| A | B |
|---|
| Abaxial | The side away from the axis |
| Abortion | the failure of a structure or organ to develop |
| Abcission | the falling away of a leaf or other organ caused by the breakdown of the thin walled cells at the base of the structure. |
| Accessory fruit | A fleshy fruit developing from a succulent recepticle rather than the pistil. The riped ovaries are small schenes on the surface of the receptacle, as in the strawberry |
| Achene | A small dry indehiscent fruit with a single locule and a single seed(ovule) and with the seed attached to the ovary wall at a single point, as in sunflower |
| Actinomorphic | Radially synnetrical |
| Acuminate | Gradually tapering to a sharp point and forming concave sides along the tip. |
| Adnate | Fusion of unlike parts, as the stamens to the corolla. |
| Aestivation | The arrangement of floral parts in a bud |
| Aggregate fruit | Usually applied to a cluster or group of small fleshy fruits from a number of seperate pistils on a single flower, as in the clustered berrylets in the raspberry. |
| Alternate | borne singly at each node as in leaves or borne between rather than over othe organs as stamens between the petals. |
| Androecium | All of the stamens in a flower collectively. |
| Angiosperm | A plant producing flowers and bearing ovules(seeds) in an ovary.(fruit) |
| Annual | A plant which germinates from seed, flowers, sets seed, and dies in the same year. |
| Anterior | In the front, on the side away from the axis, as the lower lip of a bilabiate corolla. |
| Anther | The expanded, apical, pollen bearing portion of the stamen. |
| Anther sac | One of the pollen bearing chambers of the anther. |
| Anthesis | The flowering period. when the flower is fully expanded and functioning. |
| Apetalous | without petals. |
| Appendage | a secondary part attached to a min structure |
| Arborescent | Treelike |
| Areole | the short shoot; A small well defined area on the (long shoot) surface of a cactus bearing the flowers and/or spines. |
| Armature (armed) | Thorns, spines, and prickles. |
| Articulation | A joint or point of attachment |
| Articulate | Jointed; seperating ar maturity along a well defined line of dehiscence. |
| Asepalous | without sepals |
| Awn | a narrow, bristlelike appendage, usually at the tip or dorsal surface. |
| Axil | the point of the upper angle formed between the axis of a stem and any part (usually a leaf) arising from it. |
| Axile placentation | Ovules attached to the central axis of any ovary with two or more locules. |
| Banner | the upper and largest petal of a papilionaceous flower. |
| Basal | Positioned at or arising from the base, as leaves arising from the base of a stem. |
| Basal placentation | Ovules positioned at the base of a single loculed ovary. |
| Beak | A narrow or prolonged tip , as on some fruits and seeds. |
| Berry | A fleshy fruit developing from a single pistil, with several or many seeds, as the tomato. |
| Biennial | A plant which lives two year, vegeatative the first year and reproductive the next.(flowers and fruits) |
| Bilabiate | Two-lipped as in many irregular flowers. |
| Bisexual | A flower with both stamen and pistils...same as perfect |
| Bract | A reduced leaf or leaflike structure at the base of a flower or inflorescence. |
| Bud | an undeveloped shoot or flower. |
| Calyx | typically the outer perianth whorl; collective term for all the sepals of a flower. |
| Calyx lobe | One of the free portions of a calyx of united sepals. |
| Calyx tube | the tube-like united portion of the calyx of united sepals. |
| Campanulate | Bell shaped flower |
| Capitate | Head like or in a head shaped cluster as the flowers in Compositae. |
| Capsule | A dry indehiscent fruit composed of more than one carpel. |
| Carpel | A simple pistil formed from one modified leaf or part of a compound pistil formed from one modified leaf; |
| Chaff | Thin dry scales or bracts, as the bracts on the receptacle on the head of the Compositae |
| Circumscissle | dehiscing along a transverse circular line, so that the top seperates like a lid. |
| Coherent (cohesion) | Sticking together of loke parts. the attachment is not as firm or solid as connate. |
| Coma | a tuft of hair on the tip of a seed |
| Complete | With all the parts typically belonging to it; as a flowers with sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils. |
| Connate-perfoilate | with the bases of opposite leaves fused around the stem. |
| Convolute | With the parts in an overlapping arrangement like shingles; as petals arranged to be partially covered by one adjacent petal and partially overlapping the other adjacent petal. |
