]]A

Abaxial: The side away from the axis. Compare Adaxial.

Abrupt: To terminate suddenly. Compare with Truncate.

Acaulescent: Without a stem, or the stem so short that the leaves appear all basal, like with Taraxacum officinale (Common Dandelion). Note: avoid confusing the peduncle with the stem. 

Achene: A small, dry, single-seeded fruit with a thin wall not prone to splitting (indehiscent).

Achlorophyllous: Lacking chlorophyll as in plants or plant structures that are not green.

Acidic: Material that has a pH of less than 7.0.

Actinomorphic: Radially symmetrical, so that, when a line that is drawn through the middle of the structure along any plane, it will produce a mirror image on either side.

Acrid: A sharp, bitter, or biting taste.

Acuminate: Tapering gradually to a long slender point.

Acute: Tapering to a pointed apex and having more or less straight sides.

Adaxial: The side facing towards the axis.

Adherent: When unlike parts stick together as in the anthers to the style. The attachment is not as firm or solid as the term Adnate.

Adnate: The fusion of unlike parts as when the stamens are fused to the corolla.

Aduncate: Hooked at the end.

Adventitious: Structures or organs that are developing in an unusual position, as when roots originate on the stem.

Aggregate: To be densely clustered.

Aggregate fruit: A term usually applied to a cluster or group of small fleshy fruits that originate from a number of separate pistils in a single flower, as in the clustered druplets of the raspberry.

Alkaline: Material that is basic rather than acidic; having a pH of greater than 7.0

Alternate: Situated singly on a stem or placed regularly between organs of a different type (i.e., stamens alternate with sepals, or position of leaves on a stem).

Ament: A dense raceme or spike inflorescence bearing small, naked or apetalous unisexual flowers, like those of Salicaceae or Betulaceae. Also called a Catkin.

Androecium: All stamens in a flower collectively.

Androgynous: With both staminate and pistilate flowers, where the staminate flowers are borne above the pistilate as in the inflorescences of some Carex (sedge) species.

Angiosperm: A plant that produces flowers and bearing seeds (ovules) in a fruit (ovary).

Annual: A plant that germinates from seed, flowers, sets seed, and dies all in the same growing season.

Anterior: To be in front, or on the side away from the axis, as with the lower lip of a bilabiate corolla of a Penstemon (Beardtongue) flower.

Anther: The expanded, apical, pollen bearing portion of the stamen.

Anthesis: When the flower is fully expanded and functioning in its flowering period.

Apetalous: Having no petals.

Apex (Plural: Apices): The tip, or the point that is farthest from the point of attachment.

Aphyllopodic: The lowest leaves that are reduced and scale-like, with the first true blades appearing well above the base of the plant.

Apical: Located at the tip or the apex.

Appressed: To be pressed close or flat against that of another organ.

Approximate: Borne close together, but are not fused.

Areolae: Small, defined areas on the surface.

Articulate: Jointed, with the joint being the ultimate point of separation.

Ascending: To grow obliquely upward, where growth is usually curved at the base from the crown. 

Asexual: To reproduce without male-female sexual union.

Asymmetrical: Not able to be divisible into equal halves as in some leaves; irregular in shape.

Auricle: An appendage that is small and ear-shaped such as those at the base of a leaf.

Awl-shaped: Tapering gradually from the base to a rigid slender point.

Awn: A bristle-like narrow, usually terminal appendage that appears usually at the tip.

Awned: Bearing an awn.

Axil: The point formed between the upper angle of a stem and any part that arises from it, usually with leaves.

Axillary: Situated in or arising from the axil.

Axis: The central supporting, longitudinal structure or line around which various organs are borne, such as with a stem bearing leaves.

B

Balsam: A fragrant, sticky exudate from any tree species. 

Banded: Striped.

Banner: The upper and often largest petal of a papilionaceous flower, as in the pea flower.

Barbed: Bearing short, stiff, pointed, bristly, reflexed points or hairs, like that of a fish hook.

Bark: The outermost layers of a woody trunk or stem which includes all the living and non-living tissues external to the cambium.

Basal: Positioned at or arising from the base, like with leaves arising from the base of the stem or crown. 

Beak: Narrow or elongated tip, as with on some fruits and seeds.

Berry: A fleshy or pulpy fruit that was formed from a single pistil, with one to many seeds; a fleshy ovary wall and a thin outer skin, and often lacking a pit or core.

Bidentate: Cleft with two teeth.

Biennial: Plants that complete their lifecycle in two years, usually only forming vegetatively in the first year, and then flowering and fruiting the second year.

Bilabiate: Two-lipped, as with irregular flowers (applied to perianth segments).

Blade: The broad, flat part of a leaf or petal.

Bract: A reduced or modified leaf or leaf-like structure (or scale) at the base of a flower or inflorescence, or also a flower cluster.

Bracteole: A small bract, usually secondary in nature; a bractlet.

Bractlet: See Bracteole.

