EXPLANATION OF BOTANICAL TERMS 



The 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 



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

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



a potato. 

 Corm : the thick fleshy base of a stem. 

 Bulb: an underground stem covered with scales. 

 Stolon: a basal branch, rooting at the nodes. 



THE FRUIT 



Achene : a dry one-seeded fruit. 



Berry : a pulpy fruit. 



Capsule : a dry fruit with two or more carpels. 



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



Phutiose : resembHng a plume, like the Clematis in seed. 



Sterile : without seed. 



THE STEM 

 Erect: upright. 



Simple: not branched. 



Decumbent : horizontal on the ground, but vertical at the end. 



Procumbent : flat on the ground. 



Creeping : running along the earth and rooting at the joints. 



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



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



at which 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. 



