PlantFile

Botanical Dictionary

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

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