EXPLANATION OF BOTANICAL TERMS 



'llie object of these pages is to give as briefly as possible a simple 

 explanation of those botanical terms most frequently used in describing 

 plants. 



THE ROOT 



Rootstock : a creeping stem, growing below the surface of the ground. 

 Tuber: a thick portion of a rootstock. usually possessing eyes like 



a potato. 

 Conn : the thick t^eshy base of a stem. 

 Bulb: an underground stem covered with scales. 

 Stolon: a basal branch, rooting at the nodes. 



THE FRUIT 



Athene : a dry one-seeded fruit. 



Berry: a pulpy fruit. 



Capsule : a drv fruit with two or more carpels. 



Drupe: a single fruit, with a fleshy outer wall and a bony inner wall. 



Bluz/iose: resembling a plume, like tlie Clematis in seed. 



Sterile : without seed. 



THE STEM 

 Erect: upright. 

 Simple: not branched. 



Deeuiiibeiit : horizontal on tlie ground, but vertical at the end. 

 Procumbent : flat on the ground. 



Creep i n i^ : running along the earth and rooting at tlie joints. 

 Scape: the leafless flower-stalk of a stemless plant. 



Node : the junction of two portions of the stem, often hard and swollen, 

 at wliich leaves are usually borne. 



THE LEAF 



Bract : a leaf subtending a flower. 



Involucre: a circle of bracts round a flower, as in the Sunflower. 

 Entire : one the edge of which is not cut or lobed. 



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