Term |
Definition |
| Achene | one seeded dry indehiscent fruit |
| Acuminate | long pointed, with narrow point |
| Acute | pointed |
| Adnate | attached the whole length |
| Alternate | with one leaf at each stem node and pointing in different directions |
| Anther | the male part of the flower containing pollen |
| Aristate | with a bristle like projection |
| Awn | bristle like projection, as in the flowering part of grasses |
| Berry | fleshy single to many seeded fruit |
| Bifid | split deeply in two |
| Bract | scale or leaf-like upper leaf surrounding a flower or inflorescence |
| Bracteole | small scale-like, often membranous bract, occurring on flower stalks |
| Bulb | underground organ composed of densely packed fleshy scale leaves. |
| Calyx | the sepals as a whole; either composed of spreading or reflexed free spirals, usually green in colour, or else combined in a calyx tube |
| Campanulate | bell shaped |
| Capitate | shaped like a head, head -like |
| Capsule | dry fruit, consisting of several carpals, opening by pores or slits |
| Carpels | the basic unit of the female reproductive organ of a flower, the gynoecium. A flower may have zero, one, or more carpels. Multiple carpels may combine into a single pistil, or into multiple pistils. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpel |
| Cone | the 'fruit' of coniferous trees, consisting of numerous overlapping scales |
| Connate | joined together at the base |
| Cordate | heart-shaped with point at the tip |
| Corolla | the petals as a whole, free or combined |
| Crenate | with a notched or scalloped margin |
| Culm | flowering stem of grasses |
| Cyme | inflorescence with growing points terminated by flowers, and having a terminal flower |
| Dentate | toothed |
| Dichotomous | branching in two |
| Dioecious | male and female flowers on different plants |
| Drupe | fruit with a fleshy exterior and inner stone like wall to the seed |
| Emarginated | notched |
| Epicalyx | calyx-like structure of several bracts close under the calyx |
| Filament | the stalk below the anther in a stamen |
| Follicle | fruit consisting of 1 carpel which opens only along 1 side |
| Glabrous | without hairs of any sort |
| Glandular hairs | have a small gland at the tip |
| Glume | tough membranous leaf-like part of the flower of grasses, often with an awn |
| Halophyte | plants of sandy soil |
| Head or capitulum | flowers are densely packed into a compact head |
| Imbricate | overlapping |
| Indehiscent | seed heads in which the seeds are not enclosed in a pod http://theseedsite.co.uk/botany.html |
| Inflorescence | a flower branch or the part of the stem that carries the flowers |
| Involucre | a collection of bracts |
| Keel | the lowest petal and the wings are the two side petals |
| Lanceolate | spear shaped |
| Leaf axil | angle between leaf and stem |
| Leaf blade | the broader lower part of a leaf, usually flat |
| Leaf sheath | the broadened lower part of a leaf which enclosed the stem in a tube or pouch |
| Leaflet | part of a compound leaf |
| Lemma | a bract in the grass family |
| Ligule | a small extension at the junction of the leaf sheath and blade (e.g., in grasses) |
| Limb | the broader part of a petal |
| Lobed | divided, but not into separate parts; some leaves have an enlarged terminal lobe |
| Mericarp | one seeded section of a dry fruit |
| Monoecious | flowers occur on the same plant male and female |
| Nectary | nectar secreting glands that occur in various parts of the flower and attract insects |
| Obcordate | heart-shaped, with the stalk in the notch, opposite to cordate |
| Obovate | egg shaped, but upside-down, with the broadest part above |
| Opposite | with one leaf on each side of the same stem node |
| Ovate | egg shaped |
| Palmate or digitate | branched or lobed like the fingers of a hand |
| Panicle | branched in fluorescence with stalked flowers |
| Pappus | hairs or bristles on the fruit of many compositae, taking the place of the calyx |
| Paripinnate | pinnate without and terminal leaflet (i.e. the number of leaflets is even) |