| Corolla | The collective name for all the petals of a flower. |
| Corolla lobe | one of the free portions of a corolla of united petals. |
| Corymb | a flat topped or round topped inflorescence racemose with the lower pedicels longer than the upper. |
| Cotyledon | a primary leaf of the embryo; a seed leaf. |
| Culm | a hollow or pithy stalk or stem as in grasses, rushes and sedges. |
| Cuticle | a waxy layer on the surface of a leaf or stem. |
| Deciduous | Falling off as leaves from a tree, not evergreen nor persistent. |
| Deflexed | Bent abruptly downward |
| Dehiscent | opening at maturity or when ripe to release the contents as a fruit or anther. |
| Determinate | describes an inflorescence in which the terminal flower blooms first |
| Didelphous | Stamen united into two often unequal sets be their filaments. |
| Didynamous | With two pairs of stamens ofunequal length; often occuring in pairs |
| Dioecious | Flowers imperfect; staminate and pistillate flowers borne on different plants. |
| Disk | An enlargement or outgrowth of the receptacle around the base of the ovary; in compostae the central portion of the involucrate head bearing tubular or dik flowers. |
| Drupe | A fleshy indehiscent fruit with a stony endocarp surrounding usually a single seed as in peach, cherry, and coconut. |
| Emarginate | with a notch at the apex |
| Embryo | the young plant within a seed |
| Endocarp | the inner layer of the pericarp of a fruit |
| Endosperm | The nutritive tissue surrounding the embryo of a seed derived from the fusion of a sperm cell with the polar nuclei of the embryo sac |
| Epicalyx | the involucre which resembels an outer calyx. |
| Epicotyl | The portion of the embryonic stem above the cotyledons. |
| Epidermis | The outermost cellular layer of a nonwoody plant organ. |
| Epigynous | With stamens,petals and sepal attached to the top of the ovary. the ovary is inferior to the other floral parts. |
| Estipulate | without stipules |
| Exocarp | the out layer of the pericarp of a fruit |
| Fascicle | A tight budle or cluster. |
| Fertile | capaable of bearing seeds; capable of bearing pollen |
| Filament | A threadlike structure the stalk of the stamen which supports the anther. |
| Floral tube | An elongated tubular portion of the perianth. |
| Floret | A small flower; an individual flower within a dense cluster, as a grass flower in a spikelet. |
| Follicle | a dry dehiscent fruit composed of a single carpel and opening along a single side as in a milkweed pod. |
| Freecentral placentation | ovules attached to a free standing column in the center of a unilocular ovary. |
| Fruit | A ripened ovary and any other structures which are attached and ripen with it. |
| Funnelform | Gradually widening from the base to the apex; funnel shaped |
| Gametophyte | the haploid (usually)-gamete producing generation of the plant reproductive cycle. |
| Gland | An appendage, proturbance or other structure which secrets sticky or oily substances |
| Glume | one of the paired bracts at the base of a grass spikelet; a chaffy bract in the grasses or sedges. |
| Glochid | A barbed hair or bristle as the finr hairs in Optunia |
| Gymnosperm | Plants producing seeds which are not borne in ovary; the seeds are usually borne in cones |
| Gynoecium | All the carpels or pistils of a plant collectively |
| Head | A dense cluster of sessile or subsessile flowers; the involucrate head of Compositae |
| Helicoid | Coiled like a spiral or helix as in some one sided cymose inflorescences in Borgainaceae. |
| Herb | a plant without a persistent above ground woody stem |
| Herbage | The non-reproductive parts of the plant; the nonwoody stems, leaves, and roots of a plant. |
| Herbarium | A collection of dried plant specimens. |
| Hesperadium | A fleshy fruit with a tough rind as in lemor or orange (Rutaceae) |
| Hip | A structure composed of an enlarged hypanthium surrounding numerous achenes as in roses. |
| Hirsute | Pubescent with coars stiff hairs. |
| Hypanthium | A cup-like extension of the floral axis usually formed by the union of the basal parts of the calyx, corolla, and androecium commonly surrounding or enclosing the pistils. |
| Hypocotyl | The prtion of the embryonic stems below the cotyledons. |
| Hypogynous | With stamens, petals and sepals attached below the ovary ; the ovary is superior to the other floral parts. |
| Imbricate | Overlapping like tiles or shingles on a roof. |
| Imperfect | With either stamens or pistils but no both, |
