthers free

Petiolar.   May be all over (general) or near apex (acropetiolar) or near base (basipetiolar)

Petiolate.   With a petiole

Petiole.   Leaf stalk

Petiolulate.   With a petiolule

Petiolule.   Leaflet stalk

Petrorhizous.   With roots on rock

Phalaenophily.   Pollinated by moths

Phanerantherous.   With stamens exserted

Phanerocotylar or Epigeous.   With the cotyledons emergent from seed, usually appearing above ground

Photosynthetic.   Blade-like and green

Phyllary.   One of the involucral leaves subtending a capitulum, as in composites

Phyllodial.   Flattened and blade-like

Phyllodium.   Flattened blade-like petiole or midrib

Phyllopodic.   With blade-bearing leaves at base of plant

Phyllotaxis.   Arrangement of leaves, primarily photosynthetic in function

Piliferous.   More than 20:1 l/w, hair-like, flexuous

Pilose.   With soft, shaggy trichomes

Pinna.   A primary division of a fern leaf

Pinnate.   Compound, with the leaflets arranged on both sides of a common axis. Interruptedly Pinnately Compound - With smaller and larger leaflets alternating along the rachis

Pinnate-pinnatifid.   Pinnate with pinnatifid pinnae

Pinnatifid.   Pinnately cut, more than half way to the midvein

Pinnatisect.   Sectioned or divided pinnately into distinct segments

Pinnule.   A secondary division of a fern leaf

Pisiform.   Pea-shaped

Pistil.   One or more fused carpels consisting of stigma, style (if present) and ovary

Pistillate, Carpellate, or Female.   With pistils or carpels only in the flower

Pitcher.   Ventricose to tubular insectivorous leaf, as in Sarracenia

Pith.   Centermost tissue of stem, usually soft

Placenta.   Ovule-bearing region of ovary wall

Planate or Plain.   With lamina flat, without folds or rolls

Platycanthous.   With flat and usually large spines

Plectostele.   A protostele dissected into anastomosing plate-like units

Pleiochasium.   Compound dichasium in which each cymule has three lateral branches

Pleiomerous.   With increase in number of members within whorl

Pleiotaxy.   Increase in number of whorls

Pleomorphic.   Actinomorphic with numbers of parts reduced; e.g., Tripogandra

Pleurogamy.   Pollen tube entrance through side of ovule

Pleurotropous.   Dorsal - Ovule horizontal, micropyle toward ventral bundle, raphe above. Ventral - Ovule horizontal, micropyle toward ventral bundle, raphe below

Plicate or Plaited.   Fluted, longitudinally folded

Pliestesial or Multiperennial.   Monocarpic but living several to many years before flowering, as in Agave

Plumose.   Feather-like

Plumule.   Embryonic leaves in seed derived from epicotyl

Pneumatophorous.   With spongy, aerating roots, usually found in marsh plants

Pollen Grain.   Young male gametophyte. Pollen Sac - Male sporangium

Pollinia.   Grains occurring in uniform coherent masses

Polyad.   Pollen grains in clusters of more than four

Polyandrous.   Many-stamened

Polyanthous.   Having different states in several to many (more than three) different sets of flowers, only one state present in each set

Polycarpellate.   Many-carpellate

Polycephalous.   Many-headed, as in composites

Polycyclic.   Many-whorled

Polydelphous.   With several groups of stamens connate by their filaments

Polygamo-dioecious.   Plants dioecious, but with some perfect flowers on staminate or pistillate plants or both

Polygamo-monoecious.   Plant monoecious, but with some perfect flowers

Polygamous.   Plant with perfect and imperfect flowers

Polyheterophytous.   Having different states in several to many (more than three) different individuals or sets of plants, only one state present in each set

Polymerous.   Whorl with many members

Polymorphic.   Having several to many (more than three) different shapes and/or sizes within the same species

Polyphore.   A receptacle or torus bearing many distinct carpels, as in Rosa

Polystichous.   Leaves or other structures in many rows

Pome (Receptacle and Hypanthium).   A berry-like fruit, adnate to a fleshy receptacle, with cartilaginous endocarp, as in Malus

Poricidal.   Dehiscing through a pore at apex of theca

Porogamy.   Pollen tube entrance through the micropyle

Posterior.   Lobe - The lobe next to axis, away from the subtending bract; adaxial lobe. Posterior Ridges, Lines, Grooves - The lines, grooves, ridges in or on the ventral side, adaxial, within the perianth

