Abnormal, contrary to general rules.

Accumbent, lying against anything, in distinction to lying upon; as the cotyledons of some cruciferous plants.

Acerose, stiff and slender and sharp-pointed, as the leaves of a pine-tree.

Achenium, a small, hard, one-seeded fruit, resembling a seed.

Aciculate, needle-shaped.

Acinaciform, scymitar-shaped.

Acinus, a bunch of succulent berries, as of grapes.

Acrogen, a plant which grows at its end only, without increasing in diameter, as ferns, and all flowerless plants.

Aculeate, covered with prickles.

Aculeus, a prickle.

Acuminate, tapering to the point, but flat.

Adnate, growing to any thing by the whole length.

Adventitious, appearing accidentally.

Æstivation, the arrangement of the parts of the flower before they expand.

Alabastrus, a flower-bud.

Albumen, a substance interposed in some seeds between the embryo and the seed coats.

Alburnum, the young wood; sap-wood.

Amentum, a catkin; the male inflorescence of the hazel, &c.

Amplexicaul, clasping a stem.

Anastomosing, the growing together of two parts which meet from different directions.

-androus, a Greek termination expressive of the male sex.

Anfractuous, doubled abruptly in several different directions.

Angiocarpous, having seeds enclosed in a pericarp.

Annotinous, a year old.

Anther, the case containing pollen.

Apetalous, having no petals.

Apiculate, abruptly pointed.

Apocarpous, where the carpels are distinct from each other.

Apophysis, the enlarged base of the theca of some mosses.

Apothecium, the shield, or mass of reproductive matter of a lichen.

Appendiculate, having some kind of appendages.

Arachnoid, resembling a spider’s web.

Areolate, divided into little spaces.

Aril, a peculiar wrapper of some seeds, as the mace of the nutmeg.

Arista, the beard or awn of grasses.

Asci, the cases in which the spores of lichens are enclosed.

Ascidium, a hollow leaf looking like a water vessel; as the pitcher of Nepenthes.

Attenuated, gradually tapering to a point without becoming flat.

Auriculate, having two lobes (like ears) at the base.

Awn, see Arista.

Axil, the acute angle formed by the junction of the leaf, &c. to its axis.

Axillary, growing in an axil.

Axis, the root and stem either taken together or separately.

 

Baccate, fruit covered with soft flesh.

Barbate, covered with long hairs resembling a beard.

Beard, a tuft of long hairs.

Biconjugate, in two pairs, placed side by side.

Bidentate, having two teeth.

Bifarious, arranged in two rows.

Bifid, divided into two shallow lobes.

Bifoliate, having two leaflets.

Bifurcate, twice forked.

Bijugous, in two pairs, placed end to end.

Binate, growing in pairs.

Bipartite, divided into two deep lobes.

Bipinnate, twice pinnate.

Biserrate, twice serrate.

Brachiate, when branches stand nearly at right angles to the stem from which they proceed.

Bract, the leaf or leaflet from the axil of which a flower grows.

Bulb, a scaly, underground bud.

Bulbotuber, a short, roundish, underground stem resembling a bulb.

 

Caducous, falling off sooner or later.

Cæsious, of a bluish grey colour.

Cæspitose, growing in tufts.

Calcar, a spur or horn; as in the Nasturtium.

Calcarate, having a spur or horn.

Calyculate, having a whorl of bracts on the outside of a calyx, or of an involucre.

Calyptra, the hood of a moss.

Calyx, the external envelope of a flower.

Cambium, a viscid secretion formed in the spring between the bark and wood of Exogens.

Campanulate, bell-shaped.

Canaliculate, channelled.

Cancellate, a leaf which has veins without connecting parenchyma.

Capitate, growing in a head.

Capitulum, a collection of flowers in a head.

Capsule, any dry many-seeded fruit.

Carinate, having a kind of keel.

Carnose, fleshy.

Carpel, one of the parts of a compound pistil; a single leaf rolled up into one of the integers of a pistil.

Carunculate, a seed having fungous excrescences growing near its hilum.

Caryopsis, a dry one-seeded fruit resembling a seed, but with no distinction between the seed coat and pericarp.

Caudate, prolonged into a sort of tail.

Cauline, of or belonging to the stem.

Cernuous, drooping.

