GLOSSARY OF TAXONOMIC TERMS
AND OBSCURE TERMINOLOGY WITH CROSS REFERENCES (CROSS LINKS)
A
Achene - A dry indehiscent one-seeded fruit. Ex: fruit of
members of the Compositae.
Acuminate - Having an apex whose sides are gradually
concave and tapering to a point.
Acute - Having an apex whose sides are straight and taper
to a point.
Adventitious - Arising from an unusual or irregular position.
Aggregate flower - A flower heaped or crowded into a dense cluster.
Aggregate fruit - One formed by the coherence or the connation
of pistils that were distinct in the flower (as in Rubus) when the pistils of separate flowers (as in mulberry) make up the fruit it is designated as a multiple fruit.
Alternate - An arrangement of leaves or other parts not opposite or whorled; parts situated one at a node, as leaves on a stem: like parts
succeeding each other singly with a common structure.
Ament - See catkin.
Angiosperm - any vascular plant of the phylum or division Anthophyta, having the seeds enclosed in a fruit, grain, pod, or capsule and comprising all flowering plants.
Apetalous - Without petals. Ex: florescences of grasses.
Apex - The tip or terminal end. Apices pl.
Apical - Describes the apex or tip.
Apiculate - Ending abruptly in a short pointed tip.
Appendage - a limb or other subsidiary part that diverges from the central or principal structure.
Appressed - Pressed close to the stem, not spreading.
Auriculate - Bearing ear-like appendages, as the
projections of some leaf and petal bases.
B TOP
Berry - A fleshy indehiscent pulpy multi-seeded fruit
resulting from a single pistil. Ex: tomato.
Bipinnate - Twice pinnate.
Bloom - A waxy coating found on stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, usually of a grayish cast and easily removed.
Boss - A raised usually pointed projection.
Bract - A much-reduced leaf, often scale-like and usually
associated with a florescence or inflorescence
Broad-elliptic - Wider than elliptic.
Broad-ovate - Wider than ovate.
Bud scale - A modified leaf or stipule (there may be one, a few, or many) protective of the embryonic tissue of the bud.
Bud scale scar - The mark left by the sloughing off of the bud scale.
Bundle scar - Seen in the leaf scar, the broken ends of the woody vascular strands that connected the leaf and the stem.
C TOP
Calyx - The outer set of perianth segments or floral envelope of a flower, usually green in color and smaller than the inner set.
Capsule - A dry dehiscent fruit produced from a compound
pistil. Ex: fruit of a tobacco, Catalpa, Dianthus.
Carpel - A simple pistil or a single member of a compound pistil.
Catkin - A spike-like inflorescence comprised of scaly bracts subtending unisexual florescences., often somewhat flexuous
and pendulous but not necessarily so. Ex: inflorescence of willows (Salix) and poplars (Populus).
Chambered - Of pith, divided into empty horizontal chambers by cross partitions.
Ciliate - Marginally fringed with hairs, often minutely so and then termed "ciliolate."
Clone - A group of plants derived vegetatively from one parent plant, identical to each other and to the parent.
Coarse texture - Consisting of large or rough parts.
Compound leaf - A leaf of two or more leaflets.
Cone - A coniferous fruit, having a number of woody, leathery, or fleshy scales, each bearing one or more seeds, and attached to a central axis.
Conical - Cone shaped, as the young form of many spruces.
Coniferous - Cone, bearing.
Connate adj. - congenitally joined, as leaves. Connation n.
Cordate - Heart-shaped, with a sinus and rounded lobes.
Corymb - A more or less flat-topped indeterminate inflorescence whose outer florescences open first. Ex: Viburnum, some verbenas.
Cotyledon - The primary or rudimentary leaf of the embryo of seed plants.
Crenate - Having the margin notched or scalloped so as to form rounded teeth, as a leaf. Ex: leaves of some Coleus.
Crenulate - Having very small rounded teeth.
Cultivar - A cultivated variety.
Cuneate - Wedge-shaped with essentially straight sides, the structure attached at the narrow end.
Cyme - A more or less flat-topped determinate inflorescence whose outer florescences open last. Ex: elderberry (Sambucus).
D TOP
Dehiscent Splitting open. The term is commonly applied to anthers or seed pods.
