Glossary

achene, akene

A dry, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit.

acuminate

Gradually tapering to a narrow tip or sharp point.

acute

Sharp pointed.

alternate

Borne singly along a stem, not opposite.

annual

A plant that germinates, flowers, and seeds in a single growing season or less than one year.

anthesis

The period during which a flower is fully expanded or fertilization takes place.

aril

A specialized outgrowth or fleshy thickening of the seed coat.

armed

Provided with spines, prickles, thorns, or sharp hairs.

association

A special or distinctive combination of two or more plant species that develop wherever ecologically equivalent habitats occur.

auricle

An ear-shaped appendage found on some plant parts, such as on the top margin of grass leaf sheaths.

awn

Slender, generally terminal bristle.

axil

The point of the angle formed by the leaf or petiole with the stem.

axillary

Located in or arising from an axil.

axis

The main stem of an inflorescence, especially of a panicle.

beak

A prominent elongate tip.

berry

A fleshy fruit developed from a single pistil, fleshy throughout.

bi-

Latin prefix, meaning two.

biennial

A plant that completes its life cycle and dies in two years.

bilabiate

Two-lipped.

bipinnate

Twice pinnate, the pinnae again pinnate.

blade

The expanded part of leaf or petal.

bloom

A waxy powder covering a surface.

boreal

Northern.

bract

A very small or modified leaf, usually growing at the base of a flower or flower cluster.

branch

A lateral division of the stem.

bud

An undeveloped leafy shoot or flower.

bulb

A short, vertical, underground shoot that has modified leaves or thickened leaf bases developed as food storage organs.

bunchgrass

A grass that grows in a bunch or clump.

bush

A low, thick shrub without a distinct trunk.

caespitose

Growing in dense, low tufts.

calyx

The outer circle of flower parts made up of sepals.

campanulate

Bell-shaped.

capsule

A dry, dehiscent fruit composed of more than 1 carpel.

catkin, ament

A scaly, bracted spike of usually unisexual flowers, frequently deciduous in one piece.

caudex

A short vertical, often woody, persistent stem at or just beneath the ground surface.

cauline

Of or pertaining to the stem.

ciliate

Fringed with hairs on the margin.

ciliolate

Diminutive of ciliate.

clasping (leaf)

Partially surrounding the stem.

cleft

Cut about halfway to the midrib or base, or a little deeper; deeply lobed.

climax

(1.) A plant community (or a plant species) in a relatively stable condition that is able to reproduce indefinitely under existing conditions.

(2.) A stable community in which there will be no significant change in composition unless the environment or surroundings change.

(3.) A community in dynamic equilibrium that will not predictably change its composition or physiognomy without site disturbance.

clone

A group of plants derived from a single individual by asexual reproduction, all clone members have the same genotype and consequently tend to be uniform.

collar

The outer side of a grass leaf at the juncture of the blade and sheath.

compound leaf

A leaf with two or more distinct leaflets.

cone

(1.) A fruit with woody, overlapping scales.

(2.) A cluster of sporophylls or ovuliferous scales on an axis.

cool season

Refers to early flowering or maturing phenology, particularly for grasses, usually from March to June.

cordate

Shaped like a stylized heart, notched at the base.

corm

A short, vertical, underground stem that is thickened as a storage organ.

corolla

The inner circle of flowering parts, collectively, all of the petals of a flower.

corymb

A flat-topped or round-topped flower cluster, the flowers opening from the outside inward.

corymbose

In a corymb.

creeping

Running along the ground, prostrate.

crenate

Provided with rounded teeth; scalloped.

crenulate

Diminutive of crenate.

crown

The upper part of a tree, including the living branches with their foliage.

culm

The aerial stem of a grass, sedge, or other grass-like plants.

cuneate

Wedge-shaped or triangular, the narrow end at the point of attachment.

cyme

A flat-topped flower cluster, the flowers opening from the center outward.

cymose

With the flowers in a cyme.

deciduous

Falling after completion of the normal function; not persistent.

decumbent

With a prostrate or curved base and an erect or ascending tip.

decussate

In pairs alternately crossing at right angles.

deltoid

Shaped like an equilateral triangle.

