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Botanical Dictionary The following list of terms and definitions is from Albert E. Radford, William C. Dickison, Jimmy R. Massey, and C. Ritchie Bell, Vascular Plant Systematics, 1974, Harper & Row Publishers. All rights are reserved.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Abaxial.   Away from the axis; the lower surface of the leaf; dorsal Abcissent.   Falling off or separating at a specific separation (abcission) layer, as in most deciduous plants Acarpous.   No carpels or carpellate whorl; no pistil Accessory Bud. Buds lateral to or above axillary buds; Accessory Organs - The calyx and corolla Accrescent.   Growing after flowering or bud development has occurred, as the sepals in Hypericum and bud scales in Carya Accumbent or Pleurorhizal.   Reclinate with cotyledon edges against hypocotyl Acerose.   Needle-shaped; sharp Achene.   A one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with seed attached to fruit wall at one point only, derived from a one-loculed superior ovary Achenecetum.   An aggregation of achenes, as in Ranunculus Achlamydeous.   Without perianth Acicular.   Needlelike, round or grooved in cross section Aciculate .   Finely marked as with pin pricks, fine lines usually randomly arranged Acrocaulous.   With terminal branches Acrocidal Capsule.   One that dehisces through terminal slits, or fissures, as in Staphylea Acrodromous.   With two or more primary or strongly developed secondary veins diverging at or above the base of the blade and running in convergent arches toward the apex over some or all of the blade length, the arches not basally curved Acropetal.   Developing upward, toward apex Acroramous.   Leaves terminal, near apex of branch Acroscopic.   Facing apically Actinodromous.   With three or more primary veins diverging radially from a single point at or above the base of the blade and running toward the margin, reaching it or not Actinomorphic or Radial.   With floral parts radiate from center like spokes on wheel Actinostele.   A protostele having a xylem core in the form of radiating ribs, as viewed in transverse section Aculeate.   Prickly Acuminate (Base narrowly cuneate).   Margins straight to convex forming a terminal angle of less than 45 Acute (Base cuneate).   Margins straight to convex forming a terminal angle 45-90 Adaxial.   Next to the axis; facing the stem; ventral Adherent.  With unlike parts of organs joined, but only superficially and without actual histological continuity Adnate.   With unlike parts or organs integrally fused to one another with histological continuity Adventitious.   Arising from organ other than root; usually lateral Aerating or Knee.   Vertical or horizontal aboveground roots Aerial or Epigeous.   Above the ground or water, in the air; aerial stem - an erect stem arising from a horizontal rhizome Aerocaulous.   With aerial stems Aerophyllous.   With aerial leaves Aestival.   Appearing in summer Agamandrous.   Inflorescence with neuter flowers inside or above and staminate outside or below (agamandrocephalous) Agamogynous.   Inflorescence with neuter flowers inside or above and pistillate outside or below (agamogynecephalous) Agamohermaphroditic.   Inflorescence with neuter flowers inside or above and hermaphroditic outside or below (agamohermaphrodicephalous) Agamous or Neuter.   Without sex; sexual organs abortive Agglomerate, Conglomerate, Crowded, or Aggregate.   Dense structures with varied angles of divergence Aianthous or Semperflorous.   With flowers appearing throughout the year Alate.   Winged Allagostemonous.   Having stamens attached to petal and torus alternately Allautogamy.   Cross- and self-fertilization in same plant, as in Viola Allogamy or Xenogamy.   Cross-fertilization in plants Allopatric.   Isolated, separated Alternate.   One leaf or other structure per node Alveolate.   Honey-combed Ament or Catkin.   A unisexual spike or elongate axis with simple dichasia that falls as a unit after flowering or fruiting Amorphic or Paleomorphic.   Flowers without symmetry; usually with an indefinite number of stamens and carpels, and usually subtended by bracts or discolored upper leaves; e.g., Salix discolor, Echinops ritro (mostly fossil forms) Amphicarpous.   With fruits in two environments; e.g., aerial and subterranean Amphiflorous.   Flowers above and below ground, as in Amphicarpum Amphisarca.   A berry-like succulent fruit with a crustaceous or woody rind, as in Lagenaria Amphitropous.   With body bent or curved on both sides so that the micropyle is near the medially attached funiculus Amplexicaul.   Completely clasping the stem Ampliate.   Enlarged; dilated Anadromous.   Having the first lobe or segment of a pinna arising basiscopically in compound leaves Anatropous.   With body completely inverted so that funiculus is attached basally near adjoining micropyle area Ancipital.   Two-edged Andragamous.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers inside or above and neuter flowers outside or below (andragamocephalous) Androdioecious.   Some plants with staminate flowers and some with perfect flowers Androecium.   One or more whorls or groups of stamens; all stamens in flower Androgynecandrous.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers above and below pistillate, as in the spikes of some species of Carex Androgynophore.   The stipe or column on which stamens and carpels are borne Androgynous.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers inside or above and pistillate outside or below (androgynecephalous) Androhermaphroditic.   Inflorescence with staminate flowers inside or above and hermaphroditic outside or below (androhermaphrodicephalous) Andromonoecious.   Plant with staminate and perfect flowers Anemophily.   Pollinated by wind Angustate.   Narrow Anisocarpous.   With unequal carpels Anisocotylous.   With unequal cotyledons Anisolateral.   With unequal sides Anisopetalous.   With unequal petals Anisophyllous.   With unequal leaves Anisostylous.   With unequal styles Annotinal or Yearly.   Appearing yearly Annual.   Living one year or less. Winter Annual - Living less than one year but through the winter; germination usually in late fall, and usually flowering and fruiting in early spring Annular.   Ring-like Annulus.   Thick-walled ring of cells on the sporangium Anomalicidal or Rupturing Capsule.   One that dehisces irregularly, as in Ammannia Anterior.   Anterior Lobes - The lobes away from axis, toward the subtending bract, abaxial lobes; Anterior Ridges, Lines, Grooves - The lines, grooves, ridges in or on the dorsal side, abaxial, within the perianth Anther.   Pollen-bearing portion of stamen Antheridium.   The male sex organ producing the sperm Anthesis.   Time of flowering; opening of flower with parts available for pollination Anthocarpous.   Having a body of combined floral and fruit parts, as in multiple fruits Anthotaxis.   Arrangement of sporophylls, primarily reproductive in function Anthropophily.   Pollinated by man Antipetalous.   Opposite the petals Antisepalous.   Opposite the sepals Antitropous.   With radicle pointing away from hilum Antrorse.   Bent or directed upward Apetalous.   No petals or corolla Aphyllopodic.   Without blade-bearing leaves at base of plant Aphyllous.   Without leaves, no whorls of leaves Apical or Terminal.   At the top, tip, or end of a structure Apiculate.   More than 3:1 l/w, usually slightly curled and flexuous Apocarpous.   With carpels separate Apogamy.   Producing sporophytes from a gametophyte without fertilization Apopetalous or Choripetalous.   With separate petals Apophysis.   Exposed outer surface of either an ovuliferous scale or megasporophyll as seen when the cone is closed Aposepalous or Chorisepalous.   With separate sepals Apospory.   Producing gametophytes directly from a sporophyte without producing spores Apostemonous.   With separate stamens Appendicular.   Typical stamen with a variously-shaped or modified, protruding connective, as in Viola Applanate or Plane.   Flat, without vertical curves or bends Appressed or Adpressed.   Pressed closely to axis upward with angle of divergence 15° or less Arachnoid.   Cobwebby Arborescent.   Tree-like in appearance and size Archegonium.   The female sex organ producing the egg Arcuate.   Curved like a crescent, can be downward or upward Areolate.   Divided into many angular or squarish spaces Areoles.   The spaces formed by a vein network Arhizous.   Without roots, no whorls of roots Aril.   Outgrowth of funiculus, raphe, or integuments; or fleshy integuments or seed coat, a sarcotesta at base of the fleshy seed; e.g., Cepalotaxus Arillate.   General term for an outgrowth from the funiculus, seed coat or chalaza; or a fleshy seed coat Aristate.   More than 3:1 l/w, usually prolonged, straight and stiff Articulate.   Generally meaning having a joint as in leaves, leaflets or stems, as in heterophyllous species of Selaginella; or having a swollen area, often discolored, at the point of branching of the stem Ascending.   Directed upward with an angle of divergence of 16-45° Asepalous.   No sepals or calyx Asperous.   Having a rough surface Assurgent.   Directed upward or forward Astemonous or Anandrous.   No stamens or androecium Astylocarpellous.   Without a style and a stipe Astylocarpepodic.   Without a style, with a stipe Astylous.   Style absent Asymmetric.   Without regularity in any dimension Attenuate.   Elongate, tapering, usually applied to base Auriculate.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth variable; outer margin concave, inner convex or straight Auriculiform.   Usually obovate with two small rounded, basal lobes Autogamy.   Self-fertilization in a single flower Autumnal.   Appearing in autumn Awl-shaped Leaf.   Subulate; narrow, flat, stiff, sharp-pointed, usually less than 1/2 in. long; e.g., Juniperus Axial.   With branches arising from buds in leaf axil Axile.   With the placentae along the central axis in a compound ovary with septa Axillary or Lateral.   In axils of leaves or leaf scars; axillary leaves - leaves borne in the axils of branches, as in heterosporous species of Selaginella Baccacetum or Etaerio.   An aggregation of berries, as in Actaea Baccate.   Juicy and very succulent Balausta.   Many-seeded, many- loculed indehiscent fruit with a tough, leathery pericarp, as in Punica Banded.   Transverse stripes of one color crossing another Barbed.   With short, rigid reflexed bristles or processes Barbellate.   Minutely barbed Bark.   Tissues of plant outside wood or xylem Basal or Radical.   At the bottom or base of a structure Base.   bottom or lower portion Basicaulous.   With basal branches Basicaulous.   Near base of stem Basicidal Capsule.   One that dehisces through basal slits or fissures, as in some species of Aristolochia Basifixed.   Anther attached at its base to apex of filament Basipetal.   Developing downward, toward base Basipetiolar.   At the base of the petiole Basiramous.   Leaves on lower part of branch Basiscopic.   Facing basally Bast bundles (peripheral strands).   bundles of thick-walled cells parallel to the midrib, as in Isoetes beard.   A tuft, line or zone of trichomes Bearded or Barbate.   With long trichomes usually in a tuft, line or zone Bent.   Foliate embryo with expanded and usually thick cotyledons in an axile position bent upon the hypocotyl in a jacknife position Berry.   Fleshy fruit, with succulent pericarp, as in Vitis Bibacca.   A fused double berry, as in Lonicera Bicarpellate.   Two-carpelled Bicrenate or Doubly-crenate.   With smaller rounded teeth on larger rounded teeth Bidentate.   Two-toothed Biduous.   