Chalaza, a spot on a seed indicating the place where the nucleus is united to the seminal integuments.

Ciliated, fringed with hairs like an eyelash.

Cinereous, ash-coloured.

Circinate, rolled inwards from the point to the base.

Circumscissile, dividing into two parts by a spontaneous transverse separation.

Cirrhous, terminating in a tendril.

Clavate, club-shaped.

Claw, the stalk of a petal.

Clypeate, resembling a round buckler.

Cochleate, resembling the bowl of a spoon.

Collum, the point where the stem and root are combined.

Columella, a central part of the fruit of a moss, round which the spores are deposited.

Column, the combination of stamens and style in Orchideous and other plants.

Comose, having hairs at one or both ends, if speaking of seeds; being terminated by coloured empty bracts, if applied to inflorescences.

Conduplicate, doubled together.

Confluent, growing together so that the line of junction is lost to the sight.

Conjugate, growing in pairs.

Connate, growing together so that the line of junction remains perceptible.

Connective, the fleshy part that combines the two lobes of an anther.

Connivent, converging, as the anther of a potato blossom.

Conoidal, approaching a conical form.

Continuous, proceeding from something else without apparent interruption.

Contorted, twisted in such a way that all the parts have a similar direction, as the segments of the flower of an Oleander.

Convolute, rolled together.

Corculum, the rudimentary axis which connects the cotyledons of the embryo.

Cordate, heart-shaped.

Coriaceous, of a leathery texture.

Cormus, a solid, roundish, underground stem, as in Crocus.

Corneous, of a horny texture.

Corniculate, shaped like a slender horn.

Corolla, the second of the two envelopes that surround the stamens and pistil.

Corona, a combination of fertile and barren stamens into a disk, as in Stapelia.

Corymbose, when the branches surrounding a common axis are shortest at the top and longest at the bottom, so as to form a level-topped whole.

Costa, the midrib of a leaf.

Cotyledons, the leaves of the embryo.

Crateriform, shaped like a goblet.

Crenelled or Crenated, having rounded notches at the edges.

Crested, having some unusual and striking appendage arising from the middle.

Cruciate, when four parts are so arranged as to resemble the arms of a Maltese cross.

Cucullate, hooded, rolled inwards so as to conceal any thing lying within.

Culm, the straw of grasses.

Cuneate, wedge-shaped.

Cupule, the cup of the acorn, the husk of the filbert, chestnut, &c.; a peculiar combination of bracts.

Cuspidate, abruptly rounded off with a projecting point in the middle.

Cuticle, the external skin.

Cyathiform, cup-shaped, more contracted at the orifice than crateriform.

Cymbiform, having the form of a boat.

Cyme, an inflorescence having a corymbose form, but consisting of repeatedly-branched divisions.

Cymose, resembling a cyme in appearance.

 

Decandrous, having ten stamens.

Deciduous, falling off.

Declinate, curved downwards.

Decumbent, lying prostrate, but rising again.

Decurrent, produced downwards, as the base of a leaf down the stem.

Decussate, crossing at right angles.

Dehiscence, the act of opening of anther or fruit.

Deltoid, having the form of a triangle or Greek Δ.

Dendroidal, resembling a small tree.

Dentate, with sharp-pointed notches and intermediate curves instead of re-entering angles.

Depauperated, imperfectly developed; looking as if ill-formed from want of sufficient nutriment.

Depressed, flattened from point to base.

Diadelphous, having the stamens in two parcels.

Diandrous, having two stamens.

Dichotomous, repeatedly divided into two branches.

Dicotyledonous, having two cotyledons.

Didymous, growing in pairs, or twins; only applied to solids and not to flat surfaces.

Didynamous, having two pairs of stamens of unequal length.

Digitate, fingered, diverging from a common centre, as the fingers from the palm.

Dimidiate, half-formed, or halved, or split into two halves.

Diœcious, having stamens on one plant and pistils on another.

Dipterous, having two wings.

Discoidal, with the central part of a flat body differently coloured or marked from the margin.

Disk, a fleshy circle interposed between the stamens and pistils.

Dissepiments, the vertical partitions of a compound fruit.

Distichous, arranged in two rows.

Divaricating, diverging at an obtuse angle.

Dodecandrous, having 12 stamens.

Dolabriform, hatchet-shaped.

