GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS 



A-. Prefixed to a Greek word, without, e. g. apetalous, without petals. 

 Abortive. Imperfectly developed, or much reduced in size and efficiency. 

 Accrescent. Increasing in size with age. 

 Achene (akene). A small, hard, dry, 1 celled (1 seeded) indehiscent 



fruit. 

 Acicidar. Needle-shaped; slender, stiff and pointed. 

 Acuminate. Gradually tapering to a point, the sides incurved. 

 Acute. Sharply and shortly pointed, the sides straight. 

 Adnate. Congenitally united. The subordinate one of two connate parts 



is said to be adnate to the other. 

 ^Estivation. The arrangement of the parts of the flower in the bud. 

 Aggregate. A compound fruit developed from several carpels of one 



flower crowded in a mass. 

 Albumen. Food material stored within the seed surrounding the embryo. 

 Alternate. The arrangement of the leaves and other parts of a plant in a 



spiral, not opposite or whorled. 

 Ament. A catkin ; a slender, dense spike of flowers, usually scaly and 



deciduous in one piece. 

 Amphitropous. Said of a straight and half inverted ovule with the hilum 



or scar on one side intermediate between the micropyle and chalaza. 

 Anatrojious. Said of a straight ovule or seed that is inverted, with the 



micropyle next the hilum or scar, and the chalaza on the opposite side. 

 Androgynous. An inflorescence composed of both male and female flowers. 

 Angiospermae. Plants with the ovule in a closed ovary; seeds borne in a 



pericarp. 

 Anther. The part of the stamen which bears the pollen. 

 Anthesis. The time of the expansion of the flower. 

 Apetalous. Without petals. 

 Apex. The top or summit of an organ. 

 Apiculate. Ending in a short tip or point. 



Apophysis. An enlargement or swelling on the surface of an organ. 

 Appressed. Pressed to the stem. 

 Aril or arillus. An extraneous seed coat or outer covering developed from 



the funicle of the seed, sometimes fleshy. 