Pouch or Sac.   A bag-shaped structure

Precocious.   Developing unusually early

Preformed Shoots.   Normal shoots that develop from winter buds which contain primordia of all leaves that will expand during the season

Prickle.   A sharp pointed outgrowth from the epidermis or cortex of any organ

Prickly.   With prickles

Primary.   From radicle of embryo; tip of main axis

Primocane.   The first year non-flowering stem, as in most blackberries; a turion

Primordium.   Cells in embryo or bud giving rise to roots, leaves or flowers. Protected Primordium - Shoot and/or flower primordia surrounded by scales. Naked Primordium - Shoot and/or flower primordia not surrounded by scales

b.   Flowering before normal period, as spring flowers in the fall

Procumbent, Prostrate, or Reclining.   Trailing or lying flat, not rooting at the nodes; humistrate

Proleptic Shoots.   Abnormal late season shoots that develop from the lateral buds immediately beneath the terminal

Promeristem.   Apical growing or meristematic tissue that gives rise to other bud parts

Prop or Stilt.   Adventitious, supporting roots usually arising at lower nodes

Prostrate.   Flat, spreading; growing low along the ground

Protandrous.   With stamens or anthers developing before carpels or stigma

Protantherous.   With leaves appearing before flowers

Prothallus.   Gametophyte of lower vascular plants

Protogynous.   With carpels or stigma maturing before stamens or anthersProtostele.   Stele having a solid column of vascular tissue with xylem centrally located

Proximal.   Near the point of origin or attachment

Pruinose, Frosted, or Sebiferous.   With a heavy wax coat

Pseudanthium.   Several flowers simulating a simple flower but composed of more than a single axis with subsidiary flowers

Pseudocarp (Receptacle).   An aggregation of achenes embedded in a fleshy receptacle, as in Fragaria

Pseudodrupe (Involucre).   Two-four loculed nut surrounded by a fleshy involucre, as in Juglans

Pseudomonomerous.   Whorl seemingly with one member which is a fusion product of two or more parts

Pseudo-terminal.   Bud appearing apical but is lateral near apex, developing with death or nondevelopment of terminal bud

Psychophily.   Pollinated by butterflies

Pterocauly.   Winged stems

Puberulent.   Minutely pubescent

Pubescent.   Covered with dense or scattered trichomes

Pulverulent.   Covered with fine, powdery wax granules

Pulvinal.   With a swollen base, as in the Fabaceae

Pulvinus.   The swollen base of a petiole or petiolule

Punctate.   Covered with minute impressions or depressions

Pungent.   Acrid; terminating in a rigid sharp point

Purcate.   Forked

Pustulate.   With scattered blisterlike swellings

Pyrene.   Fleshy fruit with each seed surrounded by a bony endocarp, as in Ilex

Pyriform.   Pear-shaped

Quadrate.   Nearly square to form 

Quadrifid.   Cut or divided into four lobes or parts

Quincuncial.   Having five structures, two of which are exterior, two interior, and a fifth with one margin covering interior structure and other margin covered by that of one of the exterior structures

Raceme.   Unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence with pedicelled flowers

Rachilla.   Secondary axis of compound leaf; central axis of a grass or sedge spikelet

Rachis.   The main axis of a pinnately compound leaf; major axis within an inflorescence; axis of a compound fern blade

Radical.   Leaves basal, near ground, usually from caudex or rootstock

Radicle.   Basal end of embryo axis that gives rise to root system

Rameal Sheath.   Leaf sheath on the stem joints, as in Equisetum

Ramentaceous.   Having many thin scales, as on the epidermis of some ferns

Ramose.   Branched

Raphe.   Ridge on seed coat formed from adnate funiculus

Ray.   Secondary axis in a compound inflorescence

Receptacle or Torus.   The region at end of pedicel or on axis to which flower is attached; point on a leaf where sporangia are attached

Receptaculum.   A fleshy structure below the seed formed from the bases of bracts and the swollen receptacle or cone axis; e. g., Acmopyle, and some Podocarpus spp

