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Garden Web Glossary |
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Achene |
Dry, single-seeded fruit which attaches to the
fruit wall in only one place. |
Anther |
Part of stamen that holds the pollen. |
Axil |
Part of the plant from which leaves or branches attach. |
Basal |
Occurring at the bottom. |
Beak |
A short and stout appendage from a seed or fruit. (not a
leaf). |
Bearded |
Having a ring or tuft of long hairs. |
Berry |
A fleshy fruit with 1 or more seeds |
Bipinnate |
Twice pinnate |
Bilabiate |
Two lipped |
Bract |
A special leaf growing from the axil from which a flower or
flower-stalk grows. Associated with the flower but not part of the flower. |
Calyx |
All the sepals of a flower together. |
Carpel |
Modified fertile leaf with the ovules. The
pistil can have one or more carpels. |
Catkin |
Flowers occurring in a cat's tail shaped
inflorescence. |
Compound |
Made up of more than one part, as leaflets of a leaf. |
Corolla |
All the petals of a flower as a unit. |
Corymb |
Cluster of flowers growing from different points with stems
of different lengths - forming a flat or round top. |
Cyme |
Cluster of branched stalked flowers where the top-most
blooms first. |
Distinct |
Separate, not growing together. |
Divided |
Cut into more than one distinct part. |
Drupe |
Fleshy fruit enclosing a single hard seed- like a cherry. |
Entire |
Smooth edged. |
Floret |
Tiny flowers |
Foliate |
Leaf-like. |
Free |
Not attached to different parts of plant. |
Frond |
Leaf of a fern. |
Fruit |
Container for seeds. |
Glabrous |
Without hairs. |
Gland |
A spot which produces a sticky, greasy, or viscous
substance. |
Head |
Flower cluster of tightly grouped flowers with very short or
no flower stems. |
Herb |
Plant which dies back to the ground in winter. (not woody). |
Inflorescence |
Flower cluster |
Internode |
Area on stem between nodes. |
Irregular flower |
Flower that has either petal or sepals are different in
shape or direction. |
Lenticel |
area on the bark of stem or root that is
slightly raised |
Linear |
Shaped like a line. |
Lip |
An odd shaped petal. ( larger, or 2 connected together,
etc.) |
Lobe |
A projecting part bigger than a tooth. |
Nerve |
A prominent vein running lengthwise. |
Node |
Point on a stem where one or more leaves are
attached. |
Nut |
Relatively large, dry, fruit with hard walls. |
Nutlet |
Small nut. |
Odd-pinnate |
Pinnate with a leaflet at the end of leaf - yielding and odd
number of leaflets. |
Opposite |
Growing directly across from one another. |
Ovary |
Part of flower that holds the ovules (undeveloped seeds). |
Obovate |
Egg-shaped usually about 2 - 3 times long as
wide. |
Palmate |
3 or more lobes in the shape of a palm - coming from 1
point. |
Panicle |
Flower cluster in a teepee shape,
stalked flowers on branched stems. |
Parasite |
Living off another organism, usually producing
little or no chlorophyll. |
Pedicel |
The stalk (stem) that holds only one flower. |
Peduncle |
The stalk (stem) that holds the flower or flower
clusters (inflorescence). |
Petal |
One of the inner set of flower leaves, usually colored. |
Petaloid |
Petal-like. |
Petiole |
The stem or stalk of the leaf. |
Pinnate |
Having 2 rows of parts coming from a single axis. Like a
feather. |
Pistil |
Female part of the flower consisting of the
ovary, style (stem between ovary and stigma), and stigma (pollen receptor). |
Plaited |
A flattened fold or pleat, as in a petal folded
back on itself. |
Pod |
Any kind of dried fruit. |
Pollen |
Male seed of flower. |
Prickle |
Sharp growth coming from skin or bark of plant. |
Prostate |
Flat on the ground. |
Raceme |
Flower cluster in a teepee shape,
stalked flowers on UN-branched
stems flowering from bottom to top. |
Rank |
A vertical row when viewed from above. |
Ray |
The "petal-like" part of many of the aster flowers. |
Regular flower |
Flower that has all it petals and sepals of the circle the
similar in size, shape, and direction. |
Rhizome |
Root structure with underground horizontal stem that have
small scaly leaves. |
Rosette |
Cluster of leaves arranged in a circle or disk, often at the
base of plant. |
Samara |
Fruit with one seed and wings to float on the
air for dispersal. |
Scurfy |
Covered with minute scales. |
Sepal |
Member of the outermost set of flower leaves, usually
greenish. |
Sessile |
Having no stem. |
Sheath |
Long tubular structure (like a leaf base) that
surrounds another part of plant as a stem. |
Simple leaf |
Leaf occurring as one unit. (with no leaflets.) |
Sori |
Group of reproductive cells that cluster on the
leaves of ferns. |
Spathe |
A large leaf-like part around a spike-like group of flower (spadix)
that is usually colored. |
Spadix |
Spike of small, crowded flowers on thickened, fleshy axis. |
Spike |
Tall thin cluster if mostly stemless flowers |
Spur |
Hollow appendage on either petal or sepal. |
Stamen |
Male part of flower holding the pollen. |
Standard |
The top-most petal often with 2-lobes making it
appear to be 2 petals instead of one. |
Stigma |
Part of pistil (female part of flower) that
receives the pollen. |
Staminode |
A sterile stamen-like part of the flower, may look like a
petal but in typical position of a stamen |
Stipule |
An appendage at the base of the leaf stem which
is part of the leaf and usually is paired. |
Stolon |
Horizontal stem above the ground which roots at
its nodes producing a new plant. |
Style |
Stem-like part of pistil (female part of flower)
between the stigma (pollen receptor) and ovary. |
Substend |
Occurring below. |
Tendril |
Thin soiling or twinning part of leaf or stem that is used
to climb. |
Tepal |
A sepal and petal that look the same. |
Thallus |
Plant in which the roots, stems, and leaves
cannot be distinguished from one another. |
Thorn |
Woody, stiff, pointed projection. |
Twinning |
Growing in a spiral. |
Umbel |
Cluster of unbranched stemmed flowers all coming from one
point blooming at about the same time. Flat or rounded. |
Vascular |
Having veins to carry fluids. |
Whorl |
A ring of 3 or more parts radiating from one point. |
Wing |
Thin, flat extension coming from the side or tip of plant
part. |
Zygomorphic |
Non-symmetrical shape such that when divided top
to bottom, both sides are the mirror images of each other. |