Lasting two days Biennial.   Living two years, usually flowering second year Biferous.   Appearing twice yearly Bifid.   Cut or divided into two lobes or parts Biflorous.   Flowering in autumn as well as in spring Bifoliolate, Geminate, or Jugate.   With two leaflets from a common point Bifurcate.   Divided into two forks or branches Bigeminate, Bijugate.   With two orders of leaflets, each bifoliolate; doubly paired Bilabiate.   Two-lipped, with two unequal divisions Bilocular.   Two-locular Bimestrial.   Periodicity: occurring every two months; duration: lasting two months Binate.   Twinned Bipalmate.   Twice palmate Bipinnate.   Twice pinnate Biseriate.   Two-rowed; in two series Biserrate or Doubly-serrate.   With sharply cut teeth on the margins of larger sharply cut teeth Bisexual.   Both sexes in same flower (monoclinous, perfect) Biternate.   With two orders of leaflets, each ternately compound Blade.   The expanded portion of a leaf Blastocarpous.   Germination of seeds while within the pericarp, as in Rhizophora Blotched.   The color disposed in broad, irregular blotches Bordered.   One color is surrounded by an edging of another Botuliform.   Sausage-shaped Bract.   Modified, usually reduced, leaf in the inflorescence Bracteal and Laminar.   May be localized or found over entire structure Bracteole or Bractlet.   A secondary or smaller bract Bristle.   A stiff, strong trichome, as in the perianth of some members of the Cyperaceae Bristly.   Beset with bristles Brochidodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins not terminating at the margin but joined together in a series of prominent upward arches or marginal loops on each side of the primary vein Bud.   Immature vegetative or floral shoot or both, often covered by scales. Bud Primordium - Meristematic tissue that gives rise to a lateral bud Bulb.   A short, erect, underground stem surrounded by fleshy leaves Bulbel.   A small bulb produced from the base of a larger bulb Bulbil.   A small bulb or bulb-like body produced on above ground parts Bulblet.   A small bulb, irrespective of origin; a small, bud-like vegetative propagule produced on the leaves of some ferns Bullate.   Puckered or blistered Bur (Involucre).   Cypsela enclosed in dry involucre, as in Xanthium Buttress.   Roots with board-like or plank-like growth on upper side, presumably a supporting structure Caducous.   Dropping off very early, usually applied to floral parts Calcarate.   Spurred Calceolate.   Slipper-shaped, as in the corolla of Cypripedium Callosity.   A thickened, raised area, which is usually hard; a callus Calybium.   A hard one-loculed dry fruit derived from an inferior ovary, as in Quercus Calyx.   The lowermost whorl of modified leaves, sepals Campanulate.   Bell-shaped; with flaring tube about as broad as long and a flaring limb Campylodromous.   With several primary veins or their branches diverging at or close to a single point and running in strongly developed, basally recurved arches which converge toward the apex, reaching it or not Campylotropous.   With body bent or curved on one side so that micropyle is near medially attached funiculus Canaliculate.   Longitudinally grooved, usually in relation to petioles or midribs Cancellate or Clathrate.   Latticed Canescent or Incanous.   Covered with dense, fine grayish-white trichomes Cantharophily.   Pollinated by beetles Capillate.   Hair-shapedCapitate.   Head-like Capitulum or Head.   A determinate or indeterminate crowded group of sessile or subsessile flowers on a compound receptacle or torus Carina.   Keel. Carinal Canal - A canal beneath a stem ridge associated with a vascular bundle Carinate.   Keeled Carnose or Sarcous.   Fleshy Carpel.   The female sporophyll within flower; floral organ that bears ovules in angiosperms; unit of compound pistil Carpophore.   Floral axis extension between adjacent carpels, as in the Apiaceae Carpopodium.   Short, thick, pistillate stalk Carpotaxis.   Arrangement of fruits, reproductive in function Cartilaginous.   Hard and tough but flexible Carunculate.   With an excrescent outgrowth from integuments near the hilum, as in Euphorbia; fibrous with stringy or cord-like seed coat, as mace in Myristica Caryopsis or Grain.   A one-seeded dry, indehiscent fruit with the seed coat adnate to the fruit wall, derived from a one-loculed superior ovary Catadromous.   Having the first lobe or segment of a pinna arising acroscopically in compound leaves Cataphyll.   Rudimentary scale leaf produced by seedling, usually in cryptocotylar species Caudate (Base attenuate).   Acuminate with concave margins Caudex.   A short, thick, vertical or branched perennial stem usually subterranean, or at ground level Cauline.   May be all over (general) or along the ribs (costal), or in the grooves (canaliculate) Caulocarpic.   Plants having the stem living for many years, bearing flowers and fruits Caulous.   With branches more or less evenly spaced along trunk Central Canal.   The large centrally located air space in the stem Centrifugal.   Developing from the inside outward, or from top downward Centripetal.   Developing from the outside inward, or from bottom upward Centroramous.   At the center of the branch Ceraceous.   Waxy Cernuous.   Drooping Cespitose.   Short, much-branched, plant forming a cushion Chaff or Pale.   Scale or bract at base of tubular flower in composites Chalaza.   End of ovule opposite micropyle Chalazogamy.   Pollen tube entrance through chalaza Channelled or Canaliculate.   With a longitudinal groove Chartaceous.   Papery, opaque and thin Chasmantheric Pollination.   Pollen transferred from a normally dehisced anther by a pollinating agent with pollen grain germination on the stigma and subsequent growth of the pollen tube through stigma, style and the ovule into the embryo sac Cheiropterophily.   Pollinated by bats Chlamydeous.   With perianth Ciliate.   With conspicuous marginal trichomes Ciliolate.   With tiny or small marginal trichomes Cincinnus.   A tight, modified helicoid cyme in which pedicels are short on the developed side Circinate.   With lamina rolled from apex to base with apex in center of coil Circumalate.   Winged circumferentially Circumferential.   At or near the circumference; surrounding a rounded structure Circumscissle Capsule or Pyxis.   One that dehisces circumferentially, as in Plantago Cirrhous.   More than 10:1 l/w, coiled and flexuous Cladode (phylloclad).   A flattened main stem resembling a leaf Cladodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins not terminating at the margin and freely ramified toward it Cladoptosic.   Shedding of branches, stems and leaves simultaneously, as in Taxodium Clambering.   Sprawling across objects, without climbing structures Clasping.   Partly surrounding the stem. Clavate.   Club-shaped Claw.   The long, narrow petiole-like base of a sepal or petal Cleft.   Indentations or incisions cut 1/4-1/2 distance to midrib or midvein Cleistantheric Pollination.   Pollen not transferred from a normally dehisced anther by a pollinating agent; pollen grain germinates within the anther with subsequent growth of the pollen tube through the anther wall and ovary wall into the ovule and embryo sac Climbing.   Growing upward by means of tendrils, petioles, or adventitious roots Clinanthium.   The compound receptacle of the composite head Clouded.   Colors are unequally blended together Clustered, Conglomerate, Agglomerate, Crowded, Aggregate.  Parts dense, usually irregularly overlapping each other Coalescent.   With like or unlike parts or organs incompletely separated; partially fused in a more or less irregular fashion Cochleate.   Snail-shaped Coenocarpium (Various Structures).   Multiple fruit derived from ovaries, floral parts, and receptacles of many coalesced flowers, as in Ananas Coetaneous.   Flowering as the leaves expand; synantherous Coherent.   With like parts or organs joined, but only superficially and without actual histological continuity Coleoptile.   Protective sheath around epicotyl in grasses Coleorhiza.   Protective sheath around radicle in grasses Collet.   External demarcation between hypocotyl and root Columella.   The sterile central part within a mature sporangium or capsule Column, Gynostemium or Gynandrium.   With fused stamens and carpels (stigma and style) as in Orchis Columnar.   Erect with a stout main stem or trunk Comose.   With a tuft of trichomes, usually apical Complete.   Leaf with blade, petiole, and stipules; flower with four types of floral parts Compound.   Composed of two or more anatomically or morphologically equivalent units, whether subdivided into them or an aggregate of them Compressed or Complanate.   Flattened Conduplicate.   Longitudinally folded upward or downward along the central axis so that ventral and/or dorsal sides face each other Cone (strobilus).   Aggregation of sporangia-bearing structures at tip of the stem (either sporophylls or scales in the Gymnosperms) Conical.   Having figure of true cone Conjugate.   Fused pairs, as the fruits of Lonicera Connate.   With like parts or organs integrally fused to one another with histological continuity Connective.   Filament extension between thecae Connivent.   Convergent apically without fusion Contiguous.   Touching but not adnate, connate, adherent, or coherent Continuous.   Symmetry of arrangement even, not broken Contorted.   Twisted around a central axis; twisted Contortuplicate.   With weirdly folded corrugate cotyledons Contractile or Pull.   Roots capable of shortening, usually drawing the plant or plant part deeper into the soil, usually with a wrinkled surface Convolute.   With one lamina enrolled in another lamina Cordate (Apex obcordate).   Lobe rounded; sinus depth 1/8-1/4 distance to midpoint of blade; margins convex and/or straight Cordiform.   Heart-shaped Coriaceous.   Thick and leathery Corm.   The enlarged, solid, fleshy base of a stem with scales; an upright underground storage stem Cormel.   Small corm produced at base of parent corm Corneous.   Horny Corniculate.   Horned Corolla.   The whorl of petals located above the sepals Corona.   A crown; any outgrowth between the stamens and corolla which may be petaline or staminal in origin Coronate.   Tubular or flaring perianth or staminal outgrowth; petaloid appendage Coroniform.   Crown-shaped Corrugate.   With lamina irregularly folded in all directions, wrinkled Corymb.   A flat-topped or convex indeterminate cluster of flowers. Compound Corymb - A branched corymb Costa.   The midvein of a minor divsion of a fern leaf Costate.   Coarsely ribbed Cotyledon.   Embryonic leaf or leaves in seed Cotylespermous.   With food reserve in cotyledon, derived from zygote Cotyliform.   Cup-shaped Craspedodromous.   Simple - With a single primary vein, all of the secondary veins and their branches terminating at the margin. Mixed - With a single primary vein, some of the secondary veins terminating at the margin and an approximately equal number otherwise Crateriform.   Shallow cup-shaped as the involucre of some species of Quercus Crenate.   Shallowly ascending round-toothed, or teeth obtuse; teeth cut less than 1/8 way to midrib or midvein Crenulate.   Diminutive of crenate, teeth cut to 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein Crested or Cristate.   With a terminal ridge or tuft Crispate.   Curled; margins divided and twisted in more than one plane Crozier.   The coiled developing leaf of a fern Cruciform or Cruciate.   Cross-shaped Crustaceous.   Hard, thin, and brittle Cryptantherous.   With stamens included Cryptocotylar or Hypogeous.   With the cotyledons remaining inside the seed; seed usually remaining below ground Cucullate.   