A GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS 39 



ECOLOGY, the study of plants in relation to their environment. 



ELLIPTICAL, in the form of an oval with both ends tapering alike. 



EMARGINATE, notched ; usually applied to petals. 



ENDEMIC, peculiar to a district or country. 



ENDOSPERM, the store of food outside the embryo in certain seeds, 

 and absorbed by it in germination. 



ENTIRE, applied to leaves which are not cut or toothed. 



EPICALYX, the outer portion of a double calyx ; e.g. in Dry as and 

 Potentilla. 



EPIPETALOUS, applied to stamens borne upon petals. 



EPIPHYTE, a plant which grows upon another, but not as a parasite. 

 Lichens and many Orchids are epiphytes. 



EVERGREEN, applied to plants with green foliage all the year, and 

 to leaves which last more than one season. 



EXALBUMINOUS seeds have no endosperm, and the embryo occu- 

 pies the whole cavity. 



EXSTIPULATE, having no stipules. 



FALCATE, sickle-shaped. 



FAMILY = Natural Order; a group of genera of greater or less 



affinity. 



FASCICLED, in bundles or tufts. 

 FILAMENT, the slender stalk of a stamen. 

 FILIFORM, long and slender or thread-like. 



FISTULAR, cylindrical and hollow, like many umbelliferous stems. 

 FLACCID, limp or flabby. 

 FLEXUOSE, bent more or less in a zigzag. 

 FOLLICLE, a carpel or seed capsule dehiscing longitudinally at the 



inner suture ; e.g. Helleborus, Aconitum. 

 FREE, not united. 



FRUIT, the seed or group of seeds with its whole covering. 

 FUSIFORM, spindle-shaped. 



GALL, a growth caused by an insect or fungus ; e.g. an ' Oak apple.' 



GAMOPETALOUS flowers have the petals all united, as opposed 

 to polypetalous. 



GENUS (plural genera), a group of species of greater or less affinity. 



GIBBOUS, swollen at the base. 



GLABROUS, without hairs. 



GLAND, an organ of secretion. 



GLANDULAR HAIRS are those with enlarged apices containing a 

 secretion, as in Drosera or Arnica montana. 



GLAUCOUS, covered with a pale bluish green bloom. 



GLOBOSE, spherical. 



GLUME, the bract which encloses the spikelet in Grasses and Sedges. 



GLUMELLA or GLUMULE, the bract which forms the exterior cover- 

 ing of each flower of a spikelet in Grasses, 