Reclinate.   Bent down upon the axis, no angle of divergence

Reclined.   Descending at 106-135° angle of divergence

Rectangular.   Box-shaped, longer than wide

Recurved.   Curved outward or downward

Reduced.   Decreased in size

Reflexed.   Bent or turned downward

Regular.   With floral parts within a whorl similar in shape and size

Reniform.   Kidney-shaped, with shallow sinus and widely rounded margins

Repand.   Sinuate with indentions less than 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein

Repent.   Creeping or lying flat and rooting at the nodes

Replicate.   With lamina folded once abaxially along midrib or midvein

Replum.   Persistent septum after dehiscence of fruits, as in the Brassicaceae

Resinous.   Having a yellowish, sticky, exudate

Resupinate.   Inverted or twisted 180°, as in pedicels in the Orchidaceae

Reticulate.   Netted; with veins forming a network

Reticulodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins not terminating at the margin and losing their identities near the margin by repeated branching, yielding a dense reticulum

Retinaculum, Jaculator or Echma.   A persistent indurated, hook-like funiculus in the fruits of Acanthaceae

Retrorse.   Bent or directed downward. Retrorsely Crenate - Rounded teeth directed toward base. Retrorsely Serrate - Sharp or pointed teeth directed toward base

Retuse.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth to 1/16 distance to midpoint of blade; margins convex

Revolute.   Margins or outer portion of sides rolled outward or downward over lower or dorsal surface

Rhizocarpic.   Plants having the roots living for many years with the stems dying annually

Rhizoid.   A hair-like absorptive organ on gametophytes and rarely on sporophytes

Rhizome.   A horizontal underground stem

Rhizotaxis.   Arrangement of roots

Rhombic.   With widest axis at midpoint of structure, and with straight margins; elliptic but margins straight and middle angled

Ribbed.   With longitudinal nerves

Ringed.   With old bud scale scar rings

Robust.   Large

Rolled.   Sides enrolled, usually loosely, over upper or lower surfaces

Root.   An absorbing and anchoring organ, usually initially developed from the radicle and growing downward. Root Cap - Parenchymatous, protective apex of root. Root Hair - Lateral, absorbing outgrowth of the epidermal cell

Secondary Root.   Lateral root with root cap and hairs, derived from the pericycle

Rootstock.   A term applied to miscellaneous types of underground stems or parts

Roridulate or Dewy.   Covered with waxy platelets, appearing dewy

Rostellum or Beak.   Persistent stylar base on fruit

Rosulate.   Leaves in a rosette

Rotate.   Wheel-shaped, with short tube and wide limb at right angles to tube

Rounded.   Margins and apex forming a smooth arc

Rudimentary.   Basal, small nonperipheral embryo in small to large seed; relatively undifferentiated; endosperm copious

Rugose.   Covered with coarse reticulate lines

Ruminate.   Coarsely wrinkled, appearing as chewed

Runcinate.   Oblanceolate with lacerate to parted margins

Runner or Stolon.   An indeterminate, elongate, above ground propagative stem, with long internodes, rooting at the tip forming new plants

Saccate.   Pouch-like

Sagittate.   Lobe pointed and oriented downward or inward in relation to petiole or midrib; sinus depth variable; margins variable

Sagittiform.   Triangular-ovate with two straight or slightly incurved basal lobes

Salient, Porrect, or Projected.   Pointed outward, usually said of teeth

Salverform.   Trumpet-shaped; with slender tube and limb nearly at right angles to tube

Samara.   A winged, dry fruit

Samaracetum.   An aggregation of samaras, as in Liriodendron

Sapromyiophily.   Pollinated by carrion or dung flies

Sarcocauly.   Fleshy stems

Sarcous.   With the seed coat fleshy

Scaberulent.   Approaching scabrous

Scabridulous.   Minutely scabrous

Scabrous.   Having a harsh surface

Scale.   Small, non-green leaf on bud and modified stem; small, scarious to coriaceous flattened bodies within the perianth, as in the Cyperaceae and Asteraceae. Scale Leaf - Small, usually appressed and imbricate; e.g., Juniperus, Thuja

Scape.   A naked flowering stem with or without a few scale leaves, arising from an underground stem

Scapose.   With a solitary flower on a leafless peduncle or scape, usually arising from a basal rosette

Scarious.   Thin and dry, appearing shriveled

Scarred.   With old leaf base, stipular and/or branch scar regions

Schizocarp.   Separated body, as in separating fruits (achenes, berries, carcerules, follicules, mericarps, nutlets, samaras), splitting apart at maturity

