Glossary of Special Terms 



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Habit. General aspect. 



Habitat. A plant's natural place of growth. 



Hastate. Halberd-shaped; like sagittate, but 



with the basal lobes diverging. 

 Head. A dense round cluster of sessile or 



nearly sessile flowers or fruits. 

 Herbaceous. Leaf-like in texture and color, 



pertaining to an herb. 

 Hilum. The scar or area of attachment of a 



seed or ovule. 

 Hirsute. With rather coarse stiff hairs. 

 Hispid. With bristly stiff hairs. 

 Hyaline. Thin and translucent. 

 Hypogynous. Borne at the base of the ovary, 



or below. 



Imbricated. Overlapping. 



Imperfect. Flowers with either stamens or pis- 

 tils, not with both. 



Incised. Cut into sharp lobes. 



Included. Not projecting beyond surrounding 

 parts. 



IndeJiiscent. Not opening. 



Inequilateral. Unequal sided. 



Inferior. Relating to an organ which arises or 

 is situated below another. 



Inflexed. Abruptly bent inward. 



Inflorescence. The flowering part of plants; 

 its mode of arrangement. 



Integument. A coat or protecting layer. 



Internode. Portion of a stem or branch be- 

 tween two successive nodes. 



Introrse. Facing inward. 



Involucrate. With an involucre, or like one. 



Involucre. A whorl of bracts subtending a 

 flower or flower-cluster. 



Involute. Rolled inwardly. 



Irregular. A flower in which one or more 

 of the organs of the same series are un- 

 like. 



Labiate. Provided with a lip-like organ. 

 Laciniate. Cut into narrow lobes or segments. 

 Lanceolate. Considerably longer than broad, 



tapering upward from the middle or below; 



lance-shaped. 

 Latex. The milky sap of certain plants. 

 Leaflet. One of the divisions of a compound 



leaf. 

 Legume. A simple dry fruit dehiscent along 



both sutures. 



Lenticular. Lcns-shapcd. 



Limb. The expanded part of a petal, sepal, 



or gamopctalous corolla. 

 Linear. Elongated and narrow with sides 



nearly parallel. 

 Lobed. Divided to about the middle. 

 Loculicidal. Applied to capsules which split 



longitudinally. 



Medullary. Pertaining to the pith or medulla. 



Mesocarp. The middle layer of a pericarp. 



Microspore. The smaller of two kinds of 

 spores borne by a plant, usually giving rise to 

 a male prothallium; pollen-grain. 



Midvein (Midrib). The central vein or rib of 

 a leaf or other organ. 



Monadelphous. Stamens united by their fila- 

 ments. 



Monoecious. Bearing stamens and pistils on 

 the same plant, but in different flowers. 



Mucronate. With a short, sharp, abrupt tip. 



Muricate. Roughened with short, hard pro- 

 cesses. 



Naked. Lacking organs or parts which are 

 normally present in related species or genera. 



Naturalized. Plants not indigenous to the 

 region, but so firmly established as to have 

 become part of the flora. 



Node. The junction of two intemodes of a 

 stem or branch, often hard or swollen, at 

 which a leaf or leaves are usually borne. 



Nodose. Similar to nodes or joints; knotty. 



Nut. An indehiscent one-seeded fruit with a 

 hard or bony pericarp. 



Nutlet. Diminutive of nut. 



Obcordate. Inversely heart-shaped. 

 Oblanceolate. Inverse of lanceolate. 

 Oblong. Longer than broad, with the sides 



nearly parallel, or somewhat curving. 

 Obovate. Inversely ovate. 

 Obovoid. Inversely ovoid. 

 Obsolete. Not evident; gone, rudimentary, or 



vestigial. 

 Obtuse. Blunt, or rounded. 

 Orbicular. Approximately circular in outline. 

 Ortliotropous. Term applied to the straight 



ovule, having the hilum at one end and the 



micropyle at the other. 

 Ovary. The ovule-bearing part of the pistil. 



