Selected North Dakota and Minnesota Range Plants (continued)

EB-69, 1998

GLOSSARY

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

 

A-

Prefix meaning without

Abortive

Imperfectly developed; barren

Abrupt

Changing sharply or quickly, rather than gradually

Absent

Not present; never developing

Acaulescent

Stemless; without an above-ground stem or apparently so

Achene

A one-seeded, indehiscent fruit with a relatively thin wall in which the seed coat is not fused to the ovary wall

Actinomorphic

Symmetrical, regular; divisible into equal halves in two or more planes (contrast with zygomorphic)

Acuminate

Gradually tapering to a sharp point; compare with acute

Acute

Sharp-pointed, but less tapering than acuminate; angle less than 90 degrees

Ad-

Latin prefix, meaning to or toward

Adherent

Sticking together. Like adnate, the term is applied only to unlike parts, but it usually implies a less firm or less perfect union than adnate. (Compare coherent)

Adnate

Attached or grown together; fusion of unlike parts, such as palea and caryopsis in the genus Bromus

Adventitious

Developing irregularly or accidentally

Alternate

Located singly at each node; not opposite or whorled

Ament

A dense spike or raceme with many small, usually naked, flowers; a catkin such as in Populus

Amplexicaul

Clasping the stem

Androecium

Collective term for stamens

Androgynous spike (in Carex)

A spike with both staminate and pistillate flowers, the staminate above the pistillate. (Compare gynaecandrous spike)

Annual

Living one year

Anterior

Toward the front; in a flower, the side away from the axis and toward the tip

Anther

The part of a stamen in which pollen develops

Anthesis

Flowering, or time when pollination takes place

Antrose

Directed forward or upward

Apetalous

Without petals

Apex

The tip

Apical

Relating to the apex

Apiculate

Ending in a short, abrupt, flexible point (apiculum)

Apomixis

Nonsexual reproduction

Appressed

Flatly and closely pressed against

Arachnoid

Cobweblike, with entangled, slender, loose hairs

Areolate

Divided into small angular spaces

Areole

Small space marked out on a surface; the spine-bearing area on a cactus

Aril

An appendage growing on a seed, in the area of the hilum

Aromatic

Fragrant or having an odor; bearing essential oils

Articulate, articulated

Jointed, with a predetermined point of natural separation

Ascending

Growing obliquely upward (stems); directed obliquely forward in respect to the organ to which they are attached (parts of a plant)

Asepalous

Without sepals

Attenuate

Gradually tapering to very slender tip

Auricle

Ear-like lobes at the base of leaf blades; lateral appendages at the collar on a grass leaf

Auriculate

Having auricles

Awl-shaped

Narrow and sharp pointed; gradually tapering from a narrow base to a pointed apex; subulate

Awn

A terminal, bristlelike appendage

Axil

An angle formed between two organs (as petiole and stem)

Axis

A portion of a plant from which a series of lateral organs or branches arise, as the axis of an inflorescence. (Compare rachis)

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Banner

Upper petal (standard) of the papilionaceous flower in the Fabaceae

Barbate

Bearded with long, stiff hairs

Barbed

Furnished with retrorse projections

Barbellate

Finely barbed

Bark

Exterior covering of a woody stem or root; tissues lying outside the cambium

Beak

A long, firm, slender point

Bearded

Bearing long or stiff hairs in a line or tuft

Berry

A pulpy, indehiscent fruit with few to many seeds

Bi-

A Latin prefix meaning two

Biennial

Living for two years

Bifid

Two-cleft

Bifurcate(d)

Forked or Y-shaped

Bilabiate

Two-lipped, especially corolla

Bipinnate

Twice compound, with leaflets arranged on both sides of the axis

Blade

The flattened part of the leaf

Bloat

A digestive disturbance of livestock (especially cattle) marked by abdominal swelling due to a build up of gas, potentially fatal

Brackish

Salty water, with a saline content less than that of sea water

Bract

Reduced leaves (frequently associated with the flowers)

Bracteal

Having the form or position of a bract

Bracteate

Having bracts

Bristle

A stiff, slender appendage

Browse

Twigs, leaves, and other parts of woody plants consumed by herbivores; the act of consuming portions of woody plants

Bud

An undeveloped leafy shoot, or an undeveloped flower. Vegetative buds are often enclosed by reduced specialized leaves called bud-scales

Bulb

An underground bud with fleshy, thick scales

Bulbil, bulblet

A small bulb

Bur

A rough and prickly covering of a fruit

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Caducous

Early deciduous; falling off early

Caespitose

See Cespitose

Calcareous

Containing limestone or chalk

Callous

Having the texture of a callus

Callus

A hard protuberance

Calyx

The outer whorl of the perianth, composed of sepals

Cambium

A lateral meristem; specifically, the vascular or intrafascicular cambium, which produces xylem-internally and phloem externally