Bud: An under-developed leaf, stem, or flower, with vegetative buds often covered by small modified leaves.

Bud scales: Scale-like modified leaves that cover a bud.

Bulb: An underground bud that is often short and thick and covered by fleshy modified leaves or leaf bases that function as food storage organs.

Bulbil: A small, new bulb that arises beside a parent bulb.

Bulblet: A small bulb; a bulb-like structure that is borne above ground usually in a leaf axil or which sometimes replaces flowers, functioning like it is a vegetative reproductive structure.

Bur (or Burr): A structure that is often armed with hooked or barbed spines or appendages.

C

Caespitose: Plants which are densely tufted.

Calcareous: Lime-rich (with calcium carbonate).

Calyx: The collective term for all of the sepals of a flower. 

Cambium: Tissue composed of cells that are capable of active cell division, producing xylem to the inside and phloem to the outside of a woody plant. Also, a lateral meristem.

Capillary: Very fine and hair-like.

Capsule: A dry, dehiscent fruit that is composed of more than one carpel.

Carinate: Keeled.

Cariopsis: See Caryopsis.

Carpel: The fertile, female reproductive organ of a flower or angiosperm that contains the stigma, style, and ovary. Pistils are composed of one to several carpels. It is also defined as a simple pistil that is formed from one modified leaf.

Caryopsis: A dry, one-seeded indehiscent fruit with the seed coat being fused to the pericarp. This is the fruit of all members of the Graminaceae Family (grasses), and also called a grain.

Catkin:  Another term for Ament, which is a dense raceme or spike inflorescence bearing small, naked or apetalous unisexual flowers, as in the catkins of Salicaceae or Betulaceae.

Caudex: A short, persistent and often woody base of a herbaceous perennial that is found at or just below the soil surface. It produces new growth annually, and often is found at the top of a rhizome or taproot.

Caulescent: Obvious leafy stem rising from above the ground.

Cauline: On, of, or pertaining to the stem. 

Chaff: Thin, dry scales or bracts, like the bracts on the receptacles of flower heads of the Asteraceae family (Aster family).

Ciliate: Fringed margins containing tiny hairs.

Clasping (leaves): Where the base wholly or partly surrounds the stem.

Claw: The narrowed, stalk-like base of some petals or sepals.

Cleft: Divided, cut, or split down to nearly the middle or base.

Cleistogamous (flower): Self-fertilizing and setting seed without opening.

Climbing: Growing more or less erect by leaning or twining on another structure or plant for support.

Clone: A group of individuals originating from a single parent plant by way of vegetative (asexual) reproduction.

Climax (plants): The original, stable vegetative community  that develops throughout time on a specific soil and in a specific climate.

Collar: The area on the outside of a grass leaf at the junction of the blade and sheath.

Colonial: Forming of colonies: usually in reference to groups of plants connected to one another by underground organs (rhizomes).

Complete (flowers): Having all of the parts that typically belong to it present, as a flower with sepals, petals (calyx and corolla), pistils and stamens (the functional male and female organs: androecium and gynoecium).

Compound leaf: A leaf that is separated into two or more distinct leaflets.

Cone: A dense cluster of sporophylls or ovuliferous scales that are clustered on an axis.

Conical: Cone-shaped.

Connate: The fusion of like parts, where they have grown together or are attached together.

Connective: The part of the stamen that connects two pollen sacs of an anther together.

Connivent: Converging, but organs are not actually united or fused. 

Constricted: Drawn together or narrowed.

Continuous (collar): Extending from one sheath margin to another.

Cordate: Heart-shaped, with the notch at the base and the apex rounded.

Corm: A short, thickened, vertical underground stem with thin, papery leaves that functions in food storage. The corm is more solid and does not have thickened leaves like in bulbs.

Corolla: The collective term for all the petals of a flower; also, the perianth whorl.

Corona: Crown- or petal-like structures between the petals and stamens in some flowers. 

Corymb: A round- or flat-topped inflorescence with the lower pedicels longer than the upper, and the lower flowers tending to bloom first.

Corymbose: Flowers that are arranged in a corymb. 

Cotyledon: The primary leaf of an embryo, or a seed leaf. Monocotyledon is one leaf; Dicotyledon is two leaves.

Creeping: Growing along the surface of the ground or just beneath the surface and producing roots at the nodes.

Crenate: Having rounded teeth around the margin. 

Crest: An elevated ridge or rib on a surface.

Crested: Having a crest usually at the summit or on the back.

Crinkled: Flattened and somewhat kinked, twisted or curled.

Crisped: Wavy, curled, or crinkled. 

Crown: The persistent base of an herbaceous perennial from where both roots and vegetative growth are produced; the top of a tree; the appendages in a corolla throat. 

Cruciform: Cross-shaped.

Culm: The hollow or pithy stalk or stem that often bears an inflorescence at the top. A feature of grasses, rushes, and sedges.