Hooded Culm.   Flowering and fruiting stems of grasses and sedges Cupule.   Fused involucral bracts subtending flower, as in Quercus Curvative or arcuate.   With lamina folded transversely into an arc Cuspidate.   Acute but coriaceous and stiff Cyathium.   A pseudanthium subtended by an involucre, frequently with petaloid glands, as in Euphorbia Cylindric.   Long-tubular Cymbiform.   Boat-shaped Cyme or Dichasium.  A determinate, dichotomous inflorescence with the pedicels of equal length. Scorpioid Cyme or Rhipidium - A zigzag determinate inflorescence with branches developed on opposite sides of the rachis alternately. Compound Cyme - A branched cyme Cymule.   A simple, small dichasium Cypsela.   An achene derived from a one-loculed, inferior ovary Deciduous.   Persistent for one growing season Declinate.   Directed or curved downward Decompound.   A general term for leaflets in two or more orders - bi-, tri-etc - pinnately, palmately, or ternately compound Decumbent.   Reclining or lying on the ground with the tips ascending Decurrent.   Elongate, extending downward Decussate.   Opposite leaves at right angle to preceding pair Deflexed.   Bent abruptly downward Dehiscent.   Opening regularly by valves, slits, etc., as a capsule or anther Deliquescent.   Softening and wasting away Dentate.   Margins with rounded or sharp, coarse teeth that point outwards at right angles to midrib or midvein, cut 1/16 to 1/8 distance to midrib or midvein Denticidal Capsule.   One that dehisces apically, leaving a ring of teeth, as in Cerastium Denticulate.   Diminutive of dentate, cut to 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein Depauperate.   Small and usually poorly developed Depressed.   Pressed closely to axis downward with angle of divergence of 166-180° Descending.   Directed downward with an angle of divergence of 136-165° Determinate.   Growth of plant parts, the size of which is limited by cessation of meristematic activity during the year Dextrorse.   Rising helically from right to left, a characteristic of twining stems Diadelphous.   With two groups of stamens connate by their filaments Diandrous.   With two stamens per flower Diaphanous.   Translucent Dichasium.   Cymose inflorescence in which each axis produces a pair of lateral axes Dichlamydeous.   With perianth composed of distinct calyx and corolla Dichogamous.   With maturation of stamens or anther and carpels or stigma at different times Dichotomous.   With branches forking into two more or less equal parts Diclesium (Calyx).   Achene or nut surrounded by a persistent calyx, as in Mirabalis Diclinous.   Plant with imperfect flowers; stamens and carpels in separate flowers either monoecious or dioecious Dicotyledonous.   With two cotyledons Dictyostele.   A dissected solenostele with each individual bundle a meristele Dicyclic.   Two-whorled Didymous.   With stamens in two equal pairs Didynamous.   With stamens in two unequal pairs Diffuse.   Spread over a wide surface Digestive Glands.   Enzyme-secreting glands found mostly on leaves of carnivorous and insectivorous plants Dilated.   Widened; expanded Dimerous.   Whorl with two members Dimidiate.   Divided into unequal halves Dimorphic.   Having two different sizes and/or shapes within the same species Dioecious.   Plant with all flowers imperfect, but staminate and pistillate on separate plants Diplecolobal.   With incumbent cotyledons folded two or more times Diplostemonous.   With stamens in two whorls, outer opposite the sepals, inner opposite petals Diplotegium.   A pyxis derived from an inferior ovary Dipterous.   Two-winged Disc.   A discoid structure developed from receptacle at base of ovary or from stamens around the ovary Discoid.   Orbicular with convex faces Discoidal.   A single large spot of color in the center of another Discontinuous.   Basal and lateral, basal and terminal, or lateral and terminal; not continuous Dissected.   Irregularly cut into numerous segments Distal.   Away from the point of origin or attachment Distichous.   Leaves 2-ranked, in one plane Distinct.   With like parts or organs unjoined and separate from one another Diurnal.   Opening during the day Divergent, Patent, or Divaricate.   More or less horizontally spreading with angle of divergence of 15° or less up or down from the horizontal Divided.   Cut 3/4 to almost entire distance to middle of structure Dolabriform.   Axe-shaped Dorsal.   Pertaining to the surface most distant from the axis; back of an outer face of organ; lower side of leaf; abaxial. Dorsal Side - Back or abaxial side, or the lower side of a perianth part Dorsifixed.   Anther attached dorsally and medially to apex of filament Dorsilaminar.   On dorsal side of blade Dorsiventral.   Planate and having distinct dorsal and ventral surfaces, the two usually different Dotted.   The color disposed in very small round spots Downy.   Covered with short, weak, soft trichomes Drupe.   A fleshy fruit with a stony endocarp, as in Prunus Drupecetum.   An aggregation of drupelets, as in Rubus Drupelet.   A small drupe, as in Rubus Dwarf.   Very small. Dwarf Shoots or Spurs - Shoots that develop from preformed buds which have very short internodal lengths or intervals Dyad.   Pollen grains occurring in clusters of two Eccentric.   Off-center style Echinate.   Covered with spines Ectocarp or Exocarp.   Outermost layer of pericarp Edged.   One color is surrounded by a very narrow rim of another Elaminate.   Without blade Elater.   One of four elongate appendages on the spores, as in Equisetum Elliptic.   With widest axis at midpoint of structure and with margins symmetrically curved Emarginate.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth 1/16-1/8 distance to midpoint of blade; margins straight or convex Embryo.   Young sporophyte consisting of epicotyl, hypocotyl, radicle, and one or more cotyledons. Embryo Sac - Female gametophyte. Linear Embryo - Axial embryo several times longer than broad, straight, curved or coiled; cotyledons not expanded; endosperm present or absent Emergent.   With part(s) of plant aerial and part(s) submersed; rising out of the water above the surface Emersifolious.   With emergent leaves Endocarp.   Innermost differentiated layer of pericarp Endosperm.   Food reserve tissue in seed derived from fertilized polar nuclei; or food reserve derived from megametophyte in gymnosperms Endospermous or Albuminous.   With food reserve in endosperm or albumen, derived from fertilized polar nuclei Entire.   Without indentations or incisions on maigins; smooth Entomophily.   Pollinated by insects Eophyll.   Term applied to first few leaves with green, expanded lamina developed by seedlings; transitional type leaves developed before formation of adult leaves Epetiolate.   Without petiole, leaf sessile Epetiolulate.   Without petiolule, leaflet sessile Ephemeral.   Germinating, growing, flowering and fruiting in a short period, as most desert herbs Epicalyx.   Group of leaves resembling sepals below the true calyx Epicalyx or Calycle.   A whorl of bracts below but resembling a true calyx Epicormic Shoots or Water Sprouts.   Shoots that develop from dormant lateral buds on the trunk which have very long and frequently variable internodal lengths or intervals Epicotyl.   Apical end of embryo axis that gives rise to shoot system Epigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral tube above the ovary with the ovary adnate to the tube or hypanthium Epihyperigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral tube or hypanthium surrounding the ovary; a combination perigyny and partly inferior ovary Epihypogyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached about half-way from the base of the ovary to the partly adnate hypanthium tube; half-inferior insertion of parts Epimatium.   Fleshy covering of the seed and more or less fused with the integument; arising from the chalazal end of the ovule like an additional integument; e.g., Podocarpus Epiperigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral or hypanthium cup above the ovary with the lower part of the hypanthium completely adnate to the ovary Epipetalous.   With stamens attached to or inserted upon petals or corolla Epipetiolar.   With branches arising from buds on the petiole Epipetric.   Upon rock Epiphyllous.   From a phylloclad or peculiar bract, as in Tilia Epiphytic.   Upon another plant Epirhizous.   With roots upon another plant Episepalous.   With stamens attached or inserted upon sepals or calyx Epitropous .  Dorsal - Ovule pendulous or hanging, micropyle above, raphe dorsal (away from ventral bundle). Ventral - Ovule pendulous or hanging, micropyle above, raphe ventral (toward ventral bundle) Equilateral.   With halves or sides equal in shape and size Equinoctial.   Having flowers which expand and close regularly at particular hours of the day Equitant.   Leaves 2-ranked with overlapping bases, usually sharply folded along midrib Eramous.   With unbranched stems Erect.   Upright Erose.   Irregularly, shallowly toothed and/or lobed margins; appearing gnawed Essential Organs.   The androecium and gynoecium Ethereal Oil Producing Glands.   Mostly aromatic compound producing glands found on various parts of the plant, without definitely known functions Eucamptodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins curved upward and gradually iminishing distally within the margin and interconnected by a series of cross-veins without forming conspicuous marginal loops Eusporangiate.   Having the sporangium develop from a great amount of leaf tissue as opposed to only one or a few cells Eustele.   A dissected siphonostele with phloem only to the outside of the xylem Evanescent.   Passing away, disappearing early Evergreen.   Persistent two or more growing seasons Evident.   Clearly visible macroscopically Excentric.   One-sided; off-center Excurrent.   Running out, as the nerve of a leaf projecting beyond the margin Exospore or Exine.   Outer spore wall layer Exsserted.   Projecting out of, beyond Exstipellate.   Without stipels Exstipulate.   Without stipules Falcate or Seculate.   Sickle-shaped False Veins.   Small vein-like areas of thick-walled cells in the leaves of some lower vascular plants Farinaceous.   Mealy Fasciated.   Unnaturally and often monstrously connate or adnate, the coalesced parts often unnaturally proliferated in size and/ or number; e.g., inflorescence of Celosia Fascicle.   Cluster of needles borne on a minute determinate short shoot in the axil of a primary leaf (bract); e.g. Pinus. Fascicle Sheath - Closely imbricated bud scales at the base of the fascicle of needles; e.g., Pinus Fascicled.   Fleshy or tuberous roots in a cluster Fasciculate.   Leaves or other structures in a cluster from a common point Fastigiate.   Strictly erect and parallel Faucal Area.   The throat area Female, Carpellate, or Pistillate.   Plant with pistillate flowers only Fetid.   Having an unpleasant, rotten odor Fenestrate.   With windowlike holes through the leaves or other structures Fibonacci Phyllotaxis.   A fundamental type of leaf arrangement expressed as a fraction in which each succeeding fraction is the sum of the two previous numerators and the sum of the two previous denominators, i.e., 1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, 5/13, 8/ 21, etc. The numerator represents the number of turns or spirals around a stem before one leaf is directly above another and the denominator represents the number of leaves in the turns or spirals before one is directly above the other. 