| Incomplete | Lacking the expected part or series of parts as i a flower lacking one the floral whorls.(sepals, petals, stamens, pistils) |
| Indehiscent | Not opening at maturity along definite lines or pores. |
| Indeterminate | Describes an inflorescence in which the lower or outer flowers bloom first |
| Inferior | Attached beneath, as an ovary that is attache beneath the point of attachment of the other floral whorls which appear, therefore to rise from the top of the ovary. |
| Inflorescence | The flowering part of a plant; a flower cluster; the arrangement of flowers on the flowering axis. |
| Internode | The portion of stem between two nodes. |
| Involucre | A whorl of bracts subtending a flower or flower cluster. |
| Joint | The section of stem in which a leaf or branch arises, especially on a grass stem. |
| Jointed | Having nodes or points of aticulation as in the stems of Opuntia |
| Keel | A prominent longitudinal ridge, like the keel of a boat, the two lower united petals of a papillionaceous flower |
| Legume | A dry dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel and usually opening along two lines of dehiscence. (leguminosae) |
| Lemma | The lower of two bracts (lemma & palea) which subtend a grass floret, often patially surround the palea |
| Ligule | A strap shaped organ; the flattened part of the ray corolla in the Compositae. |
| Locule | The chamber or cavity of an organ, as in the cell of the ovary. |
| Loculicidal | dehiscing through the locules of the fruit rather than through the septa. |
| Loment | a legume which is constricted between the seeds. |
| Margin | The edge, as in the edge of a leaf blade |
| Megasporangium | a spore producing structure which produces megaspores. |
| Megaspore | A female spore which will give rise to the female gametophyte. (Pistilate) |
| Meristem | Undifferentiated, actively dividing tissues at the growing tip of shoots and roots. |
| Mesocarp | The middle layer of the pericarp of a fruit. |
| Microsporangium | A spore producing structure which bears microspores. |
| Microspore | A male spore which give rise to a male gametophyte.(staminate) |
| Monadelphous | Stamen united by the filaments and forming a tube around the gynoecium. |
| Monocotyledon | plants with a single seed leaf or cotyledon |
| Monoecious | Flowers imperfect, the staminate and pistilate flowers borne on the same plant. |
| Multiple fruit | A fruit formed from several seperate flowers crowded on a single axis as in a pineapple. |
| Node | the position on the stem where the leaves or branches orginate |
| Nut | A hard dry indehiscent fruit usually with a single seed. |
| Oblique | With unequal sides, especially a leaf base. |
| Obturator | A small glanduar structure attached the the pollinia of members of Asclepiadaceae and Orchidaceae which closes the opening to the anthers. |
| Ovary | The expanded basal portion of the pistil which contains the ovules. |
| Palea | A chaffy scale or bract; the uppermost of two bracts(lemma and palea) which subtend a grass floret, often partially surrounded by the lemma. |
| Paleaceous | Chaffy; with chaffy scales. |
| Panicle | A branched, racemose inflorescence with flowers maturing from the bottom upwards. |
| Pappus | The modified calyx of the Compositae, consisting of awns scales or bristles at the apex of the achene. |
| Parietal | Positioned along the edges or wall, rather than on the axis. |
| Parthenocarpy | development of a fruit without fertilization or seed production. |
| Pedicel | The stalk of a single flower in an inflorescence or of a grass spikelet. |
| Peduncle | The stalk of a solitary flower or of an inflorescence. |
| Pendulous | Hanging or drooping downward. |
| Pepo | A fleshy, indehiscent, many seeded fruit with a tough rind as a melon or cucumber. |
| Perfoilate | A leaf with the margin entirely surrounding the stem appears to pass through the leaf. |
| Perianth | The calx and corolla of the flower collectively. |
| Pericarp | the wall of the fruit. |
| Perigynous | With stamens, petals, and sepal borne on the calyx tube(hypanthium surrounding but not actually attached to the superior ovary. |
| Perisperm | Nutritive tissue in some seeds arising from the triple fusion nucleus (xeniaphyte) |
| Persistent | Remaining attached after similar parts are already dropped, after the function has been completed. |
| Petaloid | Petal like in appearance. |
| Petiole | a leaf stalk |
| Phyllary | the involucral bract of the Compostae. |
| Pistil | The femal reproductive organ of a flower typically consisting of stigma, style, and ovary |
| Pistillate | Bear a pistil or pistils but lacking stamens. |