Dentate - Having marginal teeth whose apices are perpendicular to the margin and do not point forward.
Dicot also Dicotyledon - Angiospermous plant having two cotyledons.
Dimorphic - Having two forms.
Dioecious - Having unisexual florescences, each sex confined to a separate plant, said of species.
Distal situated away from the point of origin or attachment, as of a limb or bone.
Double serrate - Serrations bearing minute teeth on margins.
Drupe - A fleshy indehiscent fruit whose seed is enclosed in
a stony endocarp. Ex: date, cherry.
E TOP
Ellipsoid - Three dimensional shape of ellipse, football shaped.
Elliptic-oblong - A shape between the two forms.
Elliptical also Elliptic- Having the outline of an ellipse, broadest at middle and narrower at each end.
Emariginate - With a shallow notch at the apex.
Endocarp - The inner layer of the pericarp , as the stone of certain fruits.
Entire - Having a margin without teeth or crenations.
Even-pinnate - Results in a lack of the terminal leaflet, since each one is paired.
Excrescence - an abnormal outgrowth, usu. harmless, on an animal or vegetable body.
Exfoliate - To peel off in shreds or thin layers, as bark from a tree.
F TOP
Falcate - Sickle-shaped.
Fascicle - A close cluster. Ex: leaves of white pine.
Filiform - Long and very slender; thread-like.
Fine texture - Consisting of small rather delicate parts.
Flaking - Shreddy, with shorter fragments.
Florescence - the act, state, or period of flowering; bloom.
Flexuous - Full of bends or curves; sinuous; winding.
Follicle - A dry dehiscent fruit opening only along one suture and the product of a single carpel (simple ovary). Ex: peony, columbine, milkweed.
Fruit - Technically a ripened ovary with its adnate parts, the seed-containing unit characteristic of all Angiosperms.
G TOP
Genus - A group of species possessing fundamental traits in common but differing in other lesser characteristics.
Glabrous - Not hairy. Note: a glabrous surface need not be smooth, for it may be bullate or rugose.
Glandular - Bearing glands.
Glaucescent - Slightly glaucous.
Glaucous - Covered with a waxy bloom or whitish material that rubs off readily. Ex: the bloom on many sorts of grape.
Globose - Having a round or spherical shape.
Grooved - Marked with long narrow furrows or channels.
H TOP
Hairy - Pubescent with longer hairs.
Hispid - With stiff or bristly hairs.
Hirsute - Pubescent with coarse or stiff hairs.
I TOP
Imbricated - Overlapping, as shingles on a roof.
Imperfect - A flower that lacks either stamens or pistils.
Incised - Cut by sharp and irregular incisions more or less deeply, but intermediate between toothed and lobed.
Indehiscent - Not opening regularly, as a capsule or anther.
Indumentum - With a generally heavy covering of hair: a general term without precise connotation(meaning).
Inferior - Beneath, below; said of an ovary when situated below the apparent point of attachment of stamens and perianth.
Inflorescence -
1. a flowering or blossoming.
2. a. the arrangement of flowers on the axis or stem.
b. the flowering part of a plant.
c. a flower cluster.
d. flowers collectively.
Interstice a small or narrow space or interval between things or parts
Involucre - One or more whorls or series of small leaves or bracts that are close underneath a florescence or inflorescence
J TOP
Juvenile - An early phase of plant growth, usually characterized by non-flowering, vigorous increase in size, and often thorniness.
NO K TOP
L TOP
Lanceolate - Much longer than wide, broadest below the middle and tapering to the apex.
Lateral bud - A bud borne in the axil of a previous season's leaf.
Latex - Milky sap.
Leaf scar - The mark remaining after the leaf falls off a twig.
Lenticel - A small corky spot on young bark made of loosely packed cells, providing gaseous
exchange between the inner tissues and the atmosphere.
Linear - Long and very narrow, as in blades of grass.
Lobe - A projecting part or segment of an organ as in a lobed ovary or stigma; usually a division of a leaf, calyx, or petals cut to about the middle (i.e. midway between margin and midrib).
M TOP
Margin - The edge of a leaf.
Marginal - Pertaining to the margin.
Mature - A later phase of growth characterized by flowering, fruiting, and a reduced rate of size increase.