Sclerocauly.   Hard, dryish stems

Sclerous.   Hard

Scurfy or Lentiginous With exfoliating scaly incrustations

Seasonally.   Occurring during a seasonal cycle, or each season

Secund or Unilateral.   Flowers or other structures on one side of axis

Seed.   A matured ovule. Seed Coat - Outer protective covering of seed

Segment.   The ultimate division or unit of a dissected fern leaf

Semataxis.   Arrangement of semaphylls (petals, sepals, tepals), primarily advertising (pollinator attracting) in function

Semicarpous.   With ovaries of adjacent carpels partly fused, stigmas and styles separate

Semicraspedodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins branching just within the margin, one branch from each terminating at the margin and the other forming a marginal loop and joining the superadjacent secondary vein

Sepal.   A calyx member or segment; a unit of the calyx

Sepaliferous.   Most frequently at the base of sepals

Sepaloid.   Sepal-like in shape, texture and/or color

Septal.   At the junction of the septa in the ovary

Septate.   Divided by internal partitions into locules or cells

Septum or Dissepiment.   Partition. Septicidal Capsule - One that dehisces longitudinally through the septa, as in Penstemon

Sericeous.   With long, silky trichomes, usually appressed

Serotinal.   Opening late; appearing in late summer

Serrate.   Saw-toothed; teeth sharp and ascending, but cut 1/16-1/8 distance to midrib or midvein

Serrated.   Cut into sawlike teeth

Serrulate.   Diminutive of serrate, but cut to 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein

Sessile.   Without a petiole or petiolule

Seta.   A hair-like extension of the leaf, as in homophyllous species of Selaginella

Setose, Setaceous.   Having setae or bristlelike trichomes

Sheath.   Any more or less tubular portion of the leaf surrounding the stem or culm, as in the Poaceae

Sheathing.   Having tubular structure enclosing stem below apparent insertion of blade or petiole

Shining, Nitid, or Laevigate.   Lustrous, polished

Shrub.   A much-branched woody perennial plant usually without a single trunk

Silicle.   A dry, dehiscent fruit derived from two or more carpels that dehisce along two sutures and which has a persistent partition after dehiscence and is as broad as, or broader, than long

Silique.   A silicle type fruit that is longer than broad

Simple.   Not composed of more than one anatomically or morphologically equivalent unit

Sinistrorse.   Rising helically from left to right, a characteristic of twining stems

Sinuate.   Long horizontal curves in the body of the structure parallel to the central axis

Siphonostele.   A stele having vascular tissue in the form of a hollow cylinder, with a central pith

Soboliferous.   With loosely clumped shoots arising some distance apart from rhizomes or under ground suckers

Solenostele.   A siphonostele having phloem both internal and external to the xylem

Solitary.   One-flowered, not an inflorescence

Sorosis.   Fruits on a common axis that are usually coalesced and derived from the ovaries of several flowers, as in Morus

Sorus.   A cluster of sporangia

Spadix.   Unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence with flowers embedded in the rachis

Spathe.   An enlarged bract enclosing an inflorescence

Spathulate or Spatulate.   Oblong or obovate apically with a long attenuate base

Spatulate.   Foliate, erect embryo with variable cotyledons, thin to thick and slightly expanded to broad

Spherical.   With multi-dimensional radial symmetry

Sphingophily.   Pollinated by hawk moths and nocturnal lepidoptera

Spiculate.   With crystals in or on the surface

Spike.   Unbranched, indeterminate, elongate inflorescence with sessile flowers

Spikelet or Locusta.   A small spike; the basic inflorescence unit in grasses and sedges

Spine.   Sharp-pointed petiole, midrib, vein, or stipule

Spinose or Pungent.   Acuminate but coriaceous and stiff

Spiral.   Twisted like a corkscrew

Spirolobal.   With incumbent cotyledons folded once

Spongy.   Cellular; sponge-like

Sporangiophore.   The umbrella-shaped sporangium-bearing unit of the strobilus, as in Equisetum

Sporangium.   A spore case

Sporocarp.   A hard, nut-like structure containing the sporangia in heterosporous ferns

Sporophyll.   A spore bearing leaf

Spotted.   The color disposed in small spots

Spur.   A short shoot on which flowers and fruits or leaves are borne; a tubular or pointed projection from the perianth

