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Glossary
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
A
Adventitious
- Organs unusual in position, as roots developing from stems or leaves.
Acaulescent
- Without a stem, the leaves all basal.
Achene
- A small, dry, hard, 1-loculed, 1-seeded, indehiscent fruit.
Acute
- Sharp; tapering to the apex with straight sides.
Ament
- Catkin; a usually deciduous dense spike or raceme.
Amplexicaul
- Clasping the stem, as a leaf base or stipule.
Ampliate
- Enlarged.
Androgynous
- With staminate flowers borne above the pistillate ones, as in many species of Carex.
Annual
-Plant growing from seed and producing flowers and seeds and dying the same year.
Anther
- The pollen-bearing part of the stamen.
Anthesis
- Flowering; when the flower is expanded completely and typically functional.
Apical
- Located at the tip.
Apiculate
- Ending in an abrupt slender tip.
Appressed
- Lying close and flat against another part.
Areola
- A small space on or beneath the surface, as between the veins in cacti, which bears the flowers, spines, glochids, or all three.
Armature
(armed) - Spines, barbs, prickles, or thorns (or bearing them).
Ascending
- Growing obliquely upward, often curving.
Attenuate
- Gradually narrowing to a tip or base.
Auricle
- An ear-shaped appendage.
Auriculate
- With one or more auricles.
Awn
- A bristle-like appendage; the tips of glumes and lemmas on many grasses.
Axil
- The upper (ventral) angle between a leaf and a stem.
B
Banner
- Upper petal of a papilionaceous flower, as in the sweet pea.
Basal
- Related to or located at the base.
Beak
- A prolonged, usually narrowed tip of a thicker organ, as in some fruits and petals.
Bearded
- Bearing long hairs, usually in tufts.
Bidentate
- Having two teeth.
Biennial
- Plants living two years, usually flowering and fruiting the second year.
Bifid
- Two-cleft to about the middle.
Bilocular
- With two locules, as an ovary.
Bipinnate
- Doubly or twice pinnate, as in many compound leaves.
Bladdery
- Thin and inflated.
Blade
- The expanded part of a leaf or petal.
BLM
- Bureau of Land Management.
Bract
- A reduced leaf subtending a flower, usually associated with the inflorescence.
Bracteate
- With bracts.
Bristles
- Stiff hairs.
Bulb
- An underground leaf bud with thickened scales, as in the onion.
C
Caducous
- Falling off early or prematurely.
Caespitose
- Growing in tufts.
Calyx
(pl. calyces) - Outer whorl of flowering parts; collective term for all sepals of a flower.
Campanulate
- Bell-shaped.
Canescent
- Covered with gray white or hoary fine hairs.
Capitate
- Head-shaped, or in a head.
Capsule
- A dry fruit of more than one carpel, which opens to release the seeds.
Cartilaginous
- Like cartilage, tough and firm.
Catkin
- A deciduous dense spike or raceme with bracteate, apetalous, unisexual flowers, as in Salicaceae.
Caudex (pl. caudices)
- The woody base of an otherwise herbaceous perennial.
Caulescent
- With a definite leafy stem.
Cauline
- Belonging to or on the stem.
Ciliate
- Fringed with marginal hairs.
Cinereous
- Ash-colored; light gray.
Clasping
- Leaf partly or wholly surrounding the stem.
Clathrate
- Resembling lattice-work.
Claw
- The narrowed base of the petal in some flowers.
Cleft
- Split nearly to the middle.
Conic
- Cone-shaped, with the point of attachment at the broad base.
Connate
- The union of like structures.
Connective
- Portion of the filament connecting the two cells of an anther.
Copious
- Abundant, plentiful.
Cordate
- Heart-shaped.
Corolla
- Inner whorl of floral parts; collective name for petals.
Corymb
- A flat-topped or convex racemose flower cluster, the lower or outer pedicels longer, their flowers opening first.
Crenate
- Having margins with rounded teeth.
Crisped
- Curled, wavy.
Cuneate
- Wedge-shaped.
Cuspidate
- Tipped with a cusp or a sharp, short, rigid point.
Cyaneous
- Sky-blue.
Cyathium
(pl. cyathia) - The inflorescence of Euphorbia, consisting of a 3-loculed ovary and a cuplike involucre bearing male flowers with solitary stamens.
Cylindric
- Elongate and circular in cross-section.
Cyme
- A flat-topped or convex paniculate flower cluster, with the central flowers opening first.
Cymose
- With flowers in a cyme.
D
Deciduous
- Falling off; not evergreen.
Decumbent
- Resting on the ground, but with tip of the stem ascending.
Decurrent
- Extending down the stem below the insertion, as with leaves or stipules.
Deflexed
- Turned abruptly downward.
Dehiscent
- Opening spontaneously when ripe to discharge the contents (fruit and anthers).
