Southern Wetland Flora
Illustrated Glossary of Floral Terms
- Achene
- A one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with the seed coat not attached to
the mature ovary wall.
- Alternate
- In reference to leaves: occurring at different levels successively on
opposite sides of stem.
- Annual
- Living only for one year.
- Anther
- The pollen-producing part of a stamen.
- Arcuate
- Curved.
- Auriculate
- Bearing ear-shaped lobes.
- Awn
- A bristle-like process.
- 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
leaf-like.
- Bracteole
- A secondary bract.
- Bractlet
- A small bract.
- Bristle
- A stiff hair.
- 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.
- Composite
- Referring to an inflorescence that is made up of many tiny florets crowded
together on a receptacle.
- 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.
- Disk
- 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
- Stripping off.
- Exserted
- Projecting.
- 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.
- Glabrous
- Smooth.
- Glaucous
- Having a bluish appearance.
- Globose
- Round.
- Glume
- A sterile scale found in grasses.
- Hastate
- Arrowhead-shaped, except that the basal lobes spread outward.
- Hemispherical
- Half-round.
- Indehiscent
- Not splitting open at maturity.
- 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.
- Involute
- Rolled up lengthwise.
- Lanceolate
- Lance-shaped; broadest near the base, gradually tapering to the narrower
apex.
- Lanceoloid
- Referring to a solid object that is broadest near the base, gradually
tapering to the narrower apex.
- Latex
- Milky sap.
- Lemma
- A fertile scale found in grasses.
- Lenticel
- A small opening on a stem.
- 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.
- 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 the
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.
- Opposite
- In reference to leaves: forming a pair opposite each other on the stem.
- 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.
- 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 later the seed in Carex.
- Petiole
- Leaf stalk.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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, leaflike structure; the structure that subtends each flower in
a grass or sedge.
- Septate
- With cross-walls.
- Sessile
- Without a stalk.
- Setose
- Bearing bristles.
- Sheath
- The base of a leaf that encircles the stem.
- Sori
- Structures found in ferns that contain 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.
- Spinulose
- Bearing small spines.
- Sporangia
- Structures that bear spores.
- Spore
- A microscopic reproductive body in ferns.
- Spur
- A slender, backward-pointing part of some flowers.
- 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.
- Style
- That part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma.
- Subglobose
- Nearly round.
- 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 occurs.
- Tendril
- A device, usually coiled, that enables some vines to climb.
- Ternate
- Divided into 3's.
- Truncate
- Cut straight across.
- Tuber
- A thickened, underground stem that stores food.
- Tubercle
- A wart-like process.
- Umbel
- A cluster of flowers in which the flower stalks arise from the same level.
- Undulating
- Wavy.
- Valvate
- Placed edge to edge.
- Valve
- 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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