2/5 phyllotaxy would mean two twists and five leaves before one leaf is directly above the other or an angle of divergence of 144 between succeeding leaves in the stem (2/5 of 360 ).According to Leppik anthotaxis and semataxis do not necessarily follow the same pattern, with anthotaxis in Michelia cited as being in 2/7, 3/7, 3/8, and 4/10 systems of arrangement. Fibrous.   With fine, threadlike or slender roots or fibers Filament.   Stamen stalk Filiferous.  Filamentose or Filiferous With coarse marginal fibers or threads Filantherous or Typical.   Stamen with distinct anther and filament with or without thecal appendages, as in Rhexia or Vaccinium Filiform.   Threadlike, usually flexuous Fimbriate.   Margins fringed Fimbriolate.   Minutely fimbriate Fistulose.   Hollow, as without pith Flabellate.   Fan-shaped branching Flabelliform.   Fan-shaped Flaccid.   Lax and weak Flagellate.   Bearing flagella, whip-like strands or organs Fleshy.   Succulent roots Flexuous.   With a series of long or open vertical curves at right angles to the central axis Floating.   Upon the surface of the water Floccose.   Covered with dense, appressed trichomes in patches or tufts Flotophyllous.   With floating leaves Flower.   Reproductive structure of flowering plants with or without protective envelopes, the calyx and/or corolla; short shoot with sporophylls and with or without sterile protective leaves, the calyx and corolla Flushing Shoots.   Shoots that develop from mature terminal buds several times during a season. Terminal bud will develop shoot with new terminal bud which will develop more shoots and a terminal bud which will develop etc. --several times in a season with several flushes of growth. Fly Trap.   Hinged, insectivorous leaf, as in Dionaea Folded.   Foliate embryo with cotyledons usually thin and extensively expanded and folded in various ways Follicetum.   An aggregation of follicles, as in Caltha Follicle.   A dry, dehiscent fruit derived from one carpel that splits along one suture Fovea.   Pit or depression containing the sporangium in the leaf base of Isoetes  Foveolate.   Pitted Free.   Unlike parts or organs unjoined and separate from one another Free-adnate.   Hypanthium fused with ovary and having a free limb around or above ovary Free-central.   With the placenta along the central axis in a compound ovary without septa Fringe.   The modified margin of a petal, sepal, tepal or lip Frond.   The leaf of a fern Fruit.   Matured ovary of flowering plants, with or without accessory parts Fruticose.   Shrubby Fugacious.   Ephemeral, usually applied to plant parts Funicular.   With a persistent elongate funiculus attached to seed coat, as in Magnolia Funiculus.   Stalk by which ovule is attached to placenta Fusiform.   Spindle-shaped; broadest in middle and tapering to each end Galeate.   Helmet-shaped, as one sepal in Aconitum Geitonogamy.   Fertilization of one flower by another on the same plant Gelatinous.   Jellylike; soft and quivery Geminate or Binate.   Paired; in pairs Gemma.   A vegetative reproductive bud borne on the stem, as in Lycopodium; a multicellular reproductive propagule on gametophytes, as in ferns Geniculate.   Abruptly bent at a node, zigzag Geoflorous.   With subterranean flower Geocarpous.   Fruits below ground, as in Amphicarpum Gibbous.   Inflated on one side near the base Gigantic.   Very large Glabrate.   Without trichomes Glabrescent.   Becoming glabrous Glabrous.   Smooth; devoid of trichomes Gland.   A secreting part or appendage Glandular.   Covered with minute, blackish to translucent glands Glans (Involucre).   Nut subtended by a cupulate, dry involucre, as in Quercus Glaucescent.   Sparingly or slightly glaucous Glaucous.   Covered with a bloom or smooth, waxy coating Globose.   Round Glochidiate.   With barbed trichomes, glochids, usually in tufts Glomerule.   An indeterminate dense cluster of sessile or subsessile flowers Glume.   Bract, usually occurring in pairs, at the base of the grass spikelet Glutinous.   Having a shiny, sticky surface Granular.   Finely mealy, covered with small granules Greasy or Unctuous.   Slick, oily, slippery to touch Gynagamous.   Inflorescence with pistillate flowers inside or above and neuter flowers outside or below (gynagamocephalous) Gynandrial or Gynostemial.   With fused stamens and carpels (stigma and style) as in the Orchidaceae Gynecandrous.   Inflorescence with pistillate flowers inside or above and staminate outside or below, as in spikes of some species of Carex Gynehermaphroditic.   Inflorescence with pistillate flowers inside or above and hermaphroditic outside or below (gynehermaphrodicephalous) Gynobasic.   Attached at base of ovary in central depression Gynodioecious.   Some plants with perfect flowers and some with pistillate Gynoecium or Pistil.   The whorl or group of carpels in the center or at the top of the flower; all carpels in a flower Gynomonoecious.   Plant with pistillate and perfect flowers Gynophore.   The stipe of a pistil or carpel Half-inferior.   Other floral organs attached around ovary with hypanthium adnate to lower half of ovary Half-terete.   Flat on one side, terete on other; semicircular in cross section Haplomorphic.   Flowers with parts spirally arranged at a simple level in a semispheric or hemispheric form; petals or tepals colored; parts numerous; e.g., Nymphaea, Magnolia Hastate.   Lobe pointed and oriented outward or divergent in relation to petiole or midrib; sinus depth variable; margins variable Hastiform.   Triangular with two flaring basal lobes Haustorial.   Absorbing roots, within host of some parasitic species Helicoid Cyme or Bostryx.   A determinate inflorescence in which the branches develop on one side only, appearing simple Hemianatropous or Hemitropous.   With body half-inverted so that funiculus is attached near middle with micropyle terminal and at right angles Herb.   A usually low, soft, or coarse plant with annual aboveground stems Herbaceous.   Soft and succulent Hermaphrodagamous.   Inflorescence with hermaphroditic flowers inside or above and neuter outside or below (hermaphrodagamocephalous) Hermaphrodandrous.   Inflorescence with hermaphroditic flowers inside or above and staminate outside or below (hermaphrodandrocephalous) Hermaphroditic or Monoclinous.   Plant with all flowers perfect Hesperidium.   A thick-skinned septate berry with the bulk of the fruit derived from glandular hairs, as in Citrus Heterandrous.   With stamens of different sizes and/or shapes Heteranthous.   Having different states in two different sets of flowers, only one state present in each set Heteroblasty.   With juvenile foliage distinctly different from adult foliage in size or shape Heterocarpous.   With carpels of different sizes and/or shapes Heterocephalous, Heterocymous, Heterospicous.   Heads, cymes, spikes with flowers of different sexual conditions. Note: other inflorescence word stems could be used for appropriate inflorescence type. Heterocladous.   With stems of different sizes and/or shapes Heteromerous or Anisomerous.   With different number of members in different whorls Heteropetalous.   With petals of different sizes and/or shapes Heterophyllous.   With leaves of different sizes and/or shapes. Heterophyllous Shoots - Shoots that develop from winter buds which do not contain the primordia of all the leaves to develop during the year Heterophytous.   Having different states in two different sets of plants, only one state present in each set Heterosepalous.   With sepals of different sizes and/or shapes Heterosexual.   Inflorescences or flowers within the plant with different sexual conditions Heterosporous.   Having two kinds of spores, usually differing in sizeHeterostichus.   With unequal rows Heterostylous.   With styles of different sizes or lengths or shapes within a species Heterotropous.   Ovule position not fixed in ovary Hibernal or Hiemal.   Appearing in the winter Hilum.   Funicular scar on seed coat Hip or Cynarrhodion (Receptacle and Hypanthium).   An aggregation of achenes surrounded by an urceolate receptacle and hypanthium, as in Rosa Hippocrepiform.   Horseshoe-shaped Hirsute.   Covered with long, rather stiff trichomes Hirsutullous or Hirtellous.   Minutely hirsute Hispid.   Covered with very long, stiff trichomes Hispidulous.   Approaching hispid, minutely hispid Homandrous.   With stamens of same size and shape Homanthous.   Having more than one state within each individual flower, all flowers the same Homocarpous.   With carpels of same size and shape Homocephalous, Homocymous, Homospicous.   Heads, cymes, spikes with flowers sexually uniform Homochlamydeous.   With perianth composed of similar parts, each part a tepal Homogamous.   With maturation of stamens or anther and carpels or stigma at same time Homophytous.   Having more than one state within each individual plant, all plants the same Homosexual.   Inflorescences or flowers sexually uniform Homosporous.   Having spores of only one kind Homostylous.   With styles of same sizes or lengths and shapes Hood.   A cover-shaped perianth part, usually with a turned down margin Horn.   A curved, pointed and hollow protuberance from the perianth Hyaline.   Thin and translucent or transparent Hydrophily.   Pollinated by water Hymenopterophily.   Pollinated by bees Hypanepigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the elongate floral tube or hypanthium above the inferior ovary, as in Oenothera Hypanthium.   The fused or coalesced basal portion of floral parts (sepals, petals, stamens) around the ovary Hypanthodium.   An inflorescence with flowers on wall of a concave capitulum, as in Ficus Hyphodromous.   With a single primary vein and all other venation absent, rudimentaryj or concealed within a coriaceous or fleshy blade Hypocotyl.   Embryonic stem in seed, located below cotyledons Hypocotylespermous or Macropodial.   With food reserve stored in hypocotyl, derived from zygote Hypogynium.   Perianth-like structure of bony scales subtending the ovary, as in Scleria and other members of the Cyperaceae Hypogyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached below the ovary Hypophyllous.   With small leaves, as bracts, scales, cataphylls Hypotropous.   Dorsal - Ovule erect, micropyle below, raphe dorsal (away from ventral bundle). Ventral - Ovule erect, micropyle below, raphe ventral (toward ventral bundle) Hysteranthous.   With leaves appearing after flowers Imbricate.   Having margins overlapping Imparipinnate.   Pinnate with a conform terminal leaflet. Imparipinnately Compound - Odd-pinnately compound, with a terminal leaflet Imperfect or Unisexual.   With stamens or carpels absent in the flower Implicate.   With both lamina margins folded sharply inward Incised.   Margins sharply and deeply cut, usually jaggedly Inclinate.   With lamina folded or curved transversely near the apex Inclined.   Ascending at 46-75° angle of divergence Included Veinlets.   Veins ending inside areoles Incomplete.   Leaf without one or more parts: blade, petiole, stipules; one or more types of floral parts absent Incrassate.   Thickened Incumbent or Notorhizal.   Reclinate with sides of cotyledons against hypocotyl Incurved.   Curved inward or upward Indehiscent Capsule.   One that does not dehisce at maturity, as in Peplis Indeterminate or Evergrowing.   Continual growth of plant parts, not limited by a cessation of meristematic activity Induplicate.   Having margins bent inward and touching margin of each adjacent structure Indurate.   Hardened Indusium.   A flap of tissue covering a sorus Inequilateral.   With unequal sides Inermous.   Unarmed, without prickles or spines Inferior.   Other floral organs attached above ovary with hypanthium adnate to ovary Inflated.   Swollen or thickened, as in Eichhornia Inflexed.   