Drupe, such a fruit as the peach, consisting of a stem surrounded by flesh or fibrous matter.

Ducts, spiral vessels that will not unroll.

Dumose, having a compact bushy form.

Duramen, the heart-wood of timber.

 

Echinate, covered with hard sharp points.

Elaters, little spirally-twisted hygrometrical threads that disperse the spores of Jungermannias.

Elementary organs, the minute parts of which the texture of plants is composed.

Emarginate, having a notch at the point.

Embryo, the rudimentary plant before germination commences.

Endocarp, the hard lining of some pericarps.

Endogen, a plant which increases in diameter by addition to its centre, as a palm-tree.

Enneandrous, having 9 stamens.

Ensiform, having the form of a straight and narrow sword blade.

Epicarp, the external layer of the pericarp.

Epidermis, the skin of a plant, in the language of some writers; the cortical integument according to others.

Epigynous, growing upon the top of the ovary, or seeming to do so.

Equitant, when leaves are so arranged that the base of each is enclosed within the opposite base of that which is next below it; as in Iris.

Estivation, see Æstivation.

Exogen, a plant which increases in diameter by the addition of new wood to the outside of the old wood; as an oak-tree.

 

Farinaceous, mealy.

Fasciated, banded.

Fasciculated, collected in clusters.

Fastigiate, when the branches of any plant are pressed close to the main stem, as in the Lombardy poplar.

Filament, the stalk of the anther.

Filiform, slender and round like a thread.

Fistular, tubular but closed at each end; as the leaf of an onion.

Flabelliform, fan-shaped.

Flagelliform, resembling the thong of a whip.

Flexuose, wavy.

Floccose, covered with little irregular patches of woolliness.

Floret, a little flower.

Floscule, ditto.

Foliaceous, having the colour and texture of a common green leaf.

Foliation, the arrangement of young leaves within the leaf-bud.

Follicle, a simple fruit opening by its ventral suture only.

Foramen, the passage through the integuments of an ovule by which impregnating matter is introduced into the nucleus.

Fovilla, the fertilizing principle of pollen.

Frond, the leaf of a fern or of a palm.

Fruit, the full-grown ripened pistil.

Fugacious, lasting but a short time.

Fungoid, resembling a fungus; that is, irregular in form and fleshy in texture.

Funiculus, the stalk by which some seeds are attached to the placenta.

Fusiform, spindle-shaped, thickest in the middle, and tapering to each end.

 

Galbulus, a small cone whose scales are all consolidated into a fleshy ball, as in Juniper.

Galea, the upper lip of a labiate flower.

Geniculate, knee-jointed, when a stem bends suddenly in its middle.

Gibbous, prominent, projecting.

Glabrous, having no hairs.

Gladiate, the same as ensiform, but broader and shorter.

Gland, 1. the fruit of the oak, the hazel, &c.; 2. an elevation of the cuticle which usually secretes either acrid or resinous matter.

Glandular, covered with glands of the second kind.

Glaucous, covered with bloom like a plum.

Glochidate, covered with hairs which are rigid and hooked at their point.

Glume, one of the bracts of grasses.

Gymnospermous, having seeds which ripen without being enclosed in a pericarp.

Gynobase, an elevated part of the growing point of a flower-bud, rising between the carpels and throwing them into an oblique position.

Gyrate, see Circinate. Also, surrounded by an elastic ring, as the theca of ferns.

 

Hastate, having the form of a halbert-head; that is, with a lance-shaped centre crossed at the base by two lobes of a similar form standing at right angles with the centre.

Helmet, the hooded upper lip of some flowers.

Heptandrous, having 7 stamens.

Hexandrous, having 6 stamens.

Hilum, the scar left upon a seed when it is separated from the placenta.

Hirsute, covered with harsh long hairs.

Hymenium, the gills of a mushroom; that part in Fungi where the spores are placed.

Hypocrateriform, salver-shaped; having a cylindrical tube and a flat border spreading away from it.

Hypogynous, arising from immediately below the pistil.

 

Icosandrous, having 20 or more perigynous stamens.

Imbricated, overlapping, as tiles overlie each other on the roof of a house.

Incumbent, lying upon any thing.

Indehiscent, not opening when ripe.

Induplicate, doubled inwards.

Indusium, the membrane that overlies the sori of ferns.