Squamose.   Having coarse scales

Squarrose.   Usually sharply curved downward or outward in the apical region, as the bracts of some species of Aster

Stamen.   Male sporophyll within the flower; floral organ that bears pollen in angiosperms

Staminal.   Most frequently at base of filament

Staminate or Male.   With stamens only in the flower

Staminodial.   Frequently entire structure is nectariferous

Staminodium.   Sterile stamen, may be modified as a nectary or petaloid structure. Staminal Disc - A fleshy, elevated cushion formed from coalesced staminodia or nectaries

Standard, Banner, or Vexillum.   The upper, usually wide petal in a papilionaceous corolla

Stele.   The central primary vascular system of the stem and associated tissues delimited from the cortex by endodermis and pericycle, Delimited from the cortex by endodermis and pericycle

Stellate.   Star-shaped

Stem.   A supporting and conducting organ usually developed initially from the epicotyl and growing upward

Stereomorphic.   Flowers 3-dimensional with basically radial symmetry; parts many or reduced, and usually regular; e.g., Narcissus, Aquilegia

Stigma.   Pollen-receptive portion of pistil

Stipe, Podogyne, Carpopodium.   Basal stalk. Stipe Bundles - The vascular bundles of the fern petiole

Stipellate.   With stipels

Stipels.   Paired scales, spines, or glands at the base of petiolule

Stipulate.   With stipules

Stipules.   Paired scales, spines, glands, or blade-like structures at the base of a petiole. Stipular Scar - A mark indicating former place of attachment of stipule

Stolon.   Runner or indeterminate, elongate, above ground propagative stem, rooting at the tip producing new plants. Underground Stolon - A determinate, elongate, underground propagative stem with long internodes forming a bulb or tuber at the tip

Stoloniferous.   Bearing stolons; sarmentose

Stomate.   Opening or pore in leaf epidermis; intercellular space between two guard cells

Stomium.   Lip cell region of a fern sporangium

Striate.   With longitudinal lines

Strict.   Stiff and rigid

Strigillose.   Diminutive of strigose

Strigose.   Covered with sharp, coarse, bent trichomes usually with a bulbous base

Striped.   Longitudinal stripes of one color crossing another

Strobilus.   Stem with short internodes and spore-bearing appendages; a cone

Strombiform.   Elongate snail-shaped

Strophiolate.   With elongate aril or strophiole in the hilum region

Style.   Attenuated, non-ovule-bearing portion of pistil between stigma and ovary

Stylocarpellous.   With a style and without a stipe, the normal carpel

Stylocarpepodic.   With a style and stipe

Stylopodic.   With a stylopodium or discoid base, as in the Apiaceae

Subacrocaulous.   With branches at or near tip of main stem

Subapical.   At one side near apex of ovary

Subbasal.   Near the base

Subbasicaulous.   With branches at or near base of main stem

Subbasifixed.   Anther attached near its base to apex of filament

Suberous.   Corky

Subglabrate.   Almost glabrous

Subglobose.   Almost round or spherical

Submersed.   Beneath the surface of the water

Submersicaulous.   With submersed stems

Subtend.   To stand below and close to

Subterminal.   Near the apex

Subterranean or Hypogeous.   Below the surface of the ground

Subulate.   Very narrow and tapering; awl-shaped; linear

Sucker Shoots.   Shoots that develop from adventitious buds on old stumps or roots, usually after cutting or injury, which have elongate internodal lengths and intervals

Suffrutescent.   Woody basally, herbaceous apically

Sulcate.   With longitudinal grooves

Summer Annual.   Germinating in spring or early summer and flowering and fruiting in late summer or early fall, then dying

Superior.   Other floral organs attached below ovary

Supervolute.   With lamina with one edge tightly enrolled and with the other loosely enrolled covering the first, loosely convolute

Supine.   Prostrate, with parts oriented upward

Suprafoliar.   On the stem above the leaves, as in the Arecaceae

Suprarhizous.   On top of the root

Surcarpous.   With fruits on surface of ground

Surcurrent.   Extending along stem upward from leaf base

Surficial or Epigeous.   Upon or spread over the surface of the ground

Syconium.   A syncarp with the achenes borne on the inside of a hollowed-out receptacle or peduncle, as in Ficus

Syleptic Shoots.   Abnormal shoots that develop from lateral buds before they have reached maturity