Bent abruptly inward or upward Infrafoliar.   On the stem below the leaves, as in the Arecaceae Infrapetiolar or Subpetiolar.   Axillary bud surrounded by base of petiole Infundibular.   Funnel-shaped Integuments.   Outer covering of ovule; embryonic seed coat Intercalary.   Growth region near the base of an internode or base of blade Interfoliar.   On the stem between the leaves, as in the Arecaceae Intermittent.   A renewal and cessation of meristematic activity which produces clusters of stems and/or leaves along an axis Internode.   A section or region of stem between nodes Interpetiolar.   With connate stipules from two opposite leaves Interrupted or Discontinuous.   Symmetry of arrangement broken, with uneven lengths of internodes Interstitial.   Growth all-over in an organ, no localized meristems, as in some fruits Investing.   Axial embryo usually erect with thick cotyledons overlapping and encasing the somewhat dwarfed hypocotyl; endosperm wanting or limited Involucel.   Small involucre; secondary involucre Involucre.   A group or cluster of bracts subtending an inflorescence Involute.   Margins or outer portion of sides rolled inward over upper or ventral surface Irregular.   With floral parts within a whorl dissimilar in shape and/ or size Isocotylous.   With cotyledons of same size and shape Isodynamous.   With equally developed structures Isomerous.   With same number of members in different whorls Isopetalous.   With petals of same size and shape Isophyllous.   With leaves of same size and shape Isosepalous.   With sepals of same size and shape Isostichous.   With equal rows Jointed.   With stems that can be pulled apart easily at the nodes, as in Equisetum Keel.   The two united petals of a papilionaceous flower; any structure ridged like the bottom of a boat Lacerate.   Margins irregularly cut, appearing torn Laciniate.   Cut into closely parallel ribbonlike or straplike projections Lacuna.   Chamber or internal air space Lamina.   The leaf tissue other than the veins or axes Laminar.   Leaf-like stamen without a distinct anther and filament but with embedded or superficial microsporangia, as in Degeneria Laminate.   With the placenta over the inner surface of the ovary wall Lammas Shoots.   Abnormal late season shoots that develop from the terminal bud, not a recurring phenomenon as in flushing shoots Lanate.   Covered with long, intertwined trichomes, cottony Lanceolate.   Lance shaped, much longer than wide; widened at or above the base and tapering to the apex Lanuginose.   Cottony, similar to lanate but trichomes shorter Lateral or Axillary.   On the side of a structure or at the nodes of the axis. Lateral Embryo - Basal or baso-lateral embryo, discoid or lenticular, usually surrounded by copious endosperm. Lateral Leaf - Leaf on the side of the stem, as in heterophyllous species of Selaginella Laterospermous.   On the side of the seed Latiflorous.   With broad-flowers Leaf.   A photosynthetic and transpiring organ, usually developed from leaf primordium in the bud; an expanded, usually green, organ borne on the stem of a plant. Leaf Primordium - Meristematic tissue that gives rise to a leaf. Leaf Scar - A mark indicating former place of attachment of petiole or leaf base. Linear Leaf - Narrow, flattened, triangular, or quadrangular leaf usually 1/2-2 in. long; e.g., Taxus, Picea Leaflet.   A distinct and separate segment of a leaf Leaf-opposed.   On stem opposite the base of the leaf, as in Alchemilla Legume.   A usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from one carpel that splits along two sutures Lemma.   Outer scale subtending grass floret Lenticel.   A pore in the bark Lenticular.   Biconvex, usually elongate and flattish Lepidote or Squamulose.   Covered with minute scales Leptophyllous.   With leaves to 25 sq. mm in size. Leptosporangiate.   Having the entire sporangium develop from a periclinal division of a superficial cell or small group of cells Ligneous.   Woody Ligulate or Ray.   Strap-shaped Ligule.   An outgrowth or projection from the top of the sheath, as in the Poaceae; the strap-shaped portion of a ray or ligulate corolla; a small membranous outgrowth or projection at the base of the leaf, appearing above the sporangium in fertile leaves, as in Selaginella and Isoetes Limb.   Expanded portion of corolla or calyx above the tube, throat or claw Lineate.   In lines, stigmatic surface linear Lingulate.   Tongue-shaped, plano-convex in cross section Lip or Labellum.   Either of two variously shaped parts into which a corolla or calyx is divided, usually into an upper and lower lip, as in the Lamiaceae and Orchidaceae. Lip Cells - The line of cells between which the sporangium dehisces Lobate.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth variable; outer and inner margins concave Lobe.   Any, usually rounded, segment or part of the perianth Lobed.   Divided into lobes Locule.   Compartment of an anther; ovary cavity Loculicidal Capsule One that dehisces longitudinally into the cavity of the locule, as in Epilobium Lodicule.   Abortive perianth part in the Poaceae; hyaline scales at base of ovary in the Poaceae Loment.   A legume that separates transversely between seed sections Long Shoot.   Elongated internodes, rapid annual growth. Long Bud Shoots - Abnormal buds or shoots which elongate, then have arrested growth without the development of leaves and lateral branches Longitudinal.   Dehiscing along long axis of theca Loose, Distant, or Scattered.   Parts widely separated from one another, usually irregularly Lorate.   With elongate vertical waves in the margins or sides at right angles to the longitudinal axis Lunate.   Crescent-shaped, with acute ends Lyrate.   Lyre-shaped; pinnatifid with large terminal lobe and smaller lower lobes Major.   Greater in size Malacophily.   Pollinated by snails or slugs Male or Staminate.   Plant with staminate flowers only Marbled.   A surface traversed by irregular veins of color; as block of marble often is Marcescent.   Usually ephemeral with persistent remains; withering persistent Marginal.   Pertaining to the border or edge Massula.   A clump of microspores, as in Azolla Matutinal.   With flowers opening in the morning Medial.   Upon or along the longitudinal axis Median.   With stipules adnate to petiole with free part of stipules near middle of petiole Median Leaf.   Leaf on top of stem, as in heterophyllous species of Selaginella Megasporangium.   The sporangium in which megaspores are produced Megaspore.   A spore that gives rise to a female gametophyte Megasporophyll.   Modified leaf bearing ovules; e.g., Zamia Melittophily.   Pollinated by bees Membranous.   Thin and semi-translucent; membrane-like Meniscoidal.   Thin and concaveconvex Mericarp.   A portion of fruit that seemingly matured as a separate fruit Mermaphrodigynous.   Inflorescence with hermaphroditic flowers inside or above and pistillate outside or below (hermaphrodigynecephalous) Mesocarp.   Middle layer of pericarp Metaphyll.   Adult leaf Micro.   Axial embryo in minute seeds, less than 0.2 mm long; minute and undifferentiated to almost total size of seed Micromelittophily.   Pollinated by small bees Micropyle.   Hole through integument(s) Microsporangium.   The sporangium in which microspores are produced Microspore.   A spore that gives rise to a male gametophyte Microsporophyll.   Modified leaf bearing microsporangia or pollen sacs Midrib.   The central conducting and supporting structure of the blade of a simple leaf Midvein.   The central conducting and supporting structure of the blade of a leaflet Minor.   Smaller in size Minute.   Very small Mixed.   Contains flower, leaf, and stem primordia; will give rise to branch with leaves and flower(s) Monad.   Pollen grains occurring singly Monadelphous.   With one group of stamens connate by their filaments Moniliform.   Elongate roots with regularly arranged swollen areas Monocarpellate.   One-carpelled Monocarpic, Hapaxanthic.   Perennial or annual, flowering and fruiting once, then dying; fruiting once Monocephalous.   One-headed, as in composites Monochasium.   A cymose inflorescence with one main axis Monocotyledonous.   With one cotyledon Monocyclic.   One-whorled Monoecious.   With staminate and carpellate flowers on same plant Monoecious.   Plant with all flowers imperfect, but staminate and pistillate flowers on same plant Monolete Spore.   Bean-shaped, with a single scar line Monomerous.   Whorl with one member Monomorphic.   All of the same shape and size Monophyllous.   One-leaved Monopodial.   Branching with a main axis and reduced or missing laterals; excurrent Mucilaginous.   Gummy or gelatinous Mucronate.   Less than 3:1 l/w, straight and stiff Mucronulate.   1:1 l/w or broader than long; straight Multicellular.   Many-celled Multicipital.   With many axes or stems from one rootstock or caudex Multicostal.   Many-ribbed Multilocular.   Many-locular Multinodal Shoot.   Spring shoot developing from the terminal winter bud and producing 2 or more whorls of branches; the cones are partly lateral in the middle of the shoot; e.g., Pinus echinata Multiseriate.   Many-rowed; in many series Multistriate.   Many-lined Muricate.   Covered with short, hard protuberances Muriculate.   Minutely muricate Muticous.   Without a vein extension, awn or hair Myiophily.   Pollinated by diptera Myrmecophily.   Pollinated by ants Nanophyllous.   With leaves to 225 sq. mm in size. Napiform.   Turnip-shaped Navicular.   Boat-shaped Neck.   Narrowed portion of hypanthium, between the base and a flared limb Necrocoleopterophily.   Pollinated by carrion beetles Nectar Secreting Glands.   Sugary compound producing glands found mostly on floral parts that produce attractants for pollinators Nectary.   A specialized nectar-secreting structure or area Needle.   Acicular; slender, elongated leaf, usually over 2 in long; e.g., Pinus Net.   Veins uniting to form a network Neuter or Agamous.   Without stamens and carpels in flower; or sex organs abortive Nocturnal.   Opening during night Nodal.   At the nodes Node.   Point on the stem where leaves are attached; or the point of branching of the stem Nodiform or Nodulose.   Knotty or knobby, as the roots of most of the Fabaceae Nucellus.   Female sporangium within ovule; megasporangium in seed plants Nut.   A one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with a hard pericarp, usually derived from a one-loculed ovary Nutlet.   A small nut Obconic.   Inversely conical Obcordiform.   Inversely cordiform Obdiplostemonous.   With stamens in two whorls, outer opposite petals, inner opposite the sepals Oblique.   Having an asymmetrical base Oblong.   With widest axis at midpoint of structure and with margins essentially parallel Obovate.   Inversely ovate Obscure.   Not clearly visible macroscopically, usually owing to incomplete differentiation Obtriangular.   Inversely triangular Obtrullate.   Inversely trullate Obtuse.   Margins straight to convex, forming a terminal angle more than 90 Ocellated.   A broad spot of some color has another spot of a different color within it Ocreate.   Having a stipular tube surrounding stem above insertion of petiole or blade Ocreolate.   Diminutive of ocreate; usually applied to bract bases Oligomerous.   With reduction in number of members within whorl Oligotaxy.   Reduction in number of whorls Opaque.   With a dull surface Operculate Capsule.   One that dehisces through pores, each of which is covered by a flap, cap, or lid, as in Papaver Opposite.   Two leaves or other structures per node, on opposite sides of stem or central axis Ornithophily.   Pollinated by birds Orthotropous or Atropous.   