Mesocarp - the middle layer of pericarp, as the fleshy part of certain fruits.
Milky sap - Whitish in color, often thicker than water.
Monoecious - A species with unisexual florescences, having both sexes on the same plant. Ex: corn.
Mottle - to mark with spots or blotches of different colors or shades
Mucro - A short, sharp, abrupt tip.
Mucronate - Abruptly terminated by a mucro.
Multiple buds - A terminal or lateral bud crowded by many accessory buds.
N TOP
Naked bud - One without scales.
Native - Inherent and original to an area.
Needle - The slender leaf of many conifers.
Nerve - A slender rib or vein, especially unbranched.
Node - A joint on a stem, represented by point of origin of a leaf or bud; sometimes represented by a swollen or constricted ring, or by a distinct leaf scar.
Nut - A dry, indehiscent, 1-celled, 1-seeded fruit
having a hard and bony mesocarp; the outermost
endocarp may be fibrous or slightly fleshy.
O TOP
Obcordate - The apex being cordate. Heart-shaped, with the attachment at the pointed end, as a leaf.
Oblanceolate - Inversely lanceolate.
Oblique - Lop-sided, as one side of a leaf base larger, wider or more rounded than the other.
Oblong - Longer than broad; rectangular; the sides nearly parallel.
Oblong -Lanceolate: a shape in between the two forms.
Oblong-obovate - A shape in between the two forms.
Obovate - Inversely ovate, broadest above the middle.
Obovoid - Three dimensional shape of obovate, pear shaped.
Obtuse - Rounded, approaching the semi-circular.
Opposite - Two at a node, as leaves.
Orbiculate - Circular or disk-shaped. Ex: leaf of common nasturtium.
Oval - Twice as long as broad, widest at the middle, both ends rounded.
Ovate - see oval above.
Ovate-oblong - A combination of the two forms.
P TOP
Palmate - Digitate, radiating, fan-like from a common point, as leaflets of a palmately compound leaf or veins or palmately-veined leaf
Panicle - An indeterminate inflorescence whose primary axis bears branches of pedicelled florescence. (at least basally so); a branching raceme.
Peduncle - the stalk that supports a flower or flower cluster.
Peltate - Having the petiole attached inside the margin, such a leaf is typically shield-shaped.
Pendulous - Hanging or declined.
Perianth - the envelope of a flower, whether calyx or corolla or both.
Pericarp - A term used by some to designate a fruit; technically, the ovary wall.
Periderm - A protective layer of corky cells.
Perpendicular - Meeting a given line or surface at right angles.
Petiole - Leaf-stalk.
Petiolule - Leaflet-stalk.
Pilose - Shaggy with soft hairs.
Pinna - The leaflet of a compound leaf; of ferns, the primary division attached to the main rachis; feather-like.
Pinnate - Compounded with the leaflets or segments along each side of a common axis or rachis; feather-like.
Pistil - the seed-bearing organ of a flower, consisting when complete of ovary, style, and stigma.
Polygamous - Bearing unisexual and bisexual flowers on the same plant.
Pome - A type of fleshy fruit represented by the apple, pear and related genera, resulting from a compound ovary.
Prickle - An excrescence of bark that is small, weak, and spine-like.
Pseudo- a combining form meaning " false,
Pseudo-terminal bud - Seemingly the terminal bud of a twig, but actually the upper-most lateral bud with its subtending leaf scar on one side and the scar of the terminal bud often visible on opposite side.
Pubescent - Covered with short soft hairs; a general term.
Pyramidal - Broadest at base, tapering apically; pyramid-shaped.
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R TOP
Raceme - A simple indeterminate inflorescence with pedicelled flowers.
Rachilla - A diminutive or secondary axis; a branch of a rachis; the minute axis bearing the individual florets in grass and sedge spikelets; the secondary axes of decompound fern fronds.
Rachis - Axis bearing leaflets or the primary axis of an inflorescence; the axis bearing pinnae of a fern frond.
Ranked - Foliage is arranged in longitudinal planes around the stem.
Receptacle - A torus; the distal end of a flower-bearing axis, usually more or less enlarged,
flattened, or cup-like on which some or all of the flower parts are borne. Ex: Compositae,
Onagraceae.
Reflexed - Bent abruptly backward or downward.