Deltoid
- Equilaterally triangular; shaped like the Greek letter Delta.
Dentate
- Having the margins cut with sharp teeth, which are not directed forward.
Denticulate
- Minutely dentate or toothed.
Depauperate
- Small or poorly developed, usually due to environmental conditions.
Dimorphic
- Having two forms.
Dioecious
- Having staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants.
Discoid
- Disklike; having disk flowers.
Disk flowers
- In Asteraceae, the tubular flowers of the head as distinct from the ray flowers.
Dissected
- Deeply divided into numerous fine segments.
Dorsiventral
- Having an upper and lower surface.
E
Elliptic
- A flattened circle form, more than twice as long as broad, widest in the center and the two ends equal.
Emarginate
- With a small notch at the apex.
Entire
- Undivided; the margin continuous, not incised or toothed.
Epipetalous
- Growing separately on the sides of the corolla, as with stamens.
Erect
- Upright in relation to the ground, or sometimes perpendicular to the surface of attachment.
Erose
- Irregularly toothed as if gnawed.
Explanate
- Spread out flat.
Exserted
- Protruding, as stamens projecting from the corolla; not included.
F
Federally listed species
- Any species processed through the proposed and final rulemaking stages by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as threatened or endangered.
Filament
- A thread, especially the stalk of an anther.
Filiform
- Threadlike.
Fimbriate
- Fringed.
Fistulose
- Hollow, often rather enlarged.
Floret
- The lemma and palea of the small included flower of a grass; also the small flower of the Asteraceae.
Follicle
- A dry, dehiscent fruit with locule opening on one suture line.
Fornices
- A set of small appendages in the throat of the corolla in the Boraginaceae.
FS
- U. S. Forest Service
Funnelform
- Gradually widening upwards, like a funnel.
FWS
- U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
G
Galea
- The upper lip in certain 2-lipped corollas, as in Castilleja.
Gibbous
- Swollen on one side.
Glabrate
- Becoming glabrous with age.
Glabrous
- Without hairs.
Gland
- A depression, protuberance, or appendage which secretes a usually sticky fluid.
Glandular
- Bearing glands.
Glaucous
- Covered or whitened with a bloom, as a cabbage leaf.
Globose
- Spherical or rounded.
Glomerate
- Densely compacted in clusters.
Glumes
- The pair of bracts at the base of a grass spikelet.
Glutinous
- Sticky; with a sticky exudation.
Graduated
- Marked with small regular distances.
Gynophore
- The stalk of the pistil.
Gynaecandrous
- Having the pistillate flowers of a spikelet borne above the staminate flowers.
H
Habit
- General appearance of a plant.
Hemispheric
- Half spherical.
Herbaceous
- Pertaining to an herb; opposed to woody; having the texture or odor of a foliage leaf; dying to the ground each year.
Herbage
- The stems and leaves of a plant.
Hispid
- Rough, with stiff or bristly hairs.
Hispidulous
- Minutely hispid.
Hirsute
- Rough, with coarse, stiff hairs.
Hyaline
- Translucent when seen in transmitted light.
Hypanthium
- A cup-shaped enlargement of the receptacle on which the calyx, corolla, and often the stamens are inserted; in perigyny, the "calyx tube."
Hypogeous
- Growing or living below the surface of the ground.
I
Imbricate
- Overlapping as shingles on a roof.
Indusium
- In ferns, the epidermal outgrowth that covers the sorus.
Inflorescence
- The flower cluster of a plant.
Internode
- The portion of stem between two connective nodes.
Involucel
- A secondary involucre, as the bracts subtending the secondary umbels in the Apiaceae.
Involucre
- A whorl of bracts subtending a flower cluster, as in the heads of Asteraceae.
Involute
- With edges rolled inward toward the upper side.
K
Keel
- A prominent dorsal ridge, analogous to the keel of a boat; the two lower united petals of a papilionaceous corolla.
L
Laciniate
- Cut into narrow lobes or segments.
Lanate
- Woolly; densely clothed with long entangled hairs.
Lanceolate
- Lance-shaped; much longer than broad, tapering from below the middle to the apex and to the base.
Leaflet
- A segment of a compound leaf.
Lemma
- In grasses, the lower of the two bracts immediately enclosing the floret.
Ligneous
- Woody, or resembling wood.
Ligule
- Thin, collarlike appendage on the inside of the blade at the junction with the sheath in grasses; the strap-shaped part of a ray corolla in Asteraceae.
Limb
- The expanded flat part of an organ.
Linear
- Long and narrow, of uniform width, as the leaf blades of grasses.
Lip
- One of the projections of an irregular corolla or calyx, as in the Lamiaceae or Orchidaceae.
Lobe
- A division or segment of an organ, usually rounded or obtuse.
Locule
- The cavity or cell of an organ, in reference to the pistils and stamens.