Cuneate: Shaped like a wedge, triangular and tapering to a point at the base. 

Cyme: A flat- or round-topped determinate inflorescence where the terminal (or central) flower of each cluster tends to bloom first.

D

Deciduous: Falling off at the completion of its function, as leaves from a tree; not evergreen; not persistent.

Declined: Curved downward, rather obliquely.

Decurrent: Wings or margins (of leaves, usually) that extend down below from the point of insertion, often adnate to the axis.

Deflexed: Bent abruptly downward.

Dehiscence: The opening of maturity of fruits and anthers.

Dehiscent: Opening of maturity or when ripe to release the contents, as fruit or anthers.

Deltoid: In the shape of the Greek letter delta; shaped in the form of an equilateral triangle. 

Descending: Pointing downward at a moderate angle.

Dicotyledonous: Having two cotyledons.

Digitate: Finger-like.

Dioecious: Unisexual, flowers often imperfect, male and female reproductive structures are found on separate plants. 

Disarticulating: Separating at a joint. 

Disc (or Disk): Generally, the enlargement or outgrowth of the flower receptacle; in the Asteraceae family, the central portion of a head having tubular or disk flowers. 

Disc flower: A regular flower of the Asteraceae family.

Discoid: Resembling a head; in Asteraceae, it refers to heads containing only tubular or disk flowers.

Dissected: Deeply divided into many narrow segments.

Distichous: In two vertical rows or ranks on opposite sides of an axis; two-ranked. 

Distinct: Not attached to like parts; separate; not united with adjacent similar organs.

Divaricate: Widely divergent or spreading apart from the axis. 

Divided: Lobed or cut at the base or to the midrib. In grasses, refers to the collars which are separated by the midrib.

Dorsal: Referring to the back or outward surface of an organ in relation to the axis; abaxial.

Drupe: Fruits that are similar to berries, having a fleshy middle ovary wall and thin outer skin, yet differing in that the inside ovary wall is hardened and bony (stone) enclosing 1 to 2 seeds, as in peaches or cherries.

Druplet: A small drupe, as in the individual segments of a raspberry fruit, usually one of a cluster.

E

Early successional: These are pioneer plant species that are the first to establish on a disturbed site. These are native species that are usually also present in climax vegetation, but decline in prominence as the natural plant succession allows the climax species to establish and take over.

Emarginate: Having a small notch at the apex. 

Endocarp: The inner layer of the pericarp of a fruit. 

Epigynous: With perianth and stamens attached to the top of the ovary; the ovary is inferior to other flower parts.

Epidermis: The outermost cellular layer of a non-woody plant organ; skin.

Equitant: Straddling or overlapping in two ranks, as in the leaves of Iridaceae; having edges rather than surface facing the stem.

Evergreen: Leaves that remain green and attached throughout the winter.

Excurrent: The central axis continuing through beyond the apex and exserted through as a short point. 

Exserted: Projecting beyond surrounding parts. 

F

Farinose: Covered in a mealy white powder.

Fascicle: Tight cluster or bundle.

Fertile: Able to bear viable seeds or pollen.

Fibril: Delicate fibre or hair.

Fibrillose: Bearing fibrils; shredded due to disintegration of thin tissue between persistent veins.

Filament: Stalk of the stamen that supports the anther.

Filiform: Very fine and narrow.

Flaccid: Weak and lax, not rigid; not able to support its own weight.

Fleshy: Thickened and succulent or pulpy; juicy.

Flocculent: Having tufts of very fine wooly hairs.

Floricane: The second year and reproductive growth of Rubus. 

Floret: A small flower, often one of a larger cluster as in the spikelets of grasses or members of Asteraceae.

Follicle: A dry, dehiscent or pod-like fruit derived from a single carpel and often opening along one (ventral) side.

Forage value: The value of a species for ungulates that depend on a number of combined factors including nutritional value/quality, palatability, quantity of forage produced and available for consumption, length of time it lasts in the stand, and its primary distribution patterns. The forage value can vary from one location to another. Value also depends on the class of livestock or wildlife that use those plants and what season the target species is being used.

Forbs: A non-grasslike herbaceous plant, or primarily broad-leaved flowering plants that have net-like veins. To simplify identification, this category is broadened to include parallel-veined plants with bright coloured flowers like those in the Orchidaceae and Liliaceae families.

G

Gall: An abnormal growth caused by insects.

Gametophyte: The generation having “n” chromosomes and produces reproductive structures (gametes). Gametophytes in angiosperms are the embryo sac and pollen grain.

Gamopetalous: Petals connate or united, at least partially towards the base.

Gibbous: Abruptly swollen on one side, typically at the base of the perianth.

Glabrous: Smooth; hairless.

Gland: Small secreting structures that are either protruding, stalked, or depressed, producing volatile oils or nectar that is often sticky or oily.

Glandular: Having glands, or of or pertaining to a gland; gland-like.