Inferior, is said of a calyx when it does not adhere to the ovary; is said of an ovary when it does adhere to the calyx.

Inflorescence, the collection of flowers upon a plant.

Infundibuliform, shaped like a funnel.

Innate, growing upon any thing by one end.

Innovations, the young shoots of mosses.

Intercellular, that which lies between the cells or elementary bladders of plants.

Internode, the space between two nodes.

Interrupted, when variations in continuity, size, or development alternately occur in parts which are sometimes uniform; as when pinnated leaves have the alternate leaflets much the smallest, and when dense spikes are here and there broken by the extension of internodes.

Involucre, a collection of bracts placed in a whorl on the outside a calyx or flower-head.

Involute, rolled inwards.

 

Labellum, one segment of a corolla, which is lower than the others, and often pendulous.

Labiate, divided into an upper and a lower lip, as the corolla of dead nettle.

Lacunose, having numerous large deep depressions or excavations on its surface.

Lamina, the blade of a leaf.

Lanceolate, shaped like a lance-head; that is, oval, tapering to both extremities.

Lateral, originating from the side of any thing.

Latex, the vital fluid of vegetation.

Lax, not compact or dense.

Leaflet, a division of a compound leaf.

Legume, a kind of fruit like the pod of a pea.

Lenticular, small, depressed, and doubly convex.

Lepidote, covered with a sort of scurfiness.

Leprous, the same.

Liber, the newly-formed inner bark of Exogens.

Ligula, a membranous expansion from the top of the petiole in grasses.

Limb, the blade or expanded part of a petal.

Linea, very narrow, with the two sides nearly parallel.

Lip, see Labellum.

Loculicidal, when the carpels of a compound fruit dehisce in such a way that the cells are broken through at their back.

Locusta, the spikelet, or collection of florets of a grass.

Lomentum, a legume which is interrupted between the seeds, so as to separate into numerous transverse portions.

Lunate, formed like a crescent.

 

Manicate, when hairs are interwoven into a mass that can be easily separated from the surface.

Marginal, of or belonging to the edge of any thing.

Medullary, of or belonging to the pith.

Micropyle, a small passage through the seed, called the foramen when speaking of the ovule. See Foramen.

Mitriform, conical, hollow, open at the base, and either entire there or irregularly cut.

Monadelphous, with the stamens united into one parcel.

Monandrous, with one stamen only.

Moniliform, shaped like a necklace.

Monopetalous, with several petals united into one body by their edges.

Mucronate, tipped by a hard point.

Multifid, divided into many shallow lobes.

Multipartite, divided into many deep lobes.

Muricated, covered with short, broad, sharp-pointed tubercles.

Muriform, resembling the bricks in the wall of a house.

 

Navicular, shaped like a very small boat.

Nectary, any organ that secretes honey.

Nerves, the stronger veins of a leaf.

Node, the part of a stem from which a normal leaf-bud arises.

Normal, according to general rules.

Nucleus, the central part of an ovule, or a seed.

Nucule, a small hard seed-like pericarp.

 

Oblique, larger on one side than on the other.

Ochrea, two stipules united round the stem into a kind of sheath.

Octandrous, having eight stamens.

Operculum, the lid of the theca of a moss.

Ovary, the hollow part of a pistil containing the ovules.

Ovate, having the figure of an egg.

Ovule, a rudimentary seed.

 

Palate, the lower surface of the throat of a labiate corolla.

Palea, either the inner bracts of the inflorescence of a grass, or the bracts upon the receptacle of the flower-head of a Composita.

Paleaceous, covered with paleæ.

Palmate, the same as digitate, only the divisions more shallow and broader.

Panduriform, oblong, narrowing towards the base, and contracted below the middle.

Panicle, a compound raceme; a loose kind of inflorescence.

Papilionaceous, a flower consisting of standard, wings, and keel, like that of a pea.

Pappus, the calyx of a Composita, as of dandelion.

Parenchyma, the pulp that connects the veins of leaves.

Parietal, growing from the lining of any thing.

Pectinate, divided into long, close, narrow teeth like a comb.

Pedate, palmate, with the lateral segments lengthened and lobed.

Pedicel, one of a great many peduncles.

Peduncle, a flower-stalk.

Peltate, attached within the margin.

Pentandrous, having five stamens.