| Pit | The stony endocarp of a drupe. |
| Placenta | The portion of the ovary bearing ovules. |
| Placentation | The arrangement or configuration of the placentae. |
| Plumule | The portion of the embryo above the point of attachment of the cotyledons which gives rise to the shoot. |
| Pollination | The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma. |
| Pollinium | A mass of waxy pollen grains transported as a unit in many members of Asclepiadaceae. |
| Polyploid | With three or more complete sets of chromosomes in each cell. |
| Pome | A fleshy indehiscent fruit deriver from an inferior compund ovary. |
| Posterior | At the back; on the side toward the axis, as in the upper lip of a bilabiate corolla. |
| Poricidal | Opening by pores, as in a poppy capsule. |
| Prickle | A small outgrowth of the epidermis or bark. |
| Proximal | Toward the base or the end of the organ by which it is attached. |
| Pubescent | beaing any kind of hairs. |
| Raceme | An unbranched elongated inflorescence with pedicellate flowers maturing from the bottom upwards. |
| Rachilla | The Axis of a grass or sedge spikelet; a small rachis |
| Rachis | The main axis of a structure such as a compound leaf or inflorescence. |
| Radiate | With parts spreading from a central point such as the liguate flowers on the involucurate head of Compostae |
| Ray flower | The ligulate flower of Compostae |
| Receptacle | The portion of the pedicel in which the flower parts are borne. or the part of the peduncle where the flowers of head are borne. |
| Recurved | curved backwards |
| Reflexed | Bent backwards or downwards |
| Replum | Partition between the two valves of sillicles or siliques in the Cruciferae |
| Rosette | A dense radiating cluster of leaves usually at or near ground level. |
| Rotate | disc-shaped; flat and circular as a sympetalous corolla with widely spreading lobes and little or no tube. |
| Rudimentary | Imperfectly developed; vestigal |
| Salverform | With a slender tube with an abruptly spreading flattened limb. |
| Samara | A dry indehiscent winged fruit |
| Scar | The mark left on a seed after detachment from the placenta; the mark on a stem after lead abscission. |
| Schizocarp | A dry indehiscent fruit which seperates into seperate one seeded segments(carpels) at maturity |
| Scorpoid | Shaped like a scorpion's tail as in some coiled cymes. |
| Seed | a ripened ovule |
| Seed leaf | A cotyledon |
| Septicidal | dehiscing through the septa and between the locules. |
| Septum | A partition as in the partition seperating the locules of th ovary. |
| Seriate | Arranged in rows or series |
| Sheath | The portion of an organ which surrounds, at least partly, another organ, as in the leaf base of a grass surrounds the stem |
| Silicle | A dry dehiscent fruit of Cruciferae typically less than twice as long as wide, with two valves seperating from the persistent placentae and replum |
| Silique | A dry dehiscent fruit of the Cruciferae typically more than twice as long as wide. valvately dehiscent |
| Silk | The hairlike styles in Maize |
| Sinus | The cleft depression or recess between two lobes of an expanded organ such as a leaf or petal. |
| Spadix | A spike with small flowers crowded on a thicken axis. |
| Spathe | A large bract or pair of bracts subtending and often enclosing an inflorescence. |
| Spicate | Arranged in a spike |
| Spike | An unbranched elongated inflorescence with sessile or subsessile flowers or spikelets. |
| Spikelet | A small spike or secodary spike; the ultimate flower cluster of grasses and sedges subtended by two bracts(glumes) |
| Spine | A stiff slender sharp pointed structure arising from below the epidermis representing a modified leaf or stipule |
| Sporangium | A spore bearing case or sac |
| Spore | A reproductive cell resulting from meiototic division in a sporangium; the first cell of the gameteophyte generation. |
| Sporophyll | The sporangium bearing leaf often modified in structure(ie.pistil) |
| Sporophyte | The typically diploid spore broducing generation of the plant reproductive cycle. |
| Spur | A hollow slender saclike appendage of the calyx or corolla |
| Stalk | The supporting structure of an organ usually narrower in diameter than the organ. |
| Stamen | The male reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an anther in filamen in angiosperms microsporophyll |
| Staminate | Bearing stamen but not pistils a flower that does produce fruit or seeds |
| Staminode | A modified stamen which is sterile |
| Stellate | Star shaped pubescence |
| Stem | The portion of the plant axis bearing nodes, leaves and buds. |