dehiscent

A fruit that splits open.

dentate

With spreading pointed teeth.

dimorphic

Of two forms.

dioecious

Producing male and female flowers on separate plants.

disjunct

A segment of a population separated by some distance from the main or principal population.

dissected

Deeply and often repeatedly divided into numerous smaller or slender parts.

drupe

A fleshy fruit with a solitary seed.

drupelet

Diminutive of drupe.

ecological equivalents

Two or more species with very similar biological responses to changing environmental factors.

ecotone

Transition zone between two plant communities.

elliptic

Approximately the shape of a geometrical ellipse.

endemic

Confined to a particular geographic area; native.

entire (margin)

Not toothed or otherwise cut.

evergreen

Remaining green throughout the year; not deciduous.

exfoliating

Peeling off in thin layers.

exserted

Projecting beyond an envelope, as stamens from a corolla.

family

A group of related plants. Families are divided into genera, which are further divided into species.

fascicle

Dense cluster or bundle.

floret

In grasses, the flower parts with the subtending bracts.

foliolate

Having leaflets.

follicle

Dry fruit of one carpel, which opens along seed-bearing suture at maturity.

forb

Herbaceous plant that is not a graminoid.

frond

A leaf, especially of a fern.

galea

The strongly concave or helmet-like upper lip of certain bilabiate corollas.

geniculate

Abruptly bent or twisted.

genus (plural: genera)

A group of closely related species. The genus is designated by the first word in the scientific name of a species and is always capitalized.

glabrate

Nearly glabrous, becoming glabrous.

glabrous

Smooth, without hairs or glands.

gland

A spot on the surface of an organ or at the end of a hair that produces a sticky or greasy substance.

glaucous

Covered with a powdery or waxy substance, a whitish bloom easily rubbed off.

globose (globular)

Round like a globe.

glume

One of the two bracts found at the base of a grass spikelet.

graminoid

All grasses (Poaceae) and grass-like plants, including sedges (Cyperaceae) and rushes (Juncaceae).

habit

The general appearance or manner of growth of a plant.

habitat

The environmental conditions or generalized kind of place in which a plant grows.

habitat type

(1.) Expression of the biological potential of an area.

(2.) Collective term for those physical areas (environments) that support or can support the same plant association, or did support it prior to its destruction or modification by fire, flood, grazing, logging, or epidemics, etc.

(3.) A taxonomic unit and a mapping unit.

head

Many flowers joined together in a short, dense, terminal cluster (Asteraceae).

herb

A plant, either annual, biennial, or perennial, with the stems dying back to the ground at the end of the growing season.

herbaceous

Adjectival form of herb; also, leaf like in color or texture, or not woody.

hips (of a rose)

A floral cup that usually becomes enlarged and fleshy at fruiting time; the true fruits are achenes inside the hip.

indicator

A plant species or community, representative of specific environmental conditions.

indusium (plural: indusia)

An epidermal outgrowth or reflexed and modified leaf margin which covers the sori of many ferns.

inflorescence

A flower cluster; the arrangement of the flowers on the axis.

involucre

A set of bracts surrounding a flower cluster.

involute

With edges rolled inward toward the upper surface.

keel

A sharp or conspicuous longitudinal ridge; also the two partly united lower petals of many Fabaceae.

lanceolate

Lance-shaped, broader toward one end and tapering to the other.

leaflet

One of the small blades of a compound leaf.

lemma

One of the two bracts (lemma and palea) subtending the individual flowers in grass spikelets; may be awned.

lenticel

A slightly raised area in the bark of a stem or root.

ligule

Term applied to the flattened part of the ray corolla in Asteraceae and to the appendage on the inner (upper) side of the leaf at the junction of blade and sheath in many Poaceae and some Cyperaceae.

linear

Long and narrow, with parallel edges.

lip

The upper or lower petal of many irregular flowers.

lobe

A projecting segment of an organ.

low shrub

A shrub 15-90cm (6-36in) high.

medium shrub

A shrub 1-2m (3-7ft) high.

membranaceous, membranous

Thin and flexible, like a membrane.

