To quickly move down the glossary click on the letters above
Achene - A small, dry, 1 seeded fruit
Aggregate - A cluster of fruits developed from seperate pistils of a single flower and remaining together at maturity
Allelopathy - The chemical influence of one living plant on another, usually in a negitive connotation
Ament - A flexible, often pendent, scaly spike bearing apetalous, unisexual flowers
Anther - The pollen-bearing part of the stamen
Apetalous - Without petals
Apophysis - The part of a cone scale which is exposed when the cone is closed
Appressed - Flattened against
Arborescent - Treelike
Arcuate - Leaf veins arching upward toward the apex of the leaf.
Aril - A fleshy appendage growing from the point of attachment of a seed and often covering the seed.
Berry - A simple fleshy fruit with the entire pericarp fleshy; with one to many seeds.
Bipinnate - Twice pinnate
Blade - Lamina; the flattened extended part of a leaf.
Bract - A modified leaf subtending a flower, branch of a inflorescence or a conifer cone scale.
Bracteole - A tertiary bract.
Bractlet - A secondary bract.
Bundle scar - A small scar in a leaf scar left by the vascular bundle.
Cambium - Laterial meristem responsible for secondary growth.
Capsule - A simple, dry, dehiscent fruit, the product of a compound pistil.
Coriaceous - Thick and leathery
Cove - A sheltered valley between opposing slopes.
Crenate - Margin with rounded or blunt teeth.
Cuneate - Wedge shaped, tapering to a narrow base.
Cyme - Inflorescence consisting of a central rachis terminated early by a flower, then lower lateral branches developing and either ending with a flower or another cyme.
Descussate - Opposite, 4 ranked leaf arrangement.
Dehiscent - Opening.
Deltate - Triangular or delta shaped.
Dentate - Margin with sharp teeth pointing outward.
Dioecious - Plant having unisexual flowers or cones, with only one sex per plant.
Double serrate - Margin with large teeth, each tooth having smaller teeth.
Drupaceous - Drupelike.
Drupe - A simple, usually one seeded, fleshy fruit with the outer pericarp fleshy and the endocarp bony, a stone fruit.
Epicormic - Shoot arising from an adventitious or dormant bud on a stem or branch of a woody plant.
Erose - Irregularly toothed, eroded or 'chewed'
Excerted - Extending beyond.
Fasicle - Dense cluster or bundle
Follicle - A dry 1-celled fruit from a simple pistil dehiscent by one suture.
Genotype - Genetic constitution of an individual.
Glabrous - Smooth, lacking hairs.
Glaucous - Covered with a white wax.
Habit - The shape or form of a plant.
Habitat - The locality in which an organism lives.
Involucre - A cluster of bracts surrounding a flower.
Keeled - With a central ridge, like the keel of a boat.
Lanceolate - Lance shaped, much longer than wide. Widest nearest the base and tapering toward the apex.
Leaflet - Division of a compound leaf.
Leaf scar - Scar left on the twig when the leaf falls.
Lenticel - A small corky spot or line on the surface of a twig.
MAD Cap Horse - A memonic device to help with learning trees which have opposite leaf arrangement
Naked bud - A bud without scales.
Obovate - Ovate with the broader end toward the apex.
Opposite - Two leaves emerging at opposite sides from the same place on the twig.
Ovate - Shaped like the longitudinal section of an egg, with the broad end at the base.
Pamlate - Radiately lobed or divided, veins arising from one point. Like a hand.
Panicle - Loose, compound, or branched flwoer cluster.
Pedicel - Stalk of a single flower.
Pedicellate - Born on a pedicel.
Peduncle - A general flower stalk supporting either a cluster of flowers or a solitary flower.
Peltate - Sheild-shaped and attached by its lower surface to the central stalk.
Pendant - Hanging downwards.
Perfect - Flower with both stamens and a pistil.
Perianth - The calyx and corolla ofa flower considered as a whole.
Persistant - Remaining attached, not falling off.
Petiolate - Having a petiole.
Petiole - The stalk of a leaf.
Pubescent - Hairy, covered with fine soft hairs
Rachis - The axis of a compound leaf or inflorescence.
Reniform - Kidney shaped.
Samara - An indehiscent, dry winged fruit.
Scabrous - Rough to the touch, covered with short bristly hairs.
Stipule - A leafly appendage attached to the petiole or twig at the base of the leaf, in pairs, one on each side of the leaf.
Thorn - A sharp modified branch.
Twig - Last years growth of a woody stem.
Umbel - A simple inflorescence of flowers with pedicels all arising from the same point.
Umbo - A boss or protuberance.
Undulate - With a wavy surface margin.
Unisexual - Of one sex, either male or female.
Valvate - Meeting at the edges and not overlapping, as in bud scales.
Vernal - Appearing in the spring.
Whorled - Three or more organs arranged in a circle around an axis.
Wooly - Covered with long and matted or tangled hairs.
Xerophyte - A plant adapted to dry conditions.
Xylem - Conducting tissue formed mainly of tracheids or vessles and tracheids.
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Last modified 2-28-97