Glaucous: Covered with a fine waxy coating or powder giving a whitish or bluish colour.

Glomerule: A dense cluster; a dense head-like cyme.

Glume: One of the two empty (flowerless) bracts subtending or at the base of a grass spikelet; a chaffy bract in grasses or sedges.

Grain: The fruit of grasses. See Caryopsis.

Graminoid: Member of the Poaceae or grass family.

Grasses: Plants that have hollow, jointed stems and leaves in two rows (ranks). Flowers are usually perfect, with seeds borne between two scales (palea and lemma). 

Grass-like: Plants which have parallel-veined narrow leaves and resemble grasses. The stems are solid, often triangular and not jointed. Primarily, the group includes sedges and rushes. Strictly speaking, it can also include other monocots like arrow-grass, lilies, etc. 

Grazing Response: The reaction of a plant species when being grazed. The overall response varies with soil, climate, and habitat. The following groups are recognized:

• Invader: Primarily non-native plants that invade and replace existing vegetation when it dies back, shows reduced vigor, or is eliminated due to disturbances and overgrazing. These species may or may not have grazing value to livestock or wildlife.
• Decreaser: Plants which are major components of the original climax vegetation community. These species tend to be highly productive but decline in population and vigor when under heavy grazing pressure due to its high palatability and often inferior reproductive capacity.
• Increaser: Native plants that increase in prominence and vigor and which will replace decreaser species as they decline. These species tend to be less productive and less palatable. They also often have superior reproductive adaptations to other species.

Gymnosperm: Plants that produce seeds which are not borne in an ovary (fruit), and the seeds are usually borne in cones.

Gynoecium: The collective carpels or pistils of a flower. 

H

Habit: The general appearance, characteristic form, or manner of growth and form of a plant.

Habitat: The environmental conditions of circumstances and kind of place where a plant naturally occurs or is able to grow.

Head: A dense, compact inflorescence on a short, sessile or subsessile receptacle or axis; a racemose attachment. 

Herb: Annual or perennial plants that have their above-ground portion dying back to ground level at the end of each growing season. Plant lacks an above ground woody stem.

Herbaceous: Having the characteristics of an herb; not woody. Also refers to a leaf-like colour and texture.

Hermaphroditic: Having pistils and stamens in the same flower.

Heterotypic Synonym: In taxonomy, it is the alternative scientific name for a taxon that is not based on the same type of specimen or nomenclatural rank as another name. It is often based on scientists’ opinions and can be used on restricted species that have their own unique type. For instance, the Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) has many heterotypic synonyms that are so named based on their unique type for the area scientists have found it in.

Hip: A berry-like structure that is composed of an enlarged hypanthium surrounding numerous achenes, as in roses.

Homosporous: Producing one kind of spore, these become gametophytes that produce female and male structures.

Homotypic Synonym: In taxonomy, it is the alternative scientific name for a taxon that is based on the same type of specimen and nomenclatural rank as another name. For example, for the Common Dandelion, Leontodon taraxacum is the homotypic synonym of Taraxacum officinale.

Hyaline: Transparent or translucent, pale; thin and membranous. 

Hypanthium: A cup-, saucer-, or tubular-shaped extension of the floral axis often formed from the union of the basal parts of the calyx, corolla, and androecium, commonly surrounding or enclosing the pistils and ovary. 

Hypogynous: Stamens, pistils and sepals attached beneath the ovary, the ovary is superior to other floral parts. 

I

Immersed: Growing under water in entirety. 

Imperfect: Flowers lacking either stamens or pistils, never having both; unisexual.

Included: Containing with in, not projecting beyond the surrounding organs or parts, as with stamens contained within the corolla. 

Indicator Species: Plant species that reveal something about the site, or environmental conditions. This includes references to range or pasture condition (high cover of desirable species like rough fescue or smooth brome indicates good condition) and type of ecosite or plant community (cloudberry often indicates acidic bog ecosites). 

Inferior (ovary): Attached beneath, as with an ovary that is attached beneath the point of attachment of the other floral parts that appear to rise from on top of the ovary; an epigynous flower that has flower parts attached to a hypanthium which projects above the ovary.

Infertile: Sterile or inviable.

Inflorescence: The type of arrangement of flowers that occur on the axis; generally, the flower cluster.

Infundibular (also: Infundibulate, Infundibuliform): Funnel-shaped. 

Innovation: A vegetative shoot that arises from the base of the main stem. 

Inrolled: Rolled inward or curled.

Internode: The part of the stem that is between two nodes. 

Introduced (plants): The species of plants that have been brought into an ecoregion which were nor are part of the original indigenous population. Primarily refers to species that are not native to North America. 

Involucre: A whorl of bracts subtending a flower or inflorescence.

Involute: With the margins rolled inward toward the upper surface, partially or entirely concealing that surface.

Irregular (flower): Bilaterally symmetrical; a flower that has all parts (petals or sepals) that are dissimilar, especially in size and arrangement on the receptacle. 