-merous

Greek suffix, referring to the parts in each circle of flower organs, generally with a numerical prefix, such as 2-merous.

mesic

Moist, neither very wet nor very dry.

midmontane

Middle elevations in mountains.

midrib

The central vein of a leaf or leaflet.

naked

Lacking various organs or appendages; a naked flower lacks a perianth.

naturalized

Well established, but originally coming from another area.

nerve

A prominent longitudinal vein of a leaf or other organ.

node

A place on a stem where a leaf is (or has been) attached.

nutlet

A very thick-walled achene.

ob-

Greek prefix, meaning in a reverse direction.

oblanceolate

Widest well above midlength, inversely lanceolate.

opposite

Situated directly across from each other at the same node; situated directly in front of (on the same radius as) another organ, as stamens opposite the petals.

orbicular

Essentially circular in outline.

oval

Broadly elliptic.

ovate

Egg shaped in outline.

ovoid

Solid ovate or solid oval.

palmate

With three or more lobes, nerves, leaflets, or branches arising from a common point.

palmately compound

Leaves divided to the base so that all leaflets are attached at the same point.

panicle

A branched, indeterminate inflorescence resembling a raceme whose rachis is branched to varying degrees.

papilionaceous flower

One with a banner petal, two wing petals, and two partly connate keel petals.

parasite

A plant that derives its food or water chiefly from another plant to which it is attached.

pedicel

The stalk of an individual flower.

perennial

A plant capable of living through more than two growing seasons and producing seeds for more than one year.

perianth

Petals and sepals of a flower together.

perigynium

A special bract which encloses the achene of Carex species.

persistent

Remaining attached.

petal

One of the segments of the corolla, generally colored or white and serving to attract pollinators.

petiolate

With a petiole.

petiole

A leaf stalk.

phase

A subdivision of a plant association or a habitat type representing minor differences in climax vegetation or environmental conditions, respectively.

pinna

One of the primary divisions of a pinnately compound leaf.

pinnate

Leaflets arranged along each side of the common petiole of a compound leaf.

pinnately compound

Leaves divided to the midrib; the leaflets or pinnae are arranged like the parts of a feather on the rachis.

pinnule

Diminutive of pinnae; an ultimate leaflet of a leaf that is pinnately two or more times compound.

pistillate

A flower with one or more pistils, but no stamens.

pith

The softer, central part of a twig or stem.

pod

Any kind of dry, dehiscent fruit.

pome

A fruit with a core, like an apple.

prickle

A small, sharp, usually slender outgrowth of the young bark.

procumbent

Lying on the ground or trailing, but not rooting at the nodes.

prostrate

Lying flat on the ground; may root at the nodes.

puberulent

Minutely pubescent, usually fine, short, loose hairs.

pubescent

Covered with short, soft hairs.

raceme

An elongate inflorescence with stalked flowers arranged along a central stem.

rachilla

Diminutive of rachis; the axis of the spikelet in the grasses and sedges.

rachis

A main axis, such as that of a compound leaf.

reflexed

Bent backward or downward.

reniform

Kidney-shaped.

revolute

Rolled back from the margin toward bottom surface.

rhizomatous

Bearing rhizomes.

rhizome

A creeping, underground stem.

root

Three main types

(1) fibrous--consists of many fine-branched roots;

(2.) tuberous--few to several roots, all attached at the base of the stem and swollen, at least at the base, with stored food;

(3.) tap--one main vertical root swollen with stored food.

rootstock

A horizontal, underground stem; rhizome.

rosette

A circular cluster of leaves, usually at ground level.

rotate

Flat and circular in outline; saucer-shaped.

rotund

Round or rounded.

rudimentary

Imperfectly developed.

samara

A dry, indehiscent, generally one-seeded, winged fruit.

saprophyte

A plant that lives on dead organic matter, neither parasitic nor making its own food .

scale

Any small, thin or flat structure.

scape

A leafless (or merely bracteate) flowering stem arising from a basal rosette.

schizocarp

A fruit that splits into separate carpels at maturity.

secund

With the flowers or branches all on one side of the axis.

seed

A mature reproductive embryo with protective coat, with or without internal food (endosperm).

sepal

One of the segments of the calyx, typically green or greenish and leafy in texture.

