Achene - small,
dry, indehiscent, single-seeded fruit.
Adventitious - developing in an unusual position, such as roots originating
along the stem.
Anthesis - time of flowering when flowers are fully expanded.
Axil - angle between the stem and any leaf that arises from it.
Bract - small (reduced) leaves.
Caespitose - growing in tufts or clumps.
Calyx, calyces (pl.) - first (outer) whorl of floral parts, i.e. the sepals.
Capitate - aggregated into a compact cluster.
Caudex - stem, referring here particularly to the basal portions at ground level.
Ciliate - fringed with long, simple hairs.
Clasping-auriculate - condition in which projections (auricles) from the base of leaves partially surround (clasp) the stem.
Corm - short, solid, thickended, vertical underground stem.
Corolla - second (inner) whorl of floral parts, i.e. the petals.
Cruciform - cross-shaped.
Decumbent - lying on the ground, but with the apex ascending, erect.
Disjunct - geographically separated from the main range of the taxon.
Edaphic - relating to conditions of the soil.
Entire - without indentations of any kind, often referring to the margin of a leaf or a petal.
Frond - the leaf of a fern.
Glabrous - without hairs.
Glandular - with secreting organs (glands), which can be stalked (on the summits of hairs) or sessile.
Hyaline - translucent, even transparent.
Hypogynous - with flower parts (sepals, petals, stamens) attached to the receptacle below the pistil.
Imbricate - overlapping like shingles on a roof.
Indusium, indusia (pl.)
- elaboration of the fern frond surface that covers or contains the sori
(sporangia).
Inflorescence - a flower cluster or the specific arrangement of the
flowers.
Involucre, involucrum - one or more whorls of small leaves or bracts (phyllaries in the Compositae) close beneath a flower or flower cluster.
Lanceolate - lance-shaped longer than broad, wide at the base and tapering to a narrow apex.
Leaflet - leaf-like division of a single compound leaf.
Ligulate - tongue-shaped, referring here to the extended corolla of composite ray flowers.
Linear - long and narrow, the sides parallel or nearly so.
Linear-lanceolate - a form intermediate between linear and lanceolate.
Lunate - crescent shaped.
Obcordate - inversely heart-shaped; attached at the narrower end and notched at the apex.
Oblanceolate - the reverse of lanceolate; the structure is broadest at the apex and tapers to the base.
Obovate - the reverse of ovate; broader at the apex than at the base.
Ovate - oval, egg-shaped in outline. (Term used for plane surfaces.)
Ovoid - egg-shaped. (Term used for solid objects).
Pedicel - stalk of a single flower.
Peduncle - stalk of a cluster of flowers or of a single flower when it alone is the entire inflorescence.
Peltate - shield-shaped.
Petiolate - having a stalk (petiole), referring to the attachment of leaves.
Phyllary - bract in the involucre of the composite flower.
Pinna, pinnae (pl.) - used here for the primary division of a compound fern frond.
Pinnate - with leaflets or pinnae arranged on either side of a common axis.
Pinnately lobed - with lobes separated by deep indentations and having therefore the appearance of a pinnately compound leaf.
Pistil - structural unit of stigma, style, and ovary.
Prickle - small, sharp-pointed outgrowth of plant surface.
Pubescent - covered with short, soft hairs.
Pustulate - having raised areas like blisters.
Reniform - kidney shaped
Rhizome - underground stem.
Rosette - cluster of leaves from a crown or center.
Sessile - not stalked or petiolate.
Setose - covered with bristles.
Silique - dry, dehiscent fruit (pod) characteristic of the Brassicaceae (mustards).
Sorus, sori (pl.) - cluster of sporangia in ferns.
Sporangium, sporangia (pl.) - spore-bearing structure.
Stellate - star-shaped.
Stipe - referring here to the stalk of the fern frond.
Style - thin, often attenuated portion of the pistil occurring between the stigma and ovary, which in mustards remains as a short projection at the tip of the silique and is diagnostic in Draba.
Terete - cylindric, therefore round in cross-section, and often tapering at both ends.
Ternate - in threes; ternately divided in the division of a leaf, for example, means divided into three segments or more, but following a pattern of threes or multiples thereof.
Tomentum (n.), tomentose (adj.) - mat of soft, wool-like hairs.
Trichome - a hairlike outgrowth of the epidermis.
Tube - referring here to the corolla tube, the united portion of a corolla in which the petals are fused to one another.
Tuberculate - with wart-like thickenings or knobby projections.
Umbel (n.) umbellate (adj.) - flat-topped inflorescence in which pedicels and peduncles arise from a common point.
Villous - with long, soft, shaggy hairs, not matted.