Perfoliate, surrounding a stem by the base, which grows together where the margins touch.

Perianth, a collection of floral envelopes, among which the calyx cannot be distinguished from the corolla, though both are present.

Pericarp, the shell of a fruit of any kind.

Perichætium, the leaves at the base of the stalk of the fruit of a moss.

Perigone, same as Perianth.

Perigynous, growing from the sides of a calyx.

Perisperm, same as Albumen.

Peristome, a curious set of processes surrounding the orifice of the theca of a moss.

Peronate, laid thickly over with a woolly substance ending in a sort of meal.

Personate, labiate, with the palate of the lower lip pressing against the upper lip.

Petal, one of the parts of a corolla.

Petaloid, resembling a petal in colour and texture.

Petiole, the stalk of a leaf.

Petiolar, of or belonging to the petiole.

Phyllodium, a petiole transformed into a flat leaf-like body.

Pileus, the cap of a mushroom.

Pilose, covered with short fine hairs.

Pinnate, divided into a number of pairs of leaflets; bipinnate, each leaflet is also pinnate; tripinnate, each secondary leaflet pinnated also.

Pinnatifid, divided in a pinnated manner nearly down to the midrib.

Pistil, the combination of ovary, style, and stigma.

Pith, the central column of cellular tissue in an Exogen.

Placenta, the part of the ovary to which the ovules are attached.

Plane, quite flat.

Plumule, the rudiment of a stem in the embryo.

Pollen, the powder contained in an anther.

Pollen-tubes, the membranous tubes emitted by pollen after they fall on the stigma.

Polyadelphous, when the stamens are combined into more than two parcels.

Polyandrous, when there are more than 20 hypogynous stamens.

Polypetalous, when the petals are all distinct.

Pome, a fruit like that of the apple, pear, &c.

Præfloration, same as Æstivation.

Prickle, same as Aculeus.

Primine, the external integument of the ovule.

Pseudobulb, the solid above-ground tuber of some Orchideæ.

Pubescent, covered with very fine soft down.

Pulverulent, covered with a powdery appearance.

Putamen, same as Endocarp.

Pyriform, shaped like a pear.

 

Quartine, the innermost integument but one of the ovule.

Quinate, combined in fives.

Quintine, the innermost integument of the ovule.

 

Raceme, an inflorescence like that of the currant.

Rachis, the axis of inflorescence.

Radical, arising from the root.

Radicle, the rudimentary root in the embryo.

Ramenta, soft, ragged, chaff-like hairs growing upon the petiole of ferns.

Raphe, the line of communication between the hilum and chalaza.

Raphides, acicular or other crystals scattered among vegetable tissue.

Reniform, kidney-shaped.

Resupinate, inverted, so that the part which is naturally lowermost becomes uppermost.

Reticulated, traversed by veins having the appearance of network.

Retuse, blunt, and turned inwards more than obtuse.

Rhizoma, a creeping stem like that of Iris.

Ringent, same as Personate.

Root-stock, same as Rhizoma.

Rostrate, furnished with a sort of beak.

Rosulate, having the leaves arranged in little rose-like clusters.

Ruminated, pierced by numerous perforations full of chaffy matter like a nutmeg.

Runner, the prostrate stem of such plants as the strawberry.

 

Sagittate, resembling the head of an ancient arrow.

Samara, a kind of one-seeded indehiscent pericarp, with a wing at one end.

Sapwood, the newly-formed wood, which has not been hardened by the deposit of secreted matter.

Sarcocarp, the intermediate fleshy layer between the epicarp and endocarp.

Scale, an abortive leaf.

Scape, the flowering-stem of a plant.

Scarious, dry, thin, and shrivelled.

Scrobiculate, irregularly pitted.

Scutellum, the fructifying space upon the thallus of a lichen.

Secund, arranged or turned to one side.

Secundine, the second integument of the ovule.

Sepals, the leaves of the calyx.

Septa, same as Dissepiment.

Septicidal, when the dissepiments of a fruit are divided into two plates at the period of dehiscence.

Septifragal, when the dissepiments of a fruit are broken through their middle by the separation of the back of the carpels from the centre.

Sericeous, silky.

Serrate, toothed like the edge of a saw.

Sessile, seated close upon any thing, without a stalk.

Setose, covered with setæ or bristles.