Campanulate

Bell-shaped

Canescent

Having gray or whitish pubescence

Capillary

Fine and slender; hair-like, such as pappus, bristles of many Asteraceae species

Capitate

Headlike, aggregated into a dense cluster

Capitellate

Aggregated into small, dense cluster

Capsule

A dry, dehiscent fruit of more than one carpel, usually with more than two seeds

Carinate

Having a central, longitudinal projection on the lower surface

Carpel

A foliar, ovule-bearing unit of a compound pistil, or a simple pistil

Cartilaginous

Tough and firm, but flexible

Castaneous

Chestnut colored (dark brown)

Catkin

A spikelike inflorescence of unisexual, apetalous, bracteate flowers

Caudate

Bearing a slender tail-like appendage

Caudex

A short, usually woody, vertical stem located just below the soil surface, often branched

Caulescent

Having a leafy stem

Cauline

Belonging to the stem

Cespitose, caespitose

Growing in tufts or mats

Chaff

Small, dry membranaceous bracts of scales

Channeled

Deeply grooved

Chartaceous

Having a papery texture

Cilia

Marginal hairs

Ciliate

Fringed with marginal hairs

Ciliolate

Minutely ciliate

Cinereous

Light gray or ash colored

Circumscissile

Dehiscing by a circular line around the organ

Cladophyll

A branch or stem that has the form and function of a leaf; same as phylloclad

Clasping

One organ or tissue partially or totally wrapped around a second

Claviform, Clavate

Shaped like a club; thickened toward the top

Claw

The long, narrow base of a petal (or sepal)

Cleft

Cut about half-way to the midrib or base, or a little deeper, deeply lobed. There is no sharp distinction between lobed, cleft, and parted, which in general apply to progressively deeper divisions

Cleistogamous flower

A self-pollinating flower that remains closed, setting seed without opening

Clone

A group of individuals of the same genotype, usually propagated vegetatively

Coherent

Sticking together, but not organically united. The term applies only to like parts

Collar

The area on the abaxial side of a leaf at the junction of the blade and sheath

Colony

A group of plants of the same species growing in close association with each other; all members of the group may have originated from a single plant

Colonial

Forming colonies. The term is used chiefly for plants with underground connections between separate aerial stems

Column

The lower portion of the awn of grasses

Coma

A tuft of hairs

Complete flower

A flower with calyx, corolla, androecium, and gynoecium

Compound

Made up of two or more parts

Compound leaf

A leaf with two or more distinct leaflets

Compound ovary or pistil

An ovary or pistil composed of more than one carpel

Compressed

Flattened laterally

Concave

Hollowed inward like the inside of a bowl

Cone

A dense, usually elongated collection of sporophylls and bracts on a central axis

Connate

Joined or united, usually similar structures

Conspicuous

Obvious; easy to notice

Constricted

Drawn together; appearing to be tightly held

Contiguous

Touching, but not fused; like or unlike parts

Contorted

Bent; twisted

Contracted

Inflorescences that are narrow or dense; frequently spike-like

Convex

Rounded on the surface like the bottom or exterior of a bowl

Convolute

Rolled up longitudinally

Copious

An abundance

Cordate

Heart-shaped, with rounded lobes and a sinus at the base

Coriaceous

With a leathery texture

Corm

The fleshy, bulblike base of a stem, usually underground

Corolla

All of the petals considered collectively

Corona

A crownlike structure; appendage between corolla and stamens

Coroniform

Crown-shaped

Corpusculum

A dark, basally cleft, tubular body above the stigmatic chamber, connected to pollinia (Asclepiadaceae, Passifloraceae)

Cortex

The tissue between the stele and epidermis of a stem; bark

Corymb

Strictly, a simple, racemose inflorescence that is flat-topped or round-topped because the outer pedicels are progressively longer than the inner; loosely, and inflorescence having the form of a corymb

Corymbiform

Having the form but not necessarily the structure of a corymb

Cotyledon

The primary leaf of the embryo; seed leaf

Creeping

Continually spreading; a shoot or horizontal stem that roots at the nodes

Crenate

Toothed with shallow, rounded teeth; scalloped

Crenulate

Finely crenate

Crested

With an elevated ridge or appendage on the top or back

Crispate, crisped

Curled

Cross section

Cut at a right angle to the main axis; transverse

Cruciate, cruciform

Cross-shaped

Culm

The stem of grass or sedge

Cuneate

Wedge-shaped at the base; triangular with the narrow end at the point of attachment