Sympetalous.   With fused petals

Sympatric.   Collocated, together

Sympodial.   Branching without a main axis but with many, more or less, equal laterals

Synantherous.   With leaves and flowers appearing at same time

Syncarpous.   With fused carpels

Syncotyly.   Cotyledons coalesced, forming a funnel or trumpet

Syngenesious.   With fused anthers

Synovarious.   With ovaries of adjacent carpels completely fused, styles and stigmas separate

Synsepalous.   With fused sepals

Synstylovarious.   With ovaries and styles of adjacent carpels completely fused, stigmas separate

Syntropous.   With radicle pointing toward hilum

Tannin Bearing Glands.   Tannin producing glands found in various parts of the plant, presumably protective in some structures

Tap.   Persistent, well-developed primary root

Tendril.   Long, slender, coiling branch, adapted for climbing (most tendrils are leaf structures)

Tentacular.   Glandular-haired or tentacle-bearing insectivorous leaf, as in Drosera

Tepal.   A member or segment of perianth in which the parts are not differentiated into distinct sepals and petals

Terete.   Cylindrical and elongate

Tergeminate.   With three orders of leaflets, each bifoliolate, or with geminate leaflets ternately compound

Terminal.   At apex or end of stem. Terminal Bud Scale Scar Rings - Several marks in a ring indicating former places of attachment of bud scales

Ternately Compound.   With leaflets in three's

Tessellated.   Color arranged in small squares, so as to have some resemblance to a checkered pavement

Testa.   The outer, commonly hard and brittle seed-coat

Tetracyclic.   Four-whorled

Tetrad.   Pollen grains in clusters of four

Tetradynamous.   With stamens in two groups, usually four long and two short

Tetragonal.   Four-angled

Tetrahedral.   Having the form of a tetrahedron

Tetralocular.   Four-locular

Tetramerous.   Whorl with four members

Tetrandrous.   With four stamens

Tetrastichous.   Leaves or other structures in four rows

Theca.   One half of anther containing two pollen sacs or male sporangia

Thorn.   A sharp-pointed branch

Throat.   An open, expanded tube in the perianth

Thyrse.   A many-flowered inflorencence with an indeterminate central axis and with many opposite lateral dichasia

Tiller.   A grass shoot produced from the base of the stem

Tomentose.   Covered with dense, interwoven trichomes

Torose.   Cylindrical with contractions at intervals

Tortuous.   Irregularly twisted

Trailing.   Sprawling on ground, usually with adventitious roots

Transverse or Explanate.  At rightangles to long axis

Tree.   A tall, woody perennial plant usually with a single trunk

Triangular.   With three sides and three angles

Tricarpellate.   Three-carpellate

Trichome.   A leaf or stem surface hair

Tricyclic.   Three-whorled

Tridynamous.   With stamens in two equal groups of three

Trifid.   Cut or divided into three lobes or parts

Triflorous.   Three-flowered

Trifoliate.   Three-leaved

Trifoliolate.   With three leaflets

Trifurcate.   Divided into three forks or branches; three-forked

Trigonous.   Three-angled

Triheteranthous.   Having different states in three different sets of flowers, only one state present in each set

Triheterophytous.   Having different states in three different sets of plants, only one state present in each set

Trilete Spore.   Basically tetrahedral, but often appearing round or triangular, with three scar lines forming a Y

Trimerous.   Whorl with three members

Trimorphic.   Having three different shapes and/or sizes within the same species

Trioecious.   Plants staminate, pistillate or perfect

Tripalmately Compound.   With three orders of leaflets, each palmately compound

Tripinnately Compound.   With three orders of leaflets, each pinnately compound

Triquetrous.   Three-angled with the sides usually concave

Tristichous.   Leaves or other structures in three rows

Triternate.   With three orders of leaflets, each ternately compound

Trullate.   With widest axis below middle and with straight margins; ovate but margins straight and angled below middle, trowel-shaped

Truncate.   Cut straight across; ending abruptly almost at right angles to midrib or midvein

Tryma (Involucre).   Two-four loculed nut surrounded by a dehiscent involucre at maturity, as in most species of Carya

Tube.   Cylindrical part

Tuber.   A thick storage stem, usually not upright

Tuberculate.   With hard, swollen, persistent base or tubercle. Tuberculate or Verrucose - With a warty surface

