Northeast Wetland Flora
Glossary
- Achene
- A one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with the seed coat not attached to
the mature ovary wall.
- Annual
- Living only for one year.
- Anther
- The pollen-producing part of a stamen.
- Arcuate
- Curved.
- Auricle
- An ear-like lobe.
- Auriculate
- Bearing ear-shaped lobes.
- Awn
- A bristle-like appendage.
- Axil (Axillary)
- Referring to the angle formed between any two organs.
- Axis
- The angle where two structures join; for example, where a leaf joins the
stem.
- Bearded
- With a tuft of hairs.
- Berry
- A fruit with the seeds surrounded only by fleshy material.
- Biennial
- Living for two years.
- Bract
- An accessory structure at the base of some flowers, usually appearing
leaflike.
- Bracteole
- A secondary bract.
- Bractlet
- A small bract.
- Bristle
- A stiff hair.
- Bundle Trace
- A small scar representing where a vein has broken off in a leaf scar.
- Calyx
- All the sepals of a flower.
- Capsule
- A dry, dehiscent fruit splitting into 3 or more parts.
- Cilia
- Marginal hairs.
- Ciliate
- Bearing marginal hairs.
- Clasping
- Said of leaves that partially encircle the stem at the base.
- Claw
- An abrupt, narrow base, such as on a petal.
- Compressed
- Flattened.
- Connate
- Union of like parts.
- Cordate
- Heart-shaped.
- Corm
- An underground, tuber-like stem that stores food.
- Corolla
- All the petals of a flower.
- Corymb
- a type of flat-topped, branched inflorescence.
- Crest
- A small ridge.
- Cyme
- A type of inflorescence in which the central flowers open first.
- Cymose
- In the form of a cyme.
- Deciduous
- Falling off.
- Dehiscent
- Splitting at maturity.
- Diaphragmed
- Divided by partitions.
- Dichotomous
- Forking regularly in pairs.
- Disk (Disc)
- The central group of flowers in the head of the aster family; a fleshy
growth that sometimes surrounds the ovary.
- Drupe
- A fruit with the seed surrounded by a hard, dry covering which, in turn,
is surrounded by fleshy material.
- Drupelet
- A small drupe.
- Ellipsoid
- Referring to a solid object that is broadest at the middle, gradually
tapering to both ends.
- Elliptic
- Broadest at the middle, gradually tapering to both ends.
- Exfoliating
- Pealing off in strips or plats (for example, bark of some trees).
- Exserted
- Projecting.
- Fascicle
- A bundle or cluster.
- Fibrous
- Referring to a cluster of slender roots, all with the same diameter.
- Filament
- The stalk of a stamen.
- Fissured
- Grooved.
- Follicle
- A dry, dehiscent fruit that splits along one side at maturity.
- Furrowed
- Grooved.
- Fusiform
- Spindle-shaped; that is, swollen at the middle and narrowing gradually
toward each end.
- Gemma (pl., gemmae)
- A bud by which some plants propagate.
- Glabrous
- Without hairs or scales.
- Glandular
- Bearing swollen sturctures, or glands, that usually contain a liquid.
- Glaucous
- Having a white or bluish waxy coating.
- Globose
- Round.
- Glume
- A sterile scale found in grasses
- Hastate
- Arrowhead-shaped, except that the basal lobes spread outward.
- Head
- A group of flowers tightly crowded together in a more or less rounded
structure.
- Hemispherical
- Half-round.
- Indehiscent
- Not splitting open at maturity.
- Indusium
- The covering over a group of sporangia in ferns.
- Inferior
- Referring to the position of the ovary when it is below the point of attachment
of the sepals and petals.
- Inflorescence
- A cluster of flowers.
- Internode
- The area between two nodes.
- Involute
- Rolled up lengthwise; inrolled.
- Keel
- Ridge.
- Lanceolate
- Lance-shaped; broadest near base, gradually tapering to the narrower apex.
- Lanceoloid
- Referring to a solid object that is broadest near base, gradually tapering
to the narrower apex.
- Latex
- Milky sap.
- Lemma
- A fertile scale found in grasses.
- Lenticel
- A small opening on a stem.
- Lenticular
- Lens-shaped.
- Ligule
- A structure on the inside at the junction of the leaf blade and leaf sheath.
- Linear
- Elongated and uniform in width throughout.
- Mucronate
- With a short point sticking out the tip.
- Nerve
- Vein.
- Node
- That place on a stem where leaves and buds arise.
- Nutlet
- A small nut.
- Obconic
- Reverse cone-shaped.
- Oblanceolate
- Reverse lance-shaped; broadest at the apex, gradually tapering to narrower
base.
- Oblong
- Broadest at the middle, and tapering to both ends, but broader than elliptic.