JKL

Joint: The part of a stem from where a leaf or branch arises; especially on a grass stem, a node. 

Keel: A sharp prominent ridge, like the keel of a boat as on some grass blades, some sepals, etc.; the lower two united petals of most Fabaceae flowers.

Keeled: Ridged, like the keel of a boat.

Lacerate: With the margins cut or cleft irregularly like they were torn.

Lanceolate: Lance-shaped, similar to ovate shape but narrower, generally several times longer than it is broad. Base goes from narrowed to broader-rounded, and the widest point is below the middle.

Lateral: Borne on or at the sides rather than the base or apex.

Latex: Referring to the milky sap that some plants produce that contain particles of terpenes (volatile oils that contain hydrocarbons).

Leaflet: A division or single unit of a compound leaf.

Legume: A plant that belongs to the Fabaceae family; a dry, dehiscent fruit or pod that is derived from this family and which comes from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal lines like that of a pea pod. 

Lemma: Usually the largest and lower of the two bracts subtending a grass floret (the other being the palea), and often surrounds the palea.

Lenticel: A somewhat raised, lens-shaped, slightly corky spot on bark or the surface of a young stem.

Ligule: A strap-shaped organ, particularly in Asteraceae of ray flowers where the ray corolla is shaped as such; in graminoids and grass-likes (especially sedges), the small thin appendage that rises from the inner leaf surface at the junction of the leaf sheath and blade.

Limb: A tree branch; the expanded part of a petal or leaf, specifically in gamopetalous corollas.

Linear: Very long and linear in shape, the sides more or less parallel.

Lip: One of two primary segments in a bilabiate (two-lipped) corolla; the exceptional lower petal of an orchid.

Lobe: The rounded division or segment of a leaf or other organ.

Locule: The chamber or cavity (or cell) of an organ, like that of the cell of an ovary which contains the seed. 

Loment: The fruit of some legumes where the pod is constricted between 1-seeded segments. 

Lyrate: Lyre-shaped; pinnate, the terminal lobe larger and rounded and the lower lobes much smaller.

M

Many (botany): Greater than ten.

Membranous: Thin, soft, flexible, and more or less translucent, like that of a membrane.

Meristem: Undifferentiated and actively dividing tissues at the growing tips of roots and shoots. 

Midrib: The central vein or rib of a leaf or other plant part. 

Moisture Regimes: Areas designated by moisture availability for plant growth. Factors influencing this include soil texture (internal drainage), slope (external drainage), local total precipitation amounts, soil surface conditions, and topographic position. The following moisture regime types are the following:

• Hydric: Saturated conditions, with water removal so slow that the water table remains at the soil surface.
• Sub-hydric: Soils wet to the extent that the permanent water table is near the surface for most of the year; discharge likely.
• Hygric: Soil remains moist for most of the growing season; permanent discharge areas.
• Sub-hygric: Water removal remains slow enough to prevent drying for extended periods throughout the growing season; precipitation and discharge water sources.
• Mesic: Moderate water removal following precipitation, soil moisture generally persists for moderate time periods.
• Sub-mesic: Moderately fast water removal following precipitation, soil moisture generally persists for moderate periods of time.
• Sub-xeric: Rapid water removal following precipitation, but soil moisture persists somewhat longer than in xeric conditions.
• Xeric: Water removal rapid, for brief periods soil is moist following precipitation
• Very-xeric: Very rapid water removal, soils remain dry most of the time following precipitation.

Monocotyledonous: Having a single cotyledon or seed leaf. 

Monoecious: Flowers are often imperfect, with stamens and pistils occurring on the same plant (compare Dioecious).

Montane: Located on lower mountain slopes, usually not found in the alpine ecoregion.

Multifid: Cleft into multiple narrow segments or lobes.

Multifoliate: Having many leaves or leaflets. 

Muskeg: Sphagnum peatland having associated woody species such as Larix laricina (Larch) and particularly Picea mariana (Black Spruce).

Mycorrhiza (pl. Mycorrhizae): the symbiotic relationship between fungi and plant roots.

Mycorrhizal: Having a symbiotic relationship between fungi and the roots of a plant. 

N

Naked: Lacking structures normally present on other organs, such as hairs, scales, or other appendages, such as a flower lacking a perianth.

Native plants: Plants originally present in a given plant community or ecoregion; generally or more broadly referring to plants that are native to North America.

Naturalized: Plants that have been introduced from elsewhere which have now established themselves in the plant community, such as Poa pratensis (Kentucky Bluegrass) in a rough fescue-dominant community. 

Nectar: A sugary, sticky fluid secreted by many plants, usually from flowers.

Nectary: A gland, tissue or organ that secretes nectar, usually located on a flower.

Needle: A slender needle-shaped leaf as in the Pinaceae family.

Nerve: A prominent vein on a leaf or organ, usually longitudinal. 

Neutral: A flower having neither stamens nor pistils, or these being non-functional.