Loment
- A legume which is constricted between the seeds.
M
Malpighian
- Straight appressed hairs attached by the middle and tapering to the free tips; pick-shaped.
Marcescent
- Withering without dropping off, especially basal leaves.
-merous
- A suffix denoting parts or numbers, as 3-merous.
Mesic
- Moist.
Midrib
- The central rib of a leaf or other organ.
Moniliform
- Having a chain-like series of bumps, swellings, or joints, resembling beads on a string.
Monoecious
- Having staminate and pistillate flowers on the same plant, but not perfect ones.
Mottled
- Marked with colored spots.
Mucilaginous
- Moist and viscid; slimy.
Mucronate
- Possessing a short, straight point, as some leaves.
Muricate
- Rough with short and firm sharp outgrowths.
N
Nerve
- A simple vein or slender rib of a leaf or bract.
Nodding
- Bent to one side.
Node
- The joint of a stem; the point of insertion of a leaf or leaves.
NPS
- National Park Service.
Nut
- A hard, indehiscent, usually 1-seeded fruit, produced from a compound ovary.
Nutlet
- A small nut.
O
Obconic
- Conical, but attached at the narrower end.
Oblanceolate
- Inversely lanceolate.
Oblong
- Much longer than broad, with nearly parallel sides.
Obovate
- Shaped like the longitudinal section of an egg, but with the broadest part toward the tip.
Obtuse
- Blunt to almost rounded at the end.
Ochroleucous
- Yellowish white.
Odd-pinnate
- Having a terminal leaflet instead of a tendril or pair of leaflets.
Orbicular
- Approximately circular in outline.
Ovary
- The part of the pistil that contains the ovules.
Ovoid
- Egg-shaped.
Ovule
- The part within the ovary that becomes a seed.
P
Palate
- An appendage in the throat of an irregular flower partly or completely closing the throat.
Palea
- One of the chafflike scales on the receptacle of many Asteraceae; the inner bract of a grass floret, often partly surrounded by the lemma.
Palmate
- Lobed or veined where the branches arise from a central point, like the fingers on a hand.
Palmatifid
- Palmately lobed or cleft.
Panicle
- A compound racemose inflorescence.
Papilionaceous
- Butterflylike corolla of the pea; with banner, wings, and keel.
Papillae
- Soft superficial glands or protuberances.
Papillate
- Having papillae.
Pappus
- Modified calyx limb of the Asteraceae; consisting of a crown of bristles or scales at the summit of the achene.
Pectinate
- With narrowly set divisions, as in the teeth of a comb.
Pedicel
- The stalk of a single flower in a cluster, or of a spikelet in grasses.
Peduncle
- The stalk of a flower or flower cluster.
Peltate
- Shield-shaped; a flat body having a stalk attached to the lower surface.
Pendulous
- Hanging downward; pendant.
Perennial
- Of three or more years duration.
Perfect
- A flower having both stamens and pistils.
Perianth
- The floral envelopes; collectively, the calyx and corolla, especially when they are alike.
Perigynium (pl. perigynia)
- The scalelike organ surrounding the pistil in Carex.
Perigynous
- Borne around the ovary, not beneath it; as when the stamens, corolla, and sepals are inserted on the floral tube.
Petal
- One of the leaves of a corolla, usually colored.
Petiolate
- With a leaf stalk or petiole.
Phenology
- The study of the timing of recurring natural phenomena (such as flowering), especially as they relate to climatic conditions.
Pilose
- Bearing soft and straight spreading hairs.
Pilosulose
- Bearing very small, soft, straight, spreading hairs.
Pinna
(pl. pinnae) - a leaflet or primary division of a pinnate leaf.
Pinnate
- A compound leaf having leaflets arranged on each side of a common petiole; featherlike.
Pinnatifid
- Pinnately cleft into narrow lobes not reaching the midrib.
Pistil
- The ovule-bearing organ of a flower, consisting of a stigma and ovary, usually with a style between; gynoecium.
Pistillate
- Provided with pistils and without stamens; female.
Pluricipital
- Many-headed, as in a branched caudex.
Pod
- Any dry, dehiscent fruit, especially a legume.
Procumbent
- Trailing on the ground, but not rooting.
Proposed Species
- Any species of fish, wildlife, or plant that is proposed by the FWS or the National Marine Fisheries Service to be listed as threatened or endangered.
Prostrate
- Lying flat upon the ground.
Pseudoscape
- A false scape, as in a tulip where not all the leaves are basal.
Puberulent
- Minutely pubescent.
Pubescent
- Covered with short, soft hairs; downy.
Pulvinate
- Cushion-shaped.
Punctate
- Dotted with punctures, translucent pitted glands, or colored dots.
Pustulose
- Bearing irregular blister-like swellings or pustules, mostly at the bases of hairs.
