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GLOSSARY 



Saprophyte. A plant subsisting on decaying or- 

 ganic matter, but not drawing nourishment 

 from a living plant. 

 Scale. A thin dry membranous body, not green, 



usually an undeveloped or degenerate leaf. 

 Secund (of an inflorescence). Turned to one side. 

 Segment. One of the divisions into which a leaf, 



tuber, etc., may be cleft. 

 Self-fertilised. A flower fertilised by its own 



pollen. 

 Sepal. A member of the outer whorl of the 



perianth, or floral envelopes. 

 Sessile. Sitting close, stalkless. 

 Sheath. The tubular base of a leaf enclosing the 

 stem. Leafless sheaths. Those at the base of 

 a stem which have not developed a leaf-blade, 

 but sometimes have a green tip. 

 Sinuate. Wavy: with a wavy margin. 

 Sinuous. Sinuate. 

 Sinus. A recess, e.g. the space between two 



lobes. 

 Stele. Pith or medulla. 

 Sterile. Barren, as an anther without pollen, or 



an ovary not producing seeds. 

 Stigma. The female organ of a flower which 

 detaches and retains portions of the pollinia, 

 in the Monandry ghstening with a sticky 

 secretion, in the Diandras dry and often rough 

 with backward-pointing papilla:. 

 Stigmatic. Belonging to or secreted by the 



stigma. 

 Stolon. A runner or underground shoot rooting 



and forming a new plant. 

 Striae. Markings, ridges or furrows presenting 



the appearance of lines. 

 Striate. With fine parallel lines. 

 Sub- (prefix). Almost, e.g. sub-acute, almost 



acute. 

 Sub-species. A permanent race of a species, 

 hardly yet sufficiently differentiated to deserve 

 specific rank, but probably evolving into a 

 distinct species. 

 Suspensor. The end of the loose transparent 

 covering (testa) of the seed, by which it was 

 attached to the ovary. 

 Symbiosis. Living together of dissimilar or- 

 ganisms, e.g. plant and fungus. 

 Synonym. Another name for the same plant 

 which has failed to secure general acceptance. 



Teratology. The study of malformations and 

 monstrosities. Adj. teratological. 



Ternate. In threes. 



Testa. The loose transparent netted outer cover- 

 ing of the seed. 



Transverse. Cross-wise — the opposite of longi- 

 tudinal. 



Tribe. A group of plants whose units are genera. 



Trifid. Three-cleft to about half-way down. 



Tripartite. Three-cleft nearly to the base. 



Trivial. The second or specific name, e.g. 7nas- 

 cula in Orchis mascula. 



Truncate. Square at the end, as if cut off. 



Tuber. The rounded, palmate, or more rarely 

 carrot-shaped underground bulb-like offshoot 

 of an orchid, from which the leaves and flower- 

 stem of next year's plant spring. 



Tubercle. A Uttle tuber. 



Tubercled. Covered with warty excrescences. 



Tuberisation. Thickening of a root through 

 invasion by mycorrhiza, such as Khi^octonia 

 repens, etc. Adj. tuberised. 



Tuberous. Thickened as above, tuber-like. 



Unilateral. Turned to one side. 



Variety. A form differing from the type of a species. 

 Vegetative reproduction. Increase by development 



or division of the plant itself, not by seed. 

 Veins. Conducting vessels in flat organs such as 



leaves, etc. 

 Vermiform. Worm-shaped. 

 Versatile. Turning freely on its support, as 



many anthers on their filaments. 

 Vessel. A duct or tube. 

 Viable (of seeds). Capable of germination. 

 Viscid. Tenaciously sticky. 

 Viscidium. The tiny membrane to which the 



polUnia are attached, which adheres to insects 



by its viscid under-surface. 



Whorl. The arrangement of organs in a circle 

 round an axis. 



Whorled. Arranged in whorls. 



Winged. Having a wing-Uke usually mem- 

 branous expansion. 



Zygomorphic. Divisible into similar halves in 

 one plane only. 