- Oblongoid
- Referring to a solid object that, in side view, is nearly the same width
throughout.
- Obovate
- Broadly rounded at the apex, becoming narrowed below.
- Obovoid
- Referring to a solid object that is broadly rounded at the apex, becoming
narrowed below.
- Orbicular
- Round.
- Ovary
- That part of the pistil that contains the ovules.
- Ovate
- Broadly rounded at the base, becoming narrowed above; broader than lanceolate.
- Ovoid
- Referring to a solid object that is broadly rounded at the base, becoming
narrowed above.
- Ovule
- Immature seed.
- Palmate
- Divided radiately, like the fingers of a hand.
- Panicle
- An arrangement of flowers consisting of several racemes.
- Pappus
- Tufts of hairs attached to achenes of the aster family.
- Pedicel
- The stalk of a flower.
- Peduncle
- The stalk of an inflorescence.
- Peltate
- Attached at the middle.
- Pendulous
- Drooping.
- Perennial
- Living for 3 or more years.
- Perforation
- A circular opening.
- Perianth
- All the sepals and petals of a flower.
- Perigynium
- A sac-like structure enclosing the pistil and, at maturity, the achene
in Carex.
- Petiole
- Leaf stalk.
- Pinna (pl., pinnae)
- The primary division of pinnate frond or leaf.
- Pinnate
- Divided once along an elongated axis into distinct segments.
- Pinnatifid
- Divided nearly to the axis.
- Pistil
- The ovule-producing part of the flower.
- Pith
- The central, often soft, part of a stem.
- Plumose
- Feathery.
- Prostrate
- Lying flat on the ground.
- Raceme
- A grouping of flowers along an elongated axis where each flower has its
own stalk.
- Rachis
- The axis of a flowering branch or the cenral stalk of a compound leaf..
- Ray
- A flattened flower part in the aster family that is actually several petals
fused together.
- Receptacle
- That part of the flower to which the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils
are usually attached.
- Recurved
- Curving downward.
- Reflexed
- Turned downward.
- Reticulate
- Like a net.
- Retrorse
- Pointing downward.
- Revolute
- Turned under along the edges.
- Rhizome
- An underground, horizontal stem.
- Ribbed
- Bearing ridges.
- Rosette
- A cluster of leaves around the base of the plant.
- Samara
- An indehiscent winged fruit.
- Scale
- A tiny, usually dry, leaflike structure (for example, the structure that
subtends each flower in a grass, sedge, or rush).
- Septate
- With cross-walls.
- Sessile
- Without a stalk.
- Setose
- Bearing bristles.
- Sheath
- The base of a leaf that encircles the stem.
- Smooth
- Not rough to the touch.
- Sorus (pl., sori)
- A structure found in ferns that contains the spore-producing sporangia.
- Spadix
- A fleshy axis in which flowers are embedded.
- Spathe
- A large bract subtending or sometimes enclosing a cluster of flowers.
- Spatulate
- Shaped like a spatula, broadest at the tip and tapering to the base.
- Spike
- A grouping of flowers along an elongated axis where each flower lacks
a stalk.
- Spikelet
- A small spike.
- Spinule
- A small spine.
- Spinulose
- Bearing small spines.
- Sporangia
- Structures that bear spores.
- Spore
- A microscopic reproductive body in ferns and fern allies.
- Sporophyll
- A leaf that bears spores.
- Spur
- A slender, backward-pointing part of some flowers, or short, stout, spine-like
branches.
- Stamen
- The pollen-producing organ of a flower.
- Stigma
- The terminal part of a pistil.
- Stipule
- A green, often leaf-like, structure found at the base of some leaves.
- Stolon
- A horizontal stem lying on the surface of the soil.
- Striate
- With parallel lines.
- Style
- That part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma.
- Subglobose
- Nearly round, but slightly flattened.
- Subtend
- To extend under; found at the base of.
- Subulate
- Narrowed to a short point.
- Succulent
- Fleshy.
- Superior
- Referring to the position of the ovary when it is above the point of attachment
of sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils.
- Sutures
- Seams, areas where splitting ocurs.
- Tendril
- A device, usually coiled, that enables some vines to climb.
- Terete
- Round in cross-section.
- Ternate
- Divided into 3's.
- Thallus
- The body of the plant in the family Lemnaceae.
- Truncate
- Cut straight across.
- Tuber
- A thickened, underground stem that stores food.
- Tubercle
- A wart-like structure.
- Umbel
- A cluster of flowers in which the flower stalks arise from the same level.
- Undulating
- Wavy.
- Valvate
- Placed edge to edge.
- Valve
- The section of a capsule; the wing of the fruit in Rumex.
- Whorl
- The arrangement of 3 or more structures at a point on the stem.
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