Nodding: Bent to one side and at a downward angle. 

Node: The point of attachment on a stem from where branches, leaves, and roots come from; in grasses, the joint of the culm or stem. 

Nodule: A knob or swelling. 

Nodulose: Having tiny or small knobs or nodules.

Numerous (botany): More than ten.

Nut: A hard, dry, indehiscent fruit that contains a hard wall, and is usually one-seeded. It is often larger and harder than an achene. 

Nutlet: A small nut; achene-like but with hardened walls.

O

Obcordate: Heart-shaped but inverted (or inversely cordate), attachment being at the narrow end.

Oblanceolate: Inversely lanceolate, with the attachment at the narrower end, or the broadest part at or above the middle. 

Oblique: Having unequal sides, especially on a leaf base; slanting and with varying widths. 

Oblong: Two to four times longer than wide with sides more or less parallel and with base and apex rounded; elongate rectangular.

Obovate: Inversely ovate, the broadest part above the middle, the base wedge-shaped (cuneate) and the apex broadly acute; attachment is at the narrower end. 

Obsolete: A structure or organ that is much reduced to where it is barely detectable and likely non-functional; essentially lacking; vestigial. 

Ocrea (pl. Ocreae): A sheath derived from a stipule which surrounds the stem just above the leaf base as in many members of Polygonaceae. 

Opposite: Situated directly across from one another at a node on the stem, as in a stem with two leaves per node; placed directly in front rather than beside (alternate) or borne over or on the same radius as other organs as opposed to between other organs. Compare Alternate.

Oval: Broadly elliptical, the width usually being over one-half of the length.

Ovary: The expanded part of the pistil or carpel that contains the ovules. 

Ovate: Egg-shaped in outline (applied to plane or two-dimensional surfaces) and similar to oval, but the broadest being below the middle where the attachment is. 

Ovoid: Egg-shaped (applied to three-dimensional surfaces).

Ovule: An immature seed. 

Ovuliferous: Bearing ovules. 

P

Palea: The uppermost of the two bracts subtending a grass floret (lemma and palea), often partially surrounded by the lemma; a chaffy scale or bract.

Palmate: Divided, lobed or veined from a common point like the fingers of a hand. 

Panicle: A branched compound raceme (racemose) inflorescence with the lower branches longer and flowering first. 

Papilionaceous: Butterfly-like; flower with banner petal, two wing petals and two partly jointed keel petals, like the flower of a pea.

Papillose: Having minute papillae (round-blunt projections).

Pappus: The modified calyx of Asteraceae consisting of awns, scales, or bristles at the apex of the ovary and remains attached to the achene. 

Parasite (in botany): A plant that derives its water or nutrients, at least partly, from another plant to which it is attached. 

Parted: Deeply cut or cleft, from half way to nearly at the base or midvein.

Pedicel: The stalk of a single flower in an inflorescence.

Pedicellate: Borne on a pedicel.

Peduncle: The stalk of an individual flower or inflorescence. 

Perennial: A plant (or part) which lives for longer than two years. 

Perfect: Flowers that contain both pistils and stamens, regardless if they have perianths or not. 

Perianth: The calyx and corolla of a flower in collective terms, particularly when they appear similar. 

Pericarp: Wall of a fruit.

Perigynium: The sac-like bract that encloses the achene in sedges. 

Perigynous: The perianth and stamens are united below the ovary; these borne on a calyx tube, cup or saucer and surrounding but not attaching to the superior ovary. 

Persistent: Remaining attached after similar parts are normally dropped and after the organ’s function has been completed. 

Petal: A member of the corolla ring that is often showy (coloured or white) to attract pollinators; absent in some species. 

Petiole: The stalk of a leaf. 

Phyllode: An expanded leaf-like petiole which lacks a true leaf blade.

Phyllopodic: Pertaining to or of a phyllode, or with a phyllode. 

Pinnae: The main segments of a pinnate leaf.

Pinnate: A compound leaf that has leaflets arranged on either side (opposite) of an longitudinal axis. Resembles the structure of a feather. 

Pistil: The female reproductive organ (gynoecium) of a flower that includes stigma, style, and ovary, and is composed of one or more fused carpels. 

Pistillate (flower): A flower that only has pistils and no stamens. 

Placenta (pl. Placentae): The part of the ovary which bears ovules. 

Plant communities: a complex array of unique combinations of plant species, usually of grasses, grass-likes, shrubs, and trees, and occasionally forbs. These combination compositions vary greatly from one location or ecoregion to another, with few dominating communities in the prairies, to more diverse communities in the foothills.

Pod: A dry, dehiscent fruit, especially of that of a legume or follicle. 

Pollen: Male gametophytes that are otherwise known as pollen grains that appear as a yellow powder on the anthers, especially in angiosperms. In gymnosperms, they are produced in the microsporangium or pollen sac. 