| Pedicel | stalk of a flower in an inflorescent |
| Perianth | The floral envelope, consisting of the calyx and corolla (when present), whatever their form. http://glossary.gardenweb.com/glossary/perianth |
| Peduncle | stalk of a flower or inflorescence |
| Petal | an inner perianth segment; petals are usually brightly coloured and surround a flower's reproductive organs |
| Petiole | stalk of the leaf blade |
| Pinnate | In two opposite rows along a common axis (e.g. of compound leaves) |
| Pinnatisect | pinnately divided almost the midrib, but not into separate leaflets |
| Pod | dry fruit consisting of one carpal, opening by a seam around both sides |
| Prickles | hard prickly out growths of the outer surface of leaf and stem |
| Procum bent | growing along the ground |
| Raceme | an elongated florescence with stalked flowers, usually with a terminal flower |
| Reniform | kidney shaped |
| Reticulate veined | with veins in a network |
| Rhizome | rootstock, a creeping underground stem |
| Rosette | an arrangement of leaves, usually at the base of the stem |
| Sagittate | arrow-head shaped |
| Scarious | thin dry and not green |
| Schizocarp | dry fruit that falls into several seeded sections (mericarps) when ripe |
| Sepal | an outer perianth segment; known as calyx |
| Serrate | saw edged with sharp teeth |
| Sessile | without a leaf stalk |
| Siliqua | fruit of the Cruciferae- more than three times long as wide |
| Spadix | a fleshy spike, often with a club shaped appendage at the tip |
| Spathe | a sheath enclosing an inflorescence |
| Spathulate | spoon shape |
| Spike | elongated inflorescence with sessile flowers |
| Stamen | the pollen bearing male organ of a flower, consisting of a filament and an anther |
| Staminode | a modified stamen that does not contain pollen |
| Stigrna | tip of the style that receives pollen |
| Stipule | scale or leaf-like appendage at the bases of the petiole, usually paired |
| Style | the stalk that connects the ovary and the stigma in the female flower; styles lie in the centre of the flower |
| Tendril | fragile structure, often spirally twisted, for attachment, developed out of a leaf or leaflet |
| Terete | circular in cross section |
| Terminal | at the end |
| Throat | limb or mouth of corolla |
| Trifoliate | having three leaflets |
| Tuber | fleshy thickened part of root or stem |
| Tubercle | a small swelling |
| Umbel | umbrella shaped inflorescence, with flower stalks all rising from the same point |
| Unisexual | a flower either with stamens (male flowers) or with ovaries (female flowers) only |
| Villous | long, woolly, hairy, shaggy |
| Viscide | sticky |
| Whorled or verticillate | describes an arrangement with more than 2 leaves or flowers at each node |
| Xerophyte | a plant of dry habitat (e.g. desert) |
| Zygomorphic | Corollas divided into equal halves by one plane only, upper and lower parts are different |
You can download a Word (2003 format) version of the above by right-clicking here and saving the file on your computer ('save link as').
See also Plant Anatomy at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_anatomy.
More exhaustive list of plant botanical terms at http://theseedsite.co.uk/botany.html.
And at http://glossary.gardenweb.com/glossary
More botany information including identification
"Leaves usually imparipinnate, rarely i-foliolate; leaflets many, entire, exstipulate. Stipules of various shapes. Flowers purple-reddish (yay, English!), in leaf-opposed racemes or solitary or in pairs in the axils of the leaves. Bracts present. Calyx-tube campanulate, S-teeth or lobes, subequal or equal, or the upper two united. Standard suborbicular, pubescent (hmmm, know the word, but in this context...7) outside; keel obtuse (ditto!). Stamens diadelphous; anthers obtuse (!!), uniform. Ovary sessile, linear, i-many ovuled; style incurved, glabrous or pilose, stigma capitate or nude. Fruit linnear, flattened, or ovoid, many-seeded, 2 valved, not septate between the seeds. Seeds flattened."