Tubercules.   Silica deposits on the stem ridges, as in Equisetum

Tuberous.   Fleshy roots resembling stem tubers

Tubular.   Cylindrical

Turbinate.   Top-shaped; obconic

Turgid.   Tumid or swollen

Turion.   An over-wintering bud, as in Lemna

Twining.   Twisted around a central axis

Umbel.   A determinate or indeterminate flat-topped or convex inflorescence with the pedicels arising at a common point. Compound Umbel - An umbel with primary rays or peduncles arising at a common point with a secondary umbel arising from the tip of the primary rays; a branched umbel

Umbellet.   The secondary umbel in a compound umbel

Umbilicate.   Depressed in the center

Umbo.   Projection, with or without spine or prickle, on the apophysis of the cone scale

Umbonate.   Round with a projection in center

Umbraculate.   Umbrella-shaped, as in Sarracenia

Umbraculiform.   Umbrella-shaped

Undulate.   With a series of vertical curves at right angles to the central axis

Unguiculate.   Clawed

Unicarpellous or Stylodious.   With solitary, free carpel in gynoecium

Unifoliolate.   With a single leaflet with a petiolule distinct from the petiole of the whole leaf, as in Cercis

Unilocular.   One-locular

Uninodal Shoot.   Spring shoot developing from the terminal winter bud and producing only one internode with one whorl of branches at the end; the cones are subterminal at the end of the shoot; e.g., Pinus resinosa

Uniseriate.   One-rowed; in one series

Unisexual.   With only one sex in each flower

Urceolate.   Urn-shaped

Stinging Urent.   With erect, usually long trichomes that produce irritation when touched

Utricle.   A small, bladdery or inflated, one-seeded, dry fruit.

Vallecular Canal.   A canal beneath a stem groove

Valvate.   Sides enrolled, adaxially or abaxially so that margins touch

Valvular.   Dehiscing through a pore covered by a flap of tissue. Valvular or Septifragal Capsule - One with valves breaking away from the septa, as in Ipomoea

Variegated.   The color disposed in various irregular, sinuous, spaces

Vascular Bundle or Trace Scar A mark indicating former place of attachment within the leaf scar of the vascular bundle or trace

Vegetative Frond.   Frond lacking sporangia

Velum.   The membranous flap covering the sporangium, as in Isoetes

Velutinous.   Covered with dense, straight, long and soft trichomes; pile-like

Ventral.   Pertaining to the surface nearest the axis; inner face of an organ; the upper surface of the leaf; adaxial. Ventral Side - Top side or upper side of a perianth part

Ventricose.   Inflated on one side near the middle

Ventristipular.   On ventral side of stipule

Vermiform.   Worm-shaped

Vernal.   Appearing in spring

Verrucose.   Warty

Versatile.   Dorsifixed but anther seemingly swinging free on the filament

Verticillaster.   Whorled dichasia at the nodes of an elongate rachis

Vespertine.   With flowers opening in the evening or night; appearing or expanding in the evening

Vestigial.   Minute; a remnant

Vexillate.   Having one structure larger than others which is folded over smaller enclosed structures

Villosulous.   Minutely villous

Villous.   Covered with long, soft, crooked trichomes

Vine or Liana.   An elongate, weak-stemmed, often climbing annual or perennial plant, with herbaceous or woody texture

Virgate.   Wand-like; long, slender, and straight

Viscid.   Sticky or glutinous

Whorl.   A cyclic or acyclic group of sepals, or petals, or stamens, or carpels

Whorled, Radiate, or Verticillate.   Three or more leaves or other structures per node

Wing.   Lateral petals, as in the Fabaceae; a flattened extension, appendage or projection from a perianth part

Winged. With flattened blade-like margins. Winged Nut (Bract) - Nut enclosed in a winglike bract, as in Carpinus

Wood. Xylem consisting of vessels and/or tracheids, fibers, and parenchyma cells

Woody. Hard and lignified

Zoned. The same as ocellated, but the concentric bands more numerous

Zonocaulous. With branches intermittently spaced along main stem

Zygomorphic or Bilateral. With floral parts in two symmetrical halves

 
   
Plant Information Center
About PIC | Project Staff | Advisory Panel | Research Activities | Partners | Permissions
Funding provided in part by
Institute of Museum and Library Services
IMLS
logo
Plant Information Center is produced
in conjunction with Botnet

BOTNET