A FLORA OF MANILA 
By E. D. MERRILL 
DEFINITIONS OF THE TERMS USED IN DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY 
A work containing descriptions of the different kinds of plants growing 
in a country, or within some part of a country, properly arranged accord- 
ing to their relationships or assumed relationships is called a flora. The 
principal object of a flora is. to enable the student or the individual 
interested in the study of the vegetation properly to determine the names 
of the various kinds of plants growing within the area treated by the 
work in question, and to gain some ideas of the range, abundance, and 
relationships of the various forms. In order to facilitate the naming of 
plants botanists have arranged the different kinds in groups according to 
the natural relationships of the different species, and botanical usage has 
established the values of numerous technical names used in describing 
plants. In the following pages an attempt has been made to define the 
more important and common terms used in descriptive botany; these, 
with additional less important ones, will also be found in the appended 
glossary. 
THE PLANT.—<According to their habit of growth plants are described 
as trees when they are erect, living from year to year, with a large 
development of woody tissue, having a single distinct stem or trunk, and 
reaching a height of 5 to 6 m or more. Shrubs are really small trees, 
and this term is frequently applied to tree-like plants less than 5 m in 
height, but by other authorities it is restricted to small, erect, woody 
plants which produce several trunks from the base; small shrubs less 
than a meter high are called undershrubs, but all intergrades occur 
between undershrubs, shrubs, and trees. Herbs are plants of various 
habit which contain but little woody tissue, and which, at least the parts 
above ground, persist for a year or less; they vary greatly in size. Plants 
that climb either by twining, by means of special organs for attachment, 
or by sprawling over other plants or objects are called vines; these may 
be either woody or herbaceous according to the development and per- 
manence of the- woody tissue. Some woody vines are frequently called 
scandent shrubs, especially when sprawling over other plants or objects, 
with no special adaptations for climbing. 
Most plants are terrestrial, that is, growing on the earth and rooting 
in the soil; those that grow in water, either entirely or partly submerged, 
are called aquatic; those that grow on other plants may be either epiphytes, 
that is simply growing on the supporting plant but taking no nourish- 
ment from it, like most orchids, many ferns, mosses, etc., or parasites, 
when taking part or all of their nourishment from the host-plant, like 
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