Pome: A fleshy, indehiscent fruit that is derived from an inferior, compound ovary that consists of a fleshy outer layer composed of the ripened ovary plus the ripened receptacle and calyx. The modified floral tube becomes the inner papery or boney endocarp that encloses the seeds. 

Prickle: A small, sharp outgrowth of the epidermis or bark. 

Primocane: The first year growth of canes of Rubus or raspberry species. The second-year reproductive cane is called floricane. 

Prominent: Standing out from the surrounding surface, as with raised veins on the surface of a leaf.

Prostrate: Lying or growing flat on the ground. 

Pubescent: Has hairs present, and refers to all types of hairs, from soft to hard and brittle. 

Pulvinus: Cushion-like; a swelling or enlargement at the base of a petiole.

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Raceme: An elongated unbranched inflorescence along with stalked flowers along a common axis that bloom from the bottom up.

Racemose: Having flowers grow in racemes. 

Rachilla: The axis of a spikelet of grasses and some sedges. 

Rachis: The primary or central axis of a structure, like a compound leaf or an inflorescence.

Radiate: Having parts spread from a central point; in Asteraceae, some of the flowers in the involucrate head are ray flowers

Ray: The ligule or ligulate flowers or strap-like portion of a ligulate flower in the Asteraceae family; a branch of an umbel. 

Ray Flower: A ligulate flower of the Asteraceae family. Synonym of disk flower.

Receptacle:  The end of the stem (pedicel) on which flower parts are borne; in Asteraceae, the part of the peduncle where the flower head is attached. 

Recurved: Bent backward abruptly. 

Reduced: Diminished in size. 

Reflexed: Bent downward or backward. 

Regular: Radially symmetrical; having all parts of a flower be similar in size, shape and arrangement on the receptacle. 

Reticulate: Net-veined; in the form of a network (veins). 

Retrorse: Directed backward or downward. 

Retuse: Having a shallow notch in a blunt or round apex. 

Rhizomatous: Having rhizomes. 

Rhizome/Rootstock: An underground root stem.

Rib: A main, prominent vein, particularly if it is raised above the surrounding surface. 

Rigid: Stiff an inflexible.

Riparian: The area where plants grow along the banks of streams, creeks, rivers, or seeps. 

Rosette: A dense circular or radiating arrangement of leaves often at or near ground level. 

Rudimentary: Imperfectly and poorly developed; vestigial. Usually visible with close observation. 

Rugose: Wrinkled.

Rugulose: Slightly wrinkled. 

Runner: A slender stolon or prostrate stem that is rooting at the nodes or at the tip. 

S

Salverform: Corollas that are shaped as a slender tube and abruptly spreading into a flattened limb. 

Samara: A dry, indehiscent winged, mostly one-seeded fruit. 

Saprophyte: A plant that lives on dead organic matter and lacks chlorophyll.

Scabrous: Roughened, or rough to the touch.

Scale: Any small, flat, thin, scarious structure 

Scape: A leafless peduncle that arises from ground level (usually from a basal rosette) in acaulescent plants, like that of Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). 

Scapose: Having flowers borne on a scape. 

Scarious: Thin, dry, pale, not green, and membranous in texture

Sepal: The outer (sometimes only) floral ring that is collectively called the calyx. Rarely are sepals considered absent and petals present. 

Septate: Divided by partitions.

Septum: A partition, as in the partitions that separate the locules of an ovary. 

Sericeous: Silky, having soft, long, slender and somewhat appressed hairs. 

Sessile: Stalkless; attached directly without a stalk to support it. 

Setae: Bristles

Setose: Covered in bristles. 

Sheath: The lower portion of a leaf blade that surrounds, at least partly, and clasps the stem.

Shrub: A woody plant that has several stems and is shorter than a typical tree (or less than 5 meters tall). 

Silicle: A dry, dehiscent fruit of the Brassicaceae family that is usually less than twice as long as it is wide with two valves separating from the persistent placentae and septum.

Silique: A dry, dehiscent fruit of the Brassicaceae family that is usually more than twice as long as it is wide with two valves separating from the persistent placentae and septum. 

Simple: Undivided, as in leaves where the leaf is all in one piece but can be divided variously (lobed or cleft) and not separated into leaflets; in pistils where there is only one carpel. 

Smooth: Lacking roughness or pubescence, with an even surface.

Spathe: A large solitary floral bract that often subtends and sometimes enclosing an inflorescence. 

Spike: An elongated, unbranched inflorescence bearing sessile (subsessile) flowers or spikelets that mature from the bottom up. 

Spikelet: A secondary or small spike; in Poaceae, the ultimate flower cluster consisting of two glumes, palea and lemma, and male and female reproductive structures

Spine: A sharp-pointed, stiff slender structure that arises from below the epidermis and which resembles a modified leaf or stipule; any structure that appears as a spine. 

Sporangium: A case or sac that bears spores. 

Spore: A reproductive cell or body that is one-celled and does not contain an embryo as in ferns; in angiosperms, it is the first cell of the gametophyte generation. 