Shield, the fructification of lichens.

Sigmoid, bent like the letter S.

Silicle, a short two-valved pod, such as is found in garden cress.

Silique, the same but longer, as in the cabbage.

Sinuate, turning in and out in an irregular manner.

Sori, the fructification of ferns.

Spadiceous, resembling a spadix, or bearing that kind of inflorescence.

Spadix, the inflorescence of an arum; an axis closely covered with sessile flowers, and enclosed in a spathe.

Spathaceous, enclosed within a spathe, or bearing that kind of bract.

Spathe, a large coloured bract which encloses a spadix.

Spatulate, shaped like a druggist’s spatula; that is, long, narrow, and broadest at the point.

Spike, an inflorescence in which the flowers are sessile upon their axis.

Spikelet, one of a great many small spikes collected in a mass, as in grasses.

Spine, a stiff, sharp-pointed, leafless branch.

Spongiole, or Spongelet, the tender, growing tip of the root.

Spore, or Sporule, the reproductive body of flowerless plants, analogous to the seed of flowering plants.

Squarrose, composed of parts which diverge at right angles, and are irregular in size and direction.

Stamen, the fertilizing organ of a flower, consisting of filament and anther.

Standard, the upper single petal of a papilionaceous flower.

Stellate, arranged in the form of a star.

Stigma, the upper end of the style, on which the pollen falls.

Stipe, the stalk that bears the head of a mushroom; also the stalk of the leaf of a fern; also the stalk of any thing, except of a leaf or a flower.

Stipulate, furnished with stipules; exstipulate, having no stipules.

Stipule, the scale at the base of some leaf-stalks.

Stomate, a minute hole in a leaf, through which respiration is supposed to be carried on; a breathing pore.

Strigose, covered with stiff unequal hairs.

Strophiolate, having little fungous excrescences surrounding the hilum.

Stupose, having a tuft of hairs in the middle or at the end.

Style, the stalk of the stigma.

Subulate, awl-shaped.

Syncarpous, having the carpels consolidated.

 

Terete, taper.

Ternate, united in threes.

Testa, the skin of the seed.

Tetradynamous, having six stamens in four parcels; two of which consist of two stamens, and two of one each.

Tetrandrous, having four stamens.

Thallus, the leafy part of a lichen; the union of stem and leaf in those and some other tribes of imperfect plants.

Theca, the case which contains the sporules of flowerless plants.

Tomentose, covered with short close down.

Toothed, the same as Dentate.

Torulose, alternately contracted and distended.

Torus, the growing point of a flower, on which the carpels are placed.

Triandrous, having three stamens.

Trifarious, arranged in three rows.

Trifid, divided into three lobes.

Trifoliolate, having three leaflets.

Tripartite, divided into three deep divisions.

Tripinnate, when each leaflet of a pinnated leaf is pinnate; and the leaflets of the latter are pinnate also.

Triternate, when each leaflet of a ternate leaf is ternate, and the leaflets of the latter are ternate also.

Truncate, abruptly cut off.

Tube, the part of a flower where the bases of the sepals, petals, or stamens are united.

Tuber, a deformed, fleshy kind of underground stem.

Turbinate, shaped like a spinning top.

 

Umbel, an inflorescence whose branches all radiate from one common point.

Umbilicate, having a depression in the middle.

Umbonate, having a boss or elevated point in the middle.

Undulated, wavy.

Unguiculate, furnished with a claw, or short stalk.

Urceolate, shaped like a pitcher.

Utricle, a small bladder.

 

Vagina, the sheath formed by the convolution of a flat petiole round a stem.

Valve, one of the parts into which any dehiscent body divides.

Vascular, containing vessels; that is, spiral vessels or ducts.

Ventricose, inflated.

Vernation, the manner in which the young leaves are arranged in their leaf-bud.

Verrucose, covered with warts.

Versatile, swinging lightly upon a sort of pivot.

Verticellate, arranged in a whorl.

Vexillum, same as Standard.

Villous, covered with long, soft, shaggy hair.

Virgate, having long, slender rodlike shoots.

Vitellus, a fleshy bag, interposed between the embryo and albumen in some seeds.

Vittate, striped, as distinguished from fasciate or banded.

 

Whorl, an arrangement of more leaves than two around a common centre upon the same plane.