Curled

Formed in the shape of curves or spirals

Cusp

An abrupt, sharp, often rigid point

Cuspidate

Bearing an elongated, sharp, and firm point at the tip

Cuticle

The waxy layer covering the epidermis of a leaf or stem

Cyathium

An inflorescence with a cuplike involucre bearing unisexual flowers (Euphorbia)

Cylindric, Cylindrical

Shaped like a cylinder

Cyme

A broad, flat inflorescence with central flower blooming first

Cymose

Bearing cymes

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Deciduous

Not persistent; falling at end of growing season

Declinate, declined

Bent forward or downward

Decumbent

Reclining, but with the end ascending

Decurrent

Extending downward from point of insertion and adnate (leaf base)

Decurved

Curved downward (Penstemon)

Decussate

Pairs of opposite organs alternating at right angles at successive levels

Deflexed

Bent downward

Dehiscence

Method of opening

Dehiscent

Opening regularly by slits, valves, etc.

Delicate

Fine structure or texture

Deliquescent

With the central axis melting away irregularly into a series of smaller branches. (Compare excurrent.) Term also applied to flowers that collapse and become slimy after anthesis

Deltoid, Deltate

Triangular; shaped like the Greek letter delta

Dendritic

Treelike, as in branching

Dense

Crowded

Dentate

With sharp, spreading teeth

Denticulate

Minutely denate

Depauperate

Stunted

Depressed

Flattened from above; pressed down

Determine

An inflorescence with the terminal flower opening before those below

Diadelphous

Stamens arranged in two sets, often unequal in number

Dichlamydeous

Having two kinds of perianth-members, i.e., sepals and petals

Dichotomous

Forked regularly in paris

Dicotyledons

Flowering plants having two cotyledons, net venation, and flower parts usually in 5s

Didimous

Occurring in pairs

Didynamous

Stamens arranged in two sets of different lengths

Diffuse

Widely spreading

Digitate

Compound with members arising from one point; palmately compound

Dilated

Expanded into a blade, as though flattened

Dimorphic

Occurring in two forms

Dioecious

Having staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants

Diploid

Having two full chromosome-complements per cell

Disarticulating

Separating at maturity at a node or joint

Disciform

With the form of a disk. In the Asteraceae, with the central flowers of a head perfect (or functionally staminate) and the marginal ones pistillate but without a ligule

Discoid

Resembling a disc; in the Asteraceae, the central portion of the flowering head

Dished

Shaped like a dish

Disk floret

Small flower with tubular corolla, perfect, fertile, in disk portion of head (Asteraceate)

Dissected

Divided into narrow segments

Distinct

Clearly evident; separate; apart

Divaricate

Widely and stiffly divergent

Divergent

Widely spreading

Diverging

Spreading broadly, less so than divaricate

Divided

Separated or cut into distinct parts by inclusions extending to near the base or midrib

Dormancy

An inactive state; period during which plants are not active, such as in winter

Dorsal

Referring to the back or outer surface of an organ; the lower surface of a leaf

Downy

With soft, fine pubescence

Drupaceous

Resembling a drupe

Drupe

A fleshy, indehiscent fruit with 1 seed enclosed in a stony endocarp

Drupelet

Small drupe; one part of an aggregate drupe (raspberry)

Dull

Lacking brilliance or luster; not shiny

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E-, ex-

Latin prefixes denoting that parts are missing

Echinate

Having stout, straight, pricklelike hairs

Ecotype

An infraspecific population adapted to a particular habitat or set of similar habitats

Eglandular

Without glands

Elliptic, ellipsoid

Oval in shape, widest at middle and tapering equally to both rounded ends

Elongate

Narrow, the length many times the width or thickness

Emarginate

Having a shallow notch at the tip

Embryo

The rudimentary plant in the seed

Endemic

Confined to a particular geographic area

Endocarp

The inner layer of the pericarp (fruit wall)

Endogenous

Produced deep within another body

Endosperm

Food storage tissue of a seed, derived from the triple-fusion nucleus of the embryo-sac

Ensiform

Sword-shaped

Entire

Whole; with a continuous margin

Enveloped

Enclosed within

Ephermal

Lasting only one day

Epi-

A Greek prefix meaning upon

Epiphyte

A plant without connection to the soil, growing upon another plant, but not deriving its food or water from it. (Compare parasite)

Eprophyllate

In Juncus, without prophylls

Erose

With the margin appearing eroded or gnawed

Estipulate,exstipulate

Lacking stipules

Even-pinnate

Pinnately compound, but lacking a terminal leaflet, so that typically there is an even number of leaflets. (Compare odd-pinnate)