With straight body so that funicular attachment is at one end and micropyle at other Osseous.   Bony Ovary.   Ovule-bearing part of pistil Ovate.   With widest axis below middle and with margins symmetrically curved; egg-shaped Ovulate.   Female; bearing ovules only in the flowers Ovule.   Embryonic seed consisting of integument(s) and nucellus Ovuliferous Scale.   Highly modified lateral branch in the axil of a leaf (bract), and bearing ovules; may be flat or peltate, woody or fleshy; e.g., Pinaceae Pachycauly.   Short, thick, frequently succulent stems, as in Painted.   Colors disposed in streaks of unequal intensity Palate.   The raised area in the throat of a sympetalous corolla Palea.   Inner scale subtending grass floret Paleaceous.   With small membranous scales, chaffy Palinactinodromous.   Actinodromous, the primary veins with one or more subsidiary radiations above the primary one Palmate.   Radiately lobed or divided. Palmately Compound - With leaflets from one point at end of petiole Palmate-pinnate.   With first order leaflets palmately arranged, second order pinnately arranged Palmatifid.   Cut palmately Palmatisect.   Sectioned or divided palmately into distinct segments Panduriform.   Fiddle-shaped; obovate with sinus or indentation on each side near base and with two small basal lobes Panicle.   Branched inflorescence with pedicelled flowers Pannose or Felted.   With matted, feltlike layer of trichomes Papilionaceous.   With large posterior petal (banner or standard) two lateral petals (wings) and usually two connate lower petals (keel); as in the Fabaceae Papillose.   Covered with minute tubercles Pappus.   Bristly or scaly calyx in the Asteraceae Parallel.   Thecae or anther cells along side of the connective or longitudinal to each other; with veins extending from base to apex, essentially parallel Parallelodromous.   With two or more primary veins originating beside one another at the blade base and running more or less parallel to the apex where they converge Paraphyses.   Hairs or hair-like structures in the sorus Parietal.   With the placentae on the wall or intruding partitions of a unilocular compound ovary Paripinnately Compound.   Even-pinnately compound, without a terminal leaflet Parted.   Indentations or incisions cut 1/2-3/4 distance to midrib Patelliform.   Knee-shaped; disk-shaped Patent.   Spreading Pectinate.   Pinnatifid with closely set segments; comb-like Pedate.   Palmately cut or divided with the lower pair basiscopically exaggerated Pedicel.   Individual flower stalk Peduncle.   Main stalk for entire inflorescence Peg (sterigmata).   Lateral stem projection to which leaf is attached and persistent after leaf dehiscence; ie., abscission layer between peg and leaf; leaf may be sessile; e.g., Picea; or petiolate; e.g. Tsuga, on the peg Pellucid.   Clear, transparent Peltate.   Usually having petiole attached near the center on the underside of blade Peltiform.   Rounded with petiole attached to center of blade or apparently to laminar tissue Pendent.   Drooping, hanging down; pendulous Pendulous.   Hanging loosely or freely; pendent Penni-parallel.   With veins extending from midrib to margins, essentially parallel Pentacyclic.   Five-whorled Pentagonal.   Five-angled Pentamerous.   Whorl with five members Pentandrous.   With five stamens Pepo.   A berry with a leathery nonseptate rind derived from an inferior ovary, as in Cucurbita Perennial, Polycarpic.   Living more than two years; fruiting more than once Perfect or Bisexual.   With both stamens and carpels or pistils in the flower Perfoliate.   Having base completely surrounding stem Perianth.   An aggregation of tepals or combined calyx and corolla Pericarp.   Fruit wall Pericarpous.   Around the fruit Pericladial.   With a sheathing base, as in the Apiaceae Perigynium.   Sac-like bract subtending the pistillate flower, as in Carex Perigyny.   The condition in which the sepals, petals, stamens are attached to the floral tube or hypanthium surrounding the ovary with the tube or hypanthium free from the ovary Peripheral.   On the outer surface or edge Perisperm.   Food reserve in seed derived from diploid nucellus or integuments Perispermous.   With food reserve in perisperm, derived from diploid nucellus or integuments Perispore or Perine.   An outer covering of some fern spores, with different configuration than that of the exospore Persistent.   Remaining attached; applied to individual parts Personate.   Two-lipped with the upper arched and the lower protruding into corolla throat Petal.   A corolla member or segment; a unit of the corolla Petalantherous.   With a terminal anther and distinctly petaloid filament, as in Saxifraga Petaliferous.   Most frequently at the base of petals Petaloid.   Petal-like in shape, texture and/or color Petalostemonous.   With filaments fused to corolla, anthers free Petiolar.   May be all over (general) or near apex (acropetiolar) or near base (basipetiolar) Petiolate.   With a petiole Petiole.   Leaf stalk Petiolulate.   With a petiolule Petiolule.   Leaflet stalk Petrorhizous.   With roots on rock Phalaenophily.   Pollinated by moths Phanerantherous.   With stamens exserted Phanerocotylar or Epigeous.   With the cotyledons emergent from seed, usually appearing above ground Photosynthetic.   Blade-like and green Phyllary.   One of the involucral leaves subtending a capitulum, as in composites Phyllodial.   Flattened and blade-like Phyllodium.   Flattened blade-like petiole or midrib Phyllopodic.   With blade-bearing leaves at base of plant Phyllotaxis.   Arrangement of leaves, primarily photosynthetic in function Piliferous.   More than 20:1 l/w, hair-like, flexuous Pilose.   With soft, shaggy trichomes Pinna.   A primary division of a fern leaf Pinnate.   Compound, with the leaflets arranged on both sides of a common axis. Interruptedly Pinnately Compound - With smaller and larger leaflets alternating along the rachis Pinnate-pinnatifid.   Pinnate with pinnatifid pinnae Pinnatifid.   Pinnately cut, more than half way to the midvein Pinnatisect.   Sectioned or divided pinnately into distinct segments Pinnule.   A secondary division of a fern leaf Pisiform.   Pea-shaped Pistil.   One or more fused carpels consisting of stigma, style (if present) and ovary Pistillate, Carpellate, or Female.   With pistils or carpels only in the flower Pitcher.   Ventricose to tubular insectivorous leaf, as in Sarracenia Pith.   Centermost tissue of stem, usually soft Placenta.   Ovule-bearing region of ovary wall Planate or Plain.   With lamina flat, without folds or rolls Platycanthous.   With flat and usually large spines Plectostele.   A protostele dissected into anastomosing plate-like units Pleiochasium.   Compound dichasium in which each cymule has three lateral branches Pleiomerous.   With increase in number of members within whorl Pleiotaxy.   Increase in number of whorls Pleomorphic.   Actinomorphic with numbers of parts reduced; e.g., Tripogandra Pleurogamy.   Pollen tube entrance through side of ovule Pleurotropous.   Dorsal - Ovule horizontal, micropyle toward ventral bundle, raphe above. Ventral - Ovule horizontal, micropyle toward ventral bundle, raphe below Plicate or Plaited.   Fluted, longitudinally folded Pliestesial or Multiperennial.   Monocarpic but living several to many years before flowering, as in Agave Plumose.   Feather-like Plumule.   Embryonic leaves in seed derived from epicotyl Pneumatophorous.   With spongy, aerating roots, usually found in marsh plants Pollen Grain.   Young male gametophyte. Pollen Sac - Male sporangium Pollinia.   Grains occurring in uniform coherent masses Polyad.   Pollen grains in clusters of more than four Polyandrous.   Many-stamened Polyanthous.   Having different states in several to many (more than three) different sets of flowers, only one state present in each set Polycarpellate.   Many-carpellate Polycephalous.   Many-headed, as in composites Polycyclic.   Many-whorled Polydelphous.   With several groups of stamens connate by their filaments Polygamo-dioecious.   Plants dioecious, but with some perfect flowers on staminate or pistillate plants or both Polygamo-monoecious.   Plant monoecious, but with some perfect flowers Polygamous.   Plant with perfect and imperfect flowers Polyheterophytous.   Having different states in several to many (more than three) different individuals or sets of plants, only one state present in each set Polymerous.   Whorl with many members Polymorphic.   Having several to many (more than three) different shapes and/or sizes within the same species Polyphore.   A receptacle or torus bearing many distinct carpels, as in Rosa Polystichous.   Leaves or other structures in many rows Pome (Receptacle and Hypanthium).   A berry-like fruit, adnate to a fleshy receptacle, with cartilaginous endocarp, as in Malus Poricidal.   Dehiscing through a pore at apex of theca Porogamy.   Pollen tube entrance through the micropyle Posterior.   Lobe - The lobe next to axis, away from the subtending bract; adaxial lobe. Posterior Ridges, Lines, Grooves - The lines, grooves, ridges in or on the ventral side, adaxial, within the perianth Pouch or Sac.   A bag-shaped structure Precocious.   Developing unusually early Preformed Shoots.   Normal shoots that develop from winter buds which contain primordia of all leaves that will expand during the season Prickle.   A sharp pointed outgrowth from the epidermis or cortex of any organ Prickly.   With prickles Primary.   From radicle of embryo; tip of main axis Primocane.   The first year non-flowering stem, as in most blackberries; a turion Primordium.   Cells in embryo or bud giving rise to roots, leaves or flowers. Protected Primordium - Shoot and/or flower primordia surrounded by scales. Naked Primordium - Shoot and/or flower primordia not surrounded by scales b.   Flowering before normal period, as spring flowers in the fall Procumbent, Prostrate, or Reclining.   Trailing or lying flat, not rooting at the nodes; humistrate Proleptic Shoots.   Abnormal late season shoots that develop from the lateral buds immediately beneath the terminal Promeristem.   Apical growing or meristematic tissue that gives rise to other bud parts Prop or Stilt.   Adventitious, supporting roots usually arising at lower nodes Prostrate.   Flat, spreading; growing low along the ground Protandrous.   With stamens or anthers developing before carpels or stigma Protantherous.   With leaves appearing before flowers Prothallus.   Gametophyte of lower vascular plants Protogynous.   With carpels or stigma maturing before stamens or anthersProtostele.   Stele having a solid column of vascular tissue with xylem centrally located Proximal.   Near the point of origin or attachment Pruinose, Frosted, or Sebiferous.   With a heavy wax coat Pseudanthium.   Several flowers simulating a simple flower but composed of more than a single axis with subsidiary flowers Pseudocarp (Receptacle).   An aggregation of achenes embedded in a fleshy receptacle, as in Fragaria Pseudodrupe (Involucre).   Two-four loculed nut surrounded by a fleshy involucre, as in Juglans Pseudomonomerous.   Whorl seemingly with one member which is a fusion product of two or more parts Pseudo-terminal.   Bud appearing apical but is lateral near apex, developing with death or nondevelopment of terminal bud Psychophily.   Pollinated by butterflies Pterocauly.   Winged stems Puberulent.   Minutely pubescent Pubescent.   Covered with dense or scattered trichomes Pulverulent.   Covered with fine, powdery wax granules Pulvinal.   With a swollen base, as in the Fabaceae Pulvinus.   The swollen base of a petiole or petiolule Punctate.   Covered with minute impressions or depressions Pungent.   