Reniform - Kidney-shaped.
Resin duct - A lengthwise or transverse canal carrying resins.
Resinous - Secreting a viscid exudate.
Reticulate - Like a net, the interstices closed.
Rhombic - With four nearly equal sides, but unequal angles, diamond shaped.
Rugose - Wrinkled, usually covered with wrinkles.
S TOP
Samara - A dry indehiscent fruit bearing a wing (the wing
may be limb-like or envelop the seed and be wafer-like). Ex: maple, ash, Ptelea.
Scar - The mark left from a former attachment.
Schizocarp - A dry dehiscent fruit that splits into two halves. Ex: maple.
Serrate - Saw-toothed, the teeth pointing forward.
Serrulate - Minutely serrate.
Sessile - Without a stalk.
Simple - Said of a leaf when not compound, of an inflorescence when unbranched.
Sinuate - With a strongly wavy margin.
Sinus - The space between two lobes, segments, or divisions; as of leaves or perianth parts.
Slough - To be shed or cast off.
Solitary - Occurring alone, not paired or clustered.
Spatulate - Spoon-shaped.
Species - A natural group of plants composed of similar individuals which can produce similar offspring; usually including several minor variations.
Spike - A usually unbranched, elongated, simple, indeterminate inflorescence whose florescences are sessile; the florescences may be congested or remote.
Spikelet - (1) a secondary spike; (2) one part of a compound inflorescence which of itself is spicate; (3) the floral unit, or ultimate cluster, of a grass inflorescence comprised of florescences and their subtending bracts.
Spine - An excrescence of st., strong and sharp-pointed. Ex: spines of hawthorns.
Squarrose - With branches spreading and recurved at the ends.
ST TOP
Stalked bud - A bud whose outer scales are attached above the base of the bud axis.
Stellate - Star-like; stellate hairs having radiating branches or are separate hairs aggregated in
star-like clusters; hairs once or twice forked often are treated as stellate.
Stigma - the part of a pistil that receives the pollen.
Stipel - A stipule of a leaflet.
Stipule - A basal appendage of a petiole, usually one at each side, often ear-like and sometimes caducous.
Striate - With fine longitudinal lines, channels or ridges.
Strigose - With sharp, stiff, straight and appressed hairs.
Strobilus - A cone.
Subtend - To stand immediately beneath.
Sympodial - Continuing growth by the development of an axillary bud and not the terminal bud, season after season.
T TOP
Taxonomic - relating to classification
Taxonomy - Classification by phylum (in botany, division), class, order, family, genus, and species.
Tendril - A modified stem or leaf, usually filiform, branched or simple, that twines about an object providing support.
Tepal - A segment of perianth not differentiated into calyx or corolla. Ex: tulip, magnolia.
Terminal - At the tip or distal end.
Ternate - In threes.
Thorn - A modified twig which has tiny leaf scars and buds; can be single or branched.
Tomentose - Densely woolly, the hairs soft and matted.
Torus - the receptacle of a flower.
Translucent - Transmitting light but diffuse enough to distort images.
Transverse- lying or extending across or in a cross direction; cross.
Trifoliate - Three-leaved. Ex: Trillium.
Truncate - As if cut off at right angles to the primary axis; a term applicable to bases or apices.
U TOP
Ubiquitous- existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time; omnipresent.
Umbel - An indeterminate inflorescence, usually but not necessarily flat-topped with the pedicels and peduncles (termed rays) arising from a common point, resembling the stays of an umbrella.
Umbo - A conical projection arising from the surface.
Undulate - Wavy, as a leaf margin.
V TOP
Valvate - (1) dehiscing by valves; (2) meeting by the edges without overlapping, as leaves or petals in the bud.
Variegated - Striped, margined or mottled with a color other than green, where green is normal.
Variety - Subdivision of a species having a distinct though often inconspicuous difference, and breeding true to the difference. More generally also refers to clones.
Vascular bundle - A discrete group of conducting vessels.
Vascular bundle scar - A minute spot within the leaf scar where the vessels were positioned.
Velutinous - Clothed with velvety indumentum comprised of erect straight dense moderately firm hairs.
W TOP
Whorl - Arrangement of three or more structures arising from a single node.
Woolly - Having long, soft, more or less matted hairs; like wool
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