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First Nature - Wildflower terms Category: Animals and Nature > Wildflowers Date & country: 26/08/2013, USA Words: 168

Achene
One-seeded, non-splitting dry fruit

Achlorophyllose
Without chlorophyll, a green pigment, and therefore unable to photosynthesise

Acidophile
Preferring to grow on acid soils

Actinomorphic
Radially symmetrical or having more than one plane of symmetry

Adventitious
Roots and buds that appear on a stem in abnormal places

Albinism
A complete lack of pigmentation

Albino
Plant lacking pigmentation

Alkaline
Calcareous or chalky substrates

Allele
One possible form of a gene

Allogamy
Fertilisation by pollen from a flower of the same species

Allopatric
Species in geographical areas that do not overlap

Alternate
Leaves occurring singly on opposite sides of a stem, rather than in pairs

Anemophilous
Pollinated by wind

Annular
Ring-shaped

Anther
A male reproductive organ of a flower that bears pollen

Anthocynanins
Pigments producing red or purple colours

Anthoxanthins
Yellow pigments in plants

Aphyllous
Without leaves

Apical
At the tip

Apochromy
Having abnormal colour

Apomixis
Seed reproduction from unfertilised egg cells

Asymbiotic
When symbiotic fungi are absent

Auricles
Ear-shaped structures

Autogamous
Self-pollinating

Axil
The angle between a stem and a branch or a leaf

Back-cross
Cross between a hybrid and one of its parents

Basal
Located at the base of an organ, for example a leaf at the base of a stem

Bog
Wet, acidic peat

Bosses
Irregular swellings

Bract
Leaf-like structure often found beneath a flower

Bracteole
Secondary bract at the base of secondary branches of the flower stalk

Bulb
Food storage organ formed by a cluster of fleshy leaf bases

Calcareous
Usually refers to limstone rock or chalky soil with a high calcium content

Calyx
The outer whorl of a flower, which is made up of its set of sepals

Capsule
A dry seed pod

Carapace
Hardened shell

Carpel
The female seed-producing unit in a flower, consisting of an ovary connected by a style to a stigma

Chlorophyll
Green pigment important in photosynthesis

Cilia
Tiny fleshy hair-like structures

Cladode
Modified stem that resembles a leaf (for example in Butcher's Broom)

Cleistogamous
Self-pollinating flowers with petals and sepals that never open

Clone
Identical genetic match to a 'parent'

Corolla
Inner whorl of petals of a flower

Corona
Petal-like flaps, often elongated to form a crown-like tube (as for example in a daffodil)

Crenate
Structures with minute scalloped or round-toothed margins

Cross-pollination
Pollination of one flower by pollen from another, usually from a different plant

Cyme
Cluster of flowers with lateral branches each ending in a flower

Deciduous
Sheds leaves or other organs in one limited period during every year (unlike evergreens whose leaves are not all shed at the same time)

Decurved
Curved downwards

Deflexed
Bent sharply downwards

Diploid
Normal state for plant cells - containing two matching sets of chromosomes

Disc floret
A flower in the centre of a flower-head whose petals form a tube

Drupe
Fleshy fruit containing seeds surrounded by a toughened coat (as in plums, peaches etc)

Drupelet
One of a group of connected drupes (as in blackberries etc)

Ectomychorrhiza
Association with fungi where the fungus forms a layer on the outside of the roots of a plant

Endomychorrhiza
Association with fungi where the fungus penetrates the root of a plant

Epicalyx
Second ring of sepal-like organs immediately below the true sepals (calyx)

Epichile
Outer portion of the lip in those orchid genera where the lip is divided into two parts

Epidermis
A 'skin' or surface layer

Epiphyte
A plant that grows on the surface of another but without taking nutrients from it

Esker
Glacial deposits such as sand and gravel

Eutrophication
Where a habitat becomes over-enriched with nutrients. This happens frequently with rivers or ponds as a result of run-off from farming and is often the cause of native species becoming stifled or destroyed

Fall petal
One of the three outer petals of the iris that droop downwards

Family
Classification unit grouping closely related genera

Fen
Marshes and wetlands sited on alkaline, neutral or only very slightly acid soil, often but not always beside lakes

Filiform
Thread-like

Floret
One of the small flowers contained in a flower-head

Flower head
A cluster of florets or flowers

Garrigue/Garigue
Habitat with low-growing shrubs with wide gaps in between them. Common in the Mediterranean region

Geitonogamy
Fertilised by pollen from a flower on the same plant

Genus
Classification unit grouping together closely related species (Pl. genera)

Gland
Superficial organ that secretes oils or other substances

Glandular hair
Hair containing a gland

Hemiparasitic
A plant relying partly on the nutrients abstracted from other plants

Herbaceous
A plant that dies down to ground level at the end of the growing season

Herbarium
Collection of dried, pressed plants

Hooded
Developed into a concave shape

Hybrid
Plant originating from cross pollination between two different species

Hybrid swarm
Population of plants where the barriers between two species have broken down leading to hybrids and back crosses interbreeding. The resulting plants exhibit a variety of characteristics from both 'parents'

Hybrid vigour
Where plants of the first generation of hybrids become exceptionally large and robust

Hypanthial tube
Tube formed from by an extension of the receptacle below a flower

Hyperchromic
Having an excessive amount of pigmentation, resulting in more intense colour

Hypha
Fine thread-like structure that makes up the body of a fungus. Pl. hyphae

Inflorescence
A group of flowers arising from one stem

Intergeneric hybrid
A hybrid where the 'parents' are from two different genera

Internode
Stem section between two nodes

Introduced
Brought into an area by human or other means

Involucral bract
Bract forming part of an involucre

Involucre
Ring of crowded bracts encircling a flower head

Keel/Keel petal
Lower fused petals of a pea flower folded to form a hull-like structure

Lanceolate
Oval and narrowing to a pointed tip

Latex
Milky sap

Lax
Loose rather than densely packed (usually applied to the flowers in an inflorescence)

Lignify
To become woody

Lip
A petal that protrudes, forming a lobe. Found in orchids and in flowers of the Mint family

Machair
Confined to the coasts of western Ireland and Scotland, a sandy, lime-rich (usually as the result of crushed shells) habitat usually species-rich

Maquis
An area of densely-packed shrubs up to five metres in height. Common in the Mediterranean region

Meadow
Grassy field which kept for the production of hay and grazed only infrequently

Mealy
A flour-like texture or substance

Mericarp
One-seeded portion of a fruit formed when it splits from the rest of the fruit