Acrid; terminating in a rigid sharp point Purcate.   Forked Pustulate.   With scattered blisterlike swellings Pyrene.   Fleshy fruit with each seed surrounded by a bony endocarp, as in Ilex Pyriform.   Pear-shaped Quadrate.   Nearly square to form  Quadrifid.   Cut or divided into four lobes or parts Quincuncial.   Having five structures, two of which are exterior, two interior, and a fifth with one margin covering interior structure and other margin covered by that of one of the exterior structures Raceme.   Unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence with pedicelled flowers Rachilla.   Secondary axis of compound leaf; central axis of a grass or sedge spikelet Rachis.   The main axis of a pinnately compound leaf; major axis within an inflorescence; axis of a compound fern blade Radical.   Leaves basal, near ground, usually from caudex or rootstock Radicle.   Basal end of embryo axis that gives rise to root system Rameal Sheath.   Leaf sheath on the stem joints, as in Equisetum Ramentaceous.   Having many thin scales, as on the epidermis of some ferns Ramose.   Branched Raphe.   Ridge on seed coat formed from adnate funiculus Ray.   Secondary axis in a compound inflorescence Receptacle or Torus.   The region at end of pedicel or on axis to which flower is attached; point on a leaf where sporangia are attached Receptaculum.   A fleshy structure below the seed formed from the bases of bracts and the swollen receptacle or cone axis; e. g., Acmopyle, and some Podocarpus spp Reclinate.   Bent down upon the axis, no angle of divergence Reclined.   Descending at 106-135° angle of divergence Rectangular.   Box-shaped, longer than wide Recurved.   Curved outward or downward Reduced.   Decreased in size Reflexed.   Bent or turned downward Regular.   With floral parts within a whorl similar in shape and size Reniform.   Kidney-shaped, with shallow sinus and widely rounded margins Repand.   Sinuate with indentions less than 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein Repent.   Creeping or lying flat and rooting at the nodes Replicate.   With lamina folded once abaxially along midrib or midvein Replum.   Persistent septum after dehiscence of fruits, as in the Brassicaceae Resinous.   Having a yellowish, sticky, exudate Resupinate.   Inverted or twisted 180°, as in pedicels in the Orchidaceae Reticulate.   Netted; with veins forming a network Reticulodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins not terminating at the margin and losing their identities near the margin by repeated branching, yielding a dense reticulum Retinaculum, Jaculator or Echma.   A persistent indurated, hook-like funiculus in the fruits of Acanthaceae Retrorse.   Bent or directed downward. Retrorsely Crenate - Rounded teeth directed toward base. Retrorsely Serrate - Sharp or pointed teeth directed toward base Retuse.   Lobe rounded; sinus depth to 1/16 distance to midpoint of blade; margins convex Revolute.   Margins or outer portion of sides rolled outward or downward over lower or dorsal surface Rhizocarpic.   Plants having the roots living for many years with the stems dying annually Rhizoid.   A hair-like absorptive organ on gametophytes and rarely on sporophytes Rhizome.   A horizontal underground stem Rhizotaxis.   Arrangement of roots Rhombic.   With widest axis at midpoint of structure, and with straight margins; elliptic but margins straight and middle angled Ribbed.   With longitudinal nerves Ringed.   With old bud scale scar rings Robust.   Large Rolled.   Sides enrolled, usually loosely, over upper or lower surfaces Root.   An absorbing and anchoring organ, usually initially developed from the radicle and growing downward. Root Cap - Parenchymatous, protective apex of root. Root Hair - Lateral, absorbing outgrowth of the epidermal cell Secondary Root.   Lateral root with root cap and hairs, derived from the pericycle Rootstock.   A term applied to miscellaneous types of underground stems or parts Roridulate or Dewy.   Covered with waxy platelets, appearing dewy Rostellum or Beak.   Persistent stylar base on fruit Rosulate.   Leaves in a rosette Rotate.   Wheel-shaped, with short tube and wide limb at right angles to tube Rounded.   Margins and apex forming a smooth arc Rudimentary.   Basal, small nonperipheral embryo in small to large seed; relatively undifferentiated; endosperm copious Rugose.   Covered with coarse reticulate lines Ruminate.   Coarsely wrinkled, appearing as chewed Runcinate.   Oblanceolate with lacerate to parted margins Runner or Stolon.   An indeterminate, elongate, above ground propagative stem, with long internodes, rooting at the tip forming new plants Saccate.   Pouch-like Sagittate.   Lobe pointed and oriented downward or inward in relation to petiole or midrib; sinus depth variable; margins variable Sagittiform.   Triangular-ovate with two straight or slightly incurved basal lobes Salient, Porrect, or Projected.   Pointed outward, usually said of teeth Salverform.   Trumpet-shaped; with slender tube and limb nearly at right angles to tube Samara.   A winged, dry fruit Samaracetum.   An aggregation of samaras, as in Liriodendron Sapromyiophily.   Pollinated by carrion or dung flies Sarcocauly.   Fleshy stems Sarcous.   With the seed coat fleshy Scaberulent.   Approaching scabrous Scabridulous.   Minutely scabrous Scabrous.   Having a harsh surface Scale.   Small, non-green leaf on bud and modified stem; small, scarious to coriaceous flattened bodies within the perianth, as in the Cyperaceae and Asteraceae. Scale Leaf - Small, usually appressed and imbricate; e.g., Juniperus, Thuja Scape.   A naked flowering stem with or without a few scale leaves, arising from an underground stem Scapose.   With a solitary flower on a leafless peduncle or scape, usually arising from a basal rosette Scarious.   Thin and dry, appearing shriveled Scarred.   With old leaf base, stipular and/or branch scar regions Schizocarp.   Separated body, as in separating fruits (achenes, berries, carcerules, follicules, mericarps, nutlets, samaras), splitting apart at maturity Sclerocauly.   Hard, dryish stems Sclerous.   Hard Scurfy or Lentiginous With exfoliating scaly incrustations Seasonally.   Occurring during a seasonal cycle, or each season Secund or Unilateral.   Flowers or other structures on one side of axis Seed.   A matured ovule. Seed Coat - Outer protective covering of seed Segment.   The ultimate division or unit of a dissected fern leaf Semataxis.   Arrangement of semaphylls (petals, sepals, tepals), primarily advertising (pollinator attracting) in function Semicarpous.   With ovaries of adjacent carpels partly fused, stigmas and styles separate Semicraspedodromous.   With a single primary vein, the secondary veins branching just within the margin, one branch from each terminating at the margin and the other forming a marginal loop and joining the superadjacent secondary vein Sepal.   A calyx member or segment; a unit of the calyx Sepaliferous.   Most frequently at the base of sepals Sepaloid.   Sepal-like in shape, texture and/or color Septal.   At the junction of the septa in the ovary Septate.   Divided by internal partitions into locules or cells Septum or Dissepiment.   Partition. Septicidal Capsule - One that dehisces longitudinally through the septa, as in Penstemon Sericeous.   With long, silky trichomes, usually appressed Serotinal.   Opening late; appearing in late summer Serrate.   Saw-toothed; teeth sharp and ascending, but cut 1/16-1/8 distance to midrib or midvein Serrated.   Cut into sawlike teeth Serrulate.   Diminutive of serrate, but cut to 1/16 distance to midrib or midvein Sessile.   Without a petiole or petiolule Seta.   A hair-like extension of the leaf, as in homophyllous species of Selaginella Setose, Setaceous.   Having setae or bristlelike trichomes Sheath.   Any more or less tubular portion of the leaf surrounding the stem or culm, as in the Poaceae Sheathing.   Having tubular structure enclosing stem below apparent insertion of blade or petiole Shining, Nitid, or Laevigate.   Lustrous, polished Shrub.   A much-branched woody perennial plant usually without a single trunk Silicle.   A dry, dehiscent fruit derived from two or more carpels that dehisce along two sutures and which has a persistent partition after dehiscence and is as broad as, or broader, than long Silique.   A silicle type fruit that is longer than broad Simple.   Not composed of more than one anatomically or morphologically equivalent unit Sinistrorse.   Rising helically from left to right, a characteristic of twining stems Sinuate.   Long horizontal curves in the body of the structure parallel to the central axis Siphonostele.   A stele having vascular tissue in the form of a hollow cylinder, with a central pith Soboliferous.   With loosely clumped shoots arising some distance apart from rhizomes or under ground suckers Solenostele.   A siphonostele having phloem both internal and external to the xylem Solitary.   One-flowered, not an inflorescence Sorosis.   Fruits on a common axis that are usually coalesced and derived from the ovaries of several flowers, as in Morus Sorus.   A cluster of sporangia Spadix.   Unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence with flowers embedded in the rachis Spathe.   An enlarged bract enclosing an inflorescence Spathulate or Spatulate.   Oblong or obovate apically with a long attenuate base Spatulate.   Foliate, erect embryo with variable cotyledons, thin to thick and slightly expanded to broad Spherical.   With multi-dimensional radial symmetry Sphingophily.   Pollinated by hawk moths and nocturnal lepidoptera Spiculate.   With crystals in or on the surface Spike.   Unbranched, indeterminate, elongate inflorescence with sessile flowers Spikelet or Locusta.   A small spike; the basic inflorescence unit in grasses and sedges Spine.   Sharp-pointed petiole, midrib, vein, or stipule Spinose or Pungent.   Acuminate but coriaceous and stiff Spiral.   Twisted like a corkscrew Spirolobal.   With incumbent cotyledons folded once Spongy.   Cellular; sponge-like Sporangiophore.   The umbrella-shaped sporangium-bearing unit of the strobilus, as in Equisetum Sporangium.   A spore case Sporocarp.   A hard, nut-like structure containing the sporangia in heterosporous ferns Sporophyll.   A spore bearing leaf Spotted.   The color disposed in small spots Spur.   A short shoot on which flowers and fruits or leaves are borne; a tubular or pointed projection from the perianth Squamose.   Having coarse scales Squarrose.   Usually sharply curved downward or outward in the apical region, as the bracts of some species of Aster Stamen.   Male sporophyll within the flower; floral organ that bears pollen in angiosperms Staminal.   Most frequently at base of filament Staminate or Male.   With stamens only in the flower Staminodial.   Frequently entire structure is nectariferous Staminodium.   Sterile stamen, may be modified as a nectary or petaloid structure. Staminal Disc - A fleshy, elevated cushion formed from coalesced staminodia or nectaries Standard, Banner, or Vexillum.   The upper, usually wide petal in a papilionaceous corolla Stele.   The central primary vascular system of the stem and associated tissues delimited from the cortex by endodermis and pericycle, Delimited from the cortex by endodermis and pericycle Stellate.   Star-shaped Stem.   A supporting and conducting organ usually developed initially from the epicotyl and growing upward Stereomorphic.   Flowers 3-dimensional with basically radial symmetry; parts many or reduced, and usually regular; e.g., Narcissus, Aquilegia Stigma.   Pollen-receptive portion of pistil Stipe, Podogyne, Carpopodium.   