seral

Adjective term applied to any species or plant community primarily associated with secondary successional stages.

series

Group of habitat types with the same climax tree species. A taxonomic unit.

serotinous

Late in bearing or opening.

serrate

Toothed along the margin with sharp, forward-pointing teeth.

serrulate

Diminutive of serrate.

sessile

Attached directly by the base, without a stalk.

sheath

An organ that partly or wholly surrounds another organ, such as a sheath of a grass leaf surrounding the stem.

shrub

A woody perennial plant having several flexible, more or less upright stems that typically branch near the ground.

silique

An elongate capsule with two valves that are deciduous from the persistent, seed-bearing partition.

simple leaf

A single leaf blade, not compound.

sorus (plural: sori)

A cluster of sporangia, as in ferns.

species

A distinct kind of plant. Each species has a two-word scientific Latin name, of which the first word designates the genus and the second word designates the species.

spicate

Arranged in a spike.

spike

An elongate flower cluster with sessile flowers arranged along a central stem.

spine

A firm, slender, sharp-pointed structure, representing a modified leaf or stipule.

spinulose

Provided with small spines.

sporangium (plural: sporangia)

A case or container for spores.

spore

A one-celled reproductive structure other than a gamete or zygote.

sporophyll

A modified leaf which bears or subtends one or more sporangia.

sporophyte

Produces spores as reproductive bodies.

spur

A hollow, tubular projection of a flower petal.

stamen

The male organ of a flower, consisting of a slender stalk (filament) and a knoblike, pollen-bearing tip (anther).

staminate

A flower with one or more stamens, but no pistil.

sterile

Unproductive or infertile.

stipe

A stalk supporting a single organ; the leaf stalk of a fern.

stipule

A small leaflike growth at the base of a leaf stalk.

stolon

An elongate, creeping stem on or above the surface of the ground.

stoloniferous

Bearing stolons.

stomata (stoma)

Specialized openings in leaf surfaces that allow movement of gases.

sub-

Latin prefix meaning under, almost, or not quite.

subshrub

Very small shrub or low woody perennial, generally under 15cm (6in) high.

succulent

Fleshy and juicy.

succession

The replacement of one community by another, developing toward a climax.

tall shrub

A shrub over 2m (7ft) high.

taproot

The primary descending, usually fleshy root.

tendril

A slender, coiling organ used for climbing or support.

tepal

A sepal or petal, or member of an undifferentiated perianth.

terete

Cylindrical; round in cross-section.

ternate

In threes.

thorn

A stiff, woody, modified stem with a sharp point.

tomentose

Covered with tangled or matted, woolly hairs.

trailing

Running along the ground, but not rooting.

tree

A plant with a woody stem (trunk) that is unbranched for several feet above the ground.

tri-

Latin prefix meaning three.

tribe

A division of a large plant family; a subfamily.

trifoliate, trifoliolate

With three leaves; with three leaflets.

truncate

With the apex (or base) transversely straight or nearly so, as if cut off.

tuber

A short thickened part of a rhizome, used for food storage (potato).

tuberous

Thickened like a tuber.

twig

A small, secondary stem.

umbel

A flat-topped flower cluster in that all the flower stalks radiate from the same point, like the ribs of an umbrella.

umbellate

In umbels.

umbo

A blunt or rounded elevation or protuberance on the end or side of a solid organ, as on the scales of pine cones.

urceolate

Urn-shaped or pitcherlike, contracted at or just below the mouth.

variety

A taxon below species which has consistent morphological variation from the species (but not sufficient to be a new species); a variety may have the same or (more usually) different geographical distribution.

vein

A vascular bundle; one of the network of tiny channels in a leaf through which the plant's fluids flow.

venation

System or pattern of veining.

villous

Pubescent with long, soft, often bent or curved but not matted hairs.

warm season

Refers to normal late flowering or maturing phenology, particularly for grasses, usually from late June to Sept.

weed

A general term for any undesirable or troublesome plant species--usually one introduced or out of place; occurs without intentional cultivation.

whorl

Arranged in a circle around a central point.

xeric

Characterized or pertaining to conditions of scant moisture supply.