Sporophylls: A sporangium-bearing leaf that is often modified in structure.

Spur: A hollow appendage or extension from the corolla or calyx that is hollow and slender.

Squarrose: Abruptly curved and spreading above the base; scurfy or rough due to the presence of recurved or spreading outgrowths.

Stamen: The male reproductive organ of a flower consisting of an anther and filament which produces pollen. 

Staminate: Flowers that contain stamens but no pistils; male flower. 

Staminodia: Modified stamens that are sterile and produce no pollen. 

Standard: The banner or the largest and upper-most petal of a Fabaceae (papilionaceous) flower.

Stellate: Star-shaped, referring to the hairs that have several to many branches radiating from the base.  

Sterile: Sterile, as with a stamen that does not produce pollen or a flower that does not produce seed.

Stigma: The portion of the pistil (style) that is receptive to receiving pollen. 

Stipe: A stalk that supports a structure, such as the stalk attaching the ovary to the receptacle in some flowers.

Stipitate: Borne on a stipe or stalk.

Stipule: One of a pair of leaf-like appendages that are present at the base of a petiole in some leaves. 

Stolon: A creeping, elongated stem that creeps along the ground and roots at the nodes or apex and produces new plants. 

Stoloniferous: Producing stolons. 

Strict: Upright and straight, not lax or spreading; erect. 

Strobilus: A cluster of scales that form into a cone. 

Style: The usually narrowed portion of the pistil that connects the stigma to the ovary. 

Stylopodium: A disk-like expansion or enlargement at the base of the stile in the Apiaceae family. 

Succulent: Juicy and fleshy due to the accumulation of water in plant tissues. 

Sucker: A shoot that originates from beneath the soil surface. 

Superior (ovary): Attached above (the centre or at the summit of the receptacle), where the ovary is attached above the point of attachment of other floral parts. 

Symmetrical: A flower that has the same number of parts in each floral whorl. 

Sympetalous: Having petals united at least from near the base. Same as Gamopetalous. 

Syncarp: An aggregate fruit, like that of Rubus spp. 

Synoecious: Having male and female (staminate and pistillate) flowers together on the same inflorescence or flower head.

T

Taproot: The prominent vertical root and which is thickened upwards, where smaller root branches are borne; also, a root system with a main root axis and smaller branches as in most dicots. 

Taxon (pl. Taxa): A taxonomic entity of any rank, like order, family, genus, and species. For example, for Common Dandelion, taxa is as follows: Order Astrales, Family Asteraceae, Genus Taraxacum, Species T. officinale.

Tendril: A modified stem or leaf that is slender and coiling-twining that enables a plant to support itself on other structures or vegetation and climb. 

Tepal: The segment of a perianth that is not differentiated into the calyx and corolla; a sepal or a petal. 

Terete: Rounded and not flattened in cross-section; cylindrical. 

Testa: A seed coat that originates from the integuments of an ovule. 

Thallus (pl. Thalli): A plant body that is not obviously differentiated into roots, stems, and leaves. 

Thorn: A modified stem that is woody, stiff, and with a sharp point, and is generally stouter than bristles or spines.

Throat: The expanded portion or junction of the limb and tube of the corolla. 

Tiller: A basal or below-ground shoot that is more or less erect. 

Tomentose: Having hairs that are short, soft, wooly, and matted or tangled. 

Tomentum (pl. Tomenta): Covered in short, soft, matted, wooly hairs. 

Torose: Cylindrical with alternate swellings and constrictions.

Torulose: Slightly torose.

Trailing: Creeping and prostrate but not rooting. 

Tree: A large woody plant that is mostly 5 metres tall usually with a single main stem or trunk.

Trifoliate: A leaf that has three leaflets. 

Truncate: Having the base or apex squared at the end like it was cut off. 

Tuber: The thickened portion of a rhizome bearing nodes and buds that functions as food storage and also in reproduction.

Tubercle: A small tuber-like swelling swelling or projection; in some members of Cyperaceae, the swollen base of the style.

Tubular: A tube-shaped or cylindrical-shaped corolla that has little expansion upward.

Tufted: Arranged in a dense cluster. Also known as bunch in the context of bunch grasses.  

Turbinate: Top-shaped.

Turion: A small shoot or bulb-like offset that often overwinters as in some species of Epilobium. 

U

Umbel: A flat-topped or convex flower cluster (inflorescence) where all pedicels more or less arise from a common point, such as the struts of an umbrella. A compound umbel has its main branches again umbeliately attached.

Umbeliate: Umbel-like. 

Umbo: A blunt, rounded protuberance on an organ, like on the ends of the scales of some pine cones. 

Undulate:

Unisexual:

Utricle:

V

Valvate:

Valve:

Vein:

Venation:

Ventral:

Verticil:

Villose:

Viscid:

W

Whorl:

Wing:

Wooly:

XYZ