Basal stalk. Stipe Bundles - The vascular bundles of the fern petiole Stipellate.   With stipels Stipels.   Paired scales, spines, or glands at the base of petiolule Stipulate.   With stipules Stipules.   Paired scales, spines, glands, or blade-like structures at the base of a petiole. Stipular Scar - A mark indicating former place of attachment of stipule Stolon.   Runner or indeterminate, elongate, above ground propagative stem, rooting at the tip producing new plants. Underground Stolon - A determinate, elongate, underground propagative stem with long internodes forming a bulb or tuber at the tip Stoloniferous.   Bearing stolons; sarmentose Stomate.   Opening or pore in leaf epidermis; intercellular space between two guard cells Stomium.   Lip cell region of a fern sporangium Striate.   With longitudinal lines Strict.   Stiff and rigid Strigillose.   Diminutive of strigose Strigose.   Covered with sharp, coarse, bent trichomes usually with a bulbous base Striped.   Longitudinal stripes of one color crossing another Strobilus.   Stem with short internodes and spore-bearing appendages; a cone Strombiform.   Elongate snail-shaped Strophiolate.   With elongate aril or strophiole in the hilum region Style.   Attenuated, non-ovule-bearing portion of pistil between stigma and ovary Stylocarpellous.   With a style and without a stipe, the normal carpel Stylocarpepodic.   With a style and stipe Stylopodic.   With a stylopodium or discoid base, as in the Apiaceae Subacrocaulous.   With branches at or near tip of main stem Subapical.   At one side near apex of ovary Subbasal.   Near the base Subbasicaulous.   With branches at or near base of main stem Subbasifixed.   Anther attached near its base to apex of filament Suberous.   Corky Subglabrate.   Almost glabrous Subglobose.   Almost round or spherical Submersed.   Beneath the surface of the water Submersicaulous.   With submersed stems Subtend.   To stand below and close to Subterminal.   Near the apex Subterranean or Hypogeous.   Below the surface of the ground Subulate.   Very narrow and tapering; awl-shaped; linear Sucker Shoots.   Shoots that develop from adventitious buds on old stumps or roots, usually after cutting or injury, which have elongate internodal lengths and intervals Suffrutescent.   Woody basally, herbaceous apically Sulcate.   With longitudinal grooves Summer Annual.   Germinating in spring or early summer and flowering and fruiting in late summer or early fall, then dying Superior.   Other floral organs attached below ovary Supervolute.   With lamina with one edge tightly enrolled and with the other loosely enrolled covering the first, loosely convolute Supine.   Prostrate, with parts oriented upward Suprafoliar.   On the stem above the leaves, as in the Arecaceae Suprarhizous.   On top of the root Surcarpous.   With fruits on surface of ground Surcurrent.   Extending along stem upward from leaf base Surficial or Epigeous.   Upon or spread over the surface of the ground Syconium.   A syncarp with the achenes borne on the inside of a hollowed-out receptacle or peduncle, as in Ficus Syleptic Shoots.   Abnormal shoots that develop from lateral buds before they have reached maturity Sympetalous.   With fused petals Sympatric.   Collocated, together Sympodial.   Branching without a main axis but with many, more or less, equal laterals Synantherous.   With leaves and flowers appearing at same time Syncarpous.   With fused carpels Syncotyly.   Cotyledons coalesced, forming a funnel or trumpet Syngenesious.   With fused anthers Synovarious.   With ovaries of adjacent carpels completely fused, styles and stigmas separate Synsepalous.   With fused sepals Synstylovarious.   With ovaries and styles of adjacent carpels completely fused, stigmas separate Syntropous.   With radicle pointing toward hilum Tannin Bearing Glands.   Tannin producing glands found in various parts of the plant, presumably protective in some structures Tap.   Persistent, well-developed primary root Tendril.   Long, slender, coiling branch, adapted for climbing (most tendrils are leaf structures) Tentacular.   Glandular-haired or tentacle-bearing insectivorous leaf, as in Drosera Tepal.   A member or segment of perianth in which the parts are not differentiated into distinct sepals and petals Terete.   Cylindrical and elongate Tergeminate.   With three orders of leaflets, each bifoliolate, or with geminate leaflets ternately compound Terminal.   At apex or end of stem. Terminal Bud Scale Scar Rings - Several marks in a ring indicating former places of attachment of bud scales Ternately Compound.   With leaflets in three's Tessellated.   Color arranged in small squares, so as to have some resemblance to a checkered pavement Testa.   The outer, commonly hard and brittle seed-coat Tetracyclic.   Four-whorled Tetrad.   Pollen grains in clusters of four Tetradynamous.   With stamens in two groups, usually four long and two short Tetragonal.   Four-angled Tetrahedral.   Having the form of a tetrahedron Tetralocular.   Four-locular Tetramerous.   Whorl with four members Tetrandrous.   With four stamens Tetrastichous.   Leaves or other structures in four rows Theca.   One half of anther containing two pollen sacs or male sporangia Thorn.   A sharp-pointed branch Throat.   An open, expanded tube in the perianth Thyrse.   A many-flowered inflorencence with an indeterminate central axis and with many opposite lateral dichasia Tiller.   A grass shoot produced from the base of the stem Tomentose.   Covered with dense, interwoven trichomes Torose.   Cylindrical with contractions at intervals Tortuous.   Irregularly twisted Trailing.   Sprawling on ground, usually with adventitious roots Transverse or Explanate.  At rightangles to long axis Tree.   A tall, woody perennial plant usually with a single trunk Triangular.   With three sides and three angles Tricarpellate.   Three-carpellate Trichome.   A leaf or stem surface hair Tricyclic.   Three-whorled Tridynamous.   With stamens in two equal groups of three Trifid.   Cut or divided into three lobes or parts Triflorous.   Three-flowered Trifoliate.   Three-leaved Trifoliolate.   With three leaflets Trifurcate.   Divided into three forks or branches; three-forked Trigonous.   Three-angled Triheteranthous.   Having different states in three different sets of flowers, only one state present in each set Triheterophytous.   Having different states in three different sets of plants, only one state present in each set Trilete Spore.   Basically tetrahedral, but often appearing round or triangular, with three scar lines forming a Y Trimerous.   Whorl with three members Trimorphic.   Having three different shapes and/or sizes within the same species Trioecious.   Plants staminate, pistillate or perfect Tripalmately Compound.   With three orders of leaflets, each palmately compound Tripinnately Compound.   With three orders of leaflets, each pinnately compound Triquetrous.   Three-angled with the sides usually concave Tristichous.   Leaves or other structures in three rows Triternate.   With three orders of leaflets, each ternately compound Trullate.   With widest axis below middle and with straight margins; ovate but margins straight and angled below middle, trowel-shaped Truncate.   Cut straight across; ending abruptly almost at right angles to midrib or midvein Tryma (Involucre).   Two-four loculed nut surrounded by a dehiscent involucre at maturity, as in most species of Carya Tube.   Cylindrical part Tuber.   A thick storage stem, usually not upright Tuberculate.   With hard, swollen, persistent base or tubercle. Tuberculate or Verrucose - With a warty surface Tubercules.   Silica deposits on the stem ridges, as in Equisetum Tuberous.   Fleshy roots resembling stem tubers Tubular.   Cylindrical Turbinate.   Top-shaped; obconic Turgid.   Tumid or swollen Turion.   An over-wintering bud, as in Lemna Twining.   Twisted around a central axis Umbel.   A determinate or indeterminate flat-topped or convex inflorescence with the pedicels arising at a common point. Compound Umbel - An umbel with primary rays or peduncles arising at a common point with a secondary umbel arising from the tip of the primary rays; a branched umbel Umbellet.   The secondary umbel in a compound umbel Umbilicate.   Depressed in the center Umbo.   Projection, with or without spine or prickle, on the apophysis of the cone scale Umbonate.   Round with a projection in center Umbraculate.   Umbrella-shaped, as in Sarracenia Umbraculiform.   Umbrella-shaped Undulate.   With a series of vertical curves at right angles to the central axis Unguiculate.   Clawed Unicarpellous or Stylodious.   With solitary, free carpel in gynoecium Unifoliolate.   With a single leaflet with a petiolule distinct from the petiole of the whole leaf, as in Cercis Unilocular.   One-locular Uninodal Shoot.   Spring shoot developing from the terminal winter bud and producing only one internode with one whorl of branches at the end; the cones are subterminal at the end of the shoot; e.g., Pinus resinosa Uniseriate.   One-rowed; in one series Unisexual.   With only one sex in each flower Urceolate.   Urn-shaped Stinging Urent.   With erect, usually long trichomes that produce irritation when touched Utricle.   A small, bladdery or inflated, one-seeded, dry fruit. Vallecular Canal.   A canal beneath a stem groove Valvate.   Sides enrolled, adaxially or abaxially so that margins touch Valvular.   Dehiscing through a pore covered by a flap of tissue. Valvular or Septifragal Capsule - One with valves breaking away from the septa, as in Ipomoea Variegated.   The color disposed in various irregular, sinuous, spaces Vascular Bundle or Trace Scar A mark indicating former place of attachment within the leaf scar of the vascular bundle or trace Vegetative Frond.   Frond lacking sporangia Velum.   The membranous flap covering the sporangium, as in Isoetes Velutinous.   Covered with dense, straight, long and soft trichomes; pile-like Ventral.   Pertaining to the surface nearest the axis; inner face of an organ; the upper surface of the leaf; adaxial. Ventral Side - Top side or upper side of a perianth part Ventricose.   Inflated on one side near the middle Ventristipular.   On ventral side of stipule Vermiform.   Worm-shaped Vernal.   Appearing in spring Verrucose.   Warty Versatile.   Dorsifixed but anther seemingly swinging free on the filament Verticillaster.   Whorled dichasia at the nodes of an elongate rachis Vespertine.   With flowers opening in the evening or night; appearing or expanding in the evening Vestigial.   Minute; a remnant Vexillate.   Having one structure larger than others which is folded over smaller enclosed structures Villosulous.   Minutely villous Villous.   Covered with long, soft, crooked trichomes Vine or Liana.   An elongate, weak-stemmed, often climbing annual or perennial plant, with herbaceous or woody texture Virgate.   Wand-like; long, slender, and straight Viscid.   Sticky or glutinous Whorl.   A cyclic or acyclic group of sepals, or petals, or stamens, or carpels Whorled, Radiate, or Verticillate.   Three or more leaves or other structures per node Wing.   Lateral petals, as in the Fabaceae; a flattened extension, appendage or projection from a perianth part Winged. With flattened blade-like margins. Winged Nut (Bract) - Nut enclosed in a winglike bract, as in Carpinus Wood. Xylem consisting of vessels and/or tracheids, fibers, and parenchyma cells Woody. Hard and lignified Zoned. The same as ocellated, but the concentric bands more numerous Zonocaulous. With branches intermittently spaced along main stem Zygomorphic or Bilateral. With floral parts in two symmetrical halves