Evergreen

Woody plants that retain their leaves throughout the year

Exceeding

Greater than; larger than

Exfoliate

Shedding in flakes or thin layers

Exocarp

The outer layer of the pericarp (fruit wall)

Exposed

Open to view

Exserted

Projecting beyond (e.g., stamens from a corolla)

Exstipulate

Without stipules

Extra-

Latin prefix, meaning outside of

Extrose

Facing outward

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Faint

Lacking distinctness

Falcate

Sickle-shaped

Fall

Outer, spreading and often recurved, bearded perianth segment in Iris

Farinose

Covered with meal-like powder

Fascicle

A condensed bundle or cluster

Fasciculate

Congested in bundles or clusters

Feathery

Having the texture or appearance of feathers

Felty

Closely matted with intertwining hairs; having the texture or appearance of felt

Fern

A vascular plant with highly divided, delicate leaves

Ferrugineous

Rust colored

Fertile

Capable of producing fruit; does not refer to stamen presence or absence in grasses

Fibrillose

Composed of or breaking down into fibers or fibrils

Fibrous

Resembling or composed of fibers

Filament

The stalk of the stamens that supports the anther; thread

Filamentous, filamentose

Composed of filaments or threads

Filiform

Long and very slender, threadlike

Firm

Hard; resisting distortion when pressure is applied; indurate

Fissure

A deep groove

Fistulose, fistulous

Hollow, lacking pith, especially if somewhat inflated

Flabellate, flabelliform

Fan-shaped

Flattened

Having the major surfaces essentially parallel and distinctly greater than the minor surfaces

Fleshy

Pulpy; succulent

Flexuous

Bent alternately in opposite directions, a wavy form

Floccose

Covered with tufts of soft, woolly hairs

Floret

Small flower of dense inflorescence

Floriferous

Bearing flowers

Foliaceous

Leaflike

Foliate

Suffix pertaining to or consisting of leaflets (i.e., three-foliate means that the leaves are made up of three leaflets)

Foliolate

Having leaflets

Foliose

Bearing numerous leaves

Follicle

A dry dehiscent fruit, opening by one suture

Forb

Herbaceous plants other than grasses and grass-like plants

Fragrant

Having a sweet or delicate odor

Fringed

Having a border consisting of hairs or other structures

Frond

The leaf of a fern

Fruit

Ripened ovary (pistil); the seed bearing organ

Fruitcose

Shrubby

Frutescent

Becoming shrubby

Funnelform

Shaped like a funnel

Furcate

Forked; often in combining forms, e.g., trifurcate, three-forked

Furrowed

Bearing longitudinal grooves or channels; sulcate

Fusiform

Spindle-shaped, swollen in middle and tapering to both ends

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Gametophyte

The haploid, gamete-bearing generation of a plant

Gamo-

Greek prefix, meaning (in this context) connate, as gamopetalous or gamosepalous

Gamopetalous

Having the petals at least partially united; sympetalous

Gamosepalous

Having the sepals at least partially united

Geminate

In pairs

Geniculate

Bent sharply, like a knee

Gibbons

Swollen on one side

Glabrate, glabrescent

Nearly glabrous, or becoming glabrous

Glabrous

Smooth and not hairy

Gland

A protuberance or depression that appears to secrete a fluid

Glandular, glanduliferous

Having glands of secretory organs

Glaucescent

Slightly glaucous

Glaucous

Covered with a whitish waxy bloom that rubs off easily.

Globose

Nearly spherical in shape

Glochid

An apically barbed bristle or hair

Glochidia

Hairs or hair-like outgrowths with retrorse barbs at the tip

Glomerate

Densely compacted in clusters or heads

Glomerule

A small, compact, head-like cyme; any dense, small cluster

Glume

A small, chaffy bract; a sterile bract at the base of grass spikelet

Glutinous

Provided with a firm, somewhat sticky covering or component

Grain

General term for the fruit of grass, a dry, indehiscent, 1-seeded fruit in which seed and pericarp are fused

Granulate

Covered with minute, grainlike particles

Grass

Monocotyledonous herbaceous plants of the family Poaceae (Gramineae family)

Grass-like

Herbaceous plants similar in appearance to grasses such as sedges and rushes

Graze

To consume growing and/or standing grass or forb herbage to place animals on pastures to enable them to consume the herbage

Gymnosperm

Vascular plants which produce naked seeds, such as the conifers

Gynaecandrous spike (in Carex)

A spike with both staminate and pistillate flowers, the staminate below the pistillate (Compare androgynous spike)

Gynandrous

With the stamens adnate to the pistil, as in orchids

Gynocium

All the carpels of a flower, collectively

Gynophore

A central stalk in some flowers, bearing the gynoecium

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EB-69, 1998