158 GLOSSARY 



Mucronulate. Minutely mucronate. 



Naked. Without calyx or corolla, as applied to flowers: with- 

 out specialized protecting scales, as applied to buds. 



Nectar-glands. Glands that secrete a sugary fluid ; as in many 

 flowers, on the leaf-stalk of the plum, on the calyx of pae 

 ony and trumpet-creeper, in the angles between the mid- 

 rib and principal veins of the lower side of a catalpa leaf, 

 on the teeth of an ailanthus leaf, etc. Ants frequently 

 point the way to them. 



Needle. A common name for the phylloid shoot or "leaf" of 

 pines. 



Needle-like. Long, slender, and about as thick as broad. 



Nerved. Usually applied to leaves or scales when the principal 

 woody bundles in them are prominent and run from the 

 base (palmately) and not from a midrib (pinnately) : 

 these are usually called veins in other cases, especially 

 when they anastomose and form a fine network or reticu- 

 lation. 



Neutral. Lacking both stamens and pistil (flowers of snow- 

 ball). 



Nodding. Bending over: applied to the inflorescence and to 

 flower stalks. 



Nodes. The points of the stem from which leaves come: these 

 are alternate when solitary at a node; opposite when two 

 come from a node; and whorled when several come from a 

 node. Fascicled or clustered leaves (barberry) usually 

 come from short axillary branches. 



Oblanceolate. Lanceolate, but with the greatest breadth above 

 the middle. 



Oblique. Unequal-sided at base (leaves of elm or begonia). 



Obliquely opposite. Applied to opposite leaves when one of a 

 pair stands more or less higher on the stem than the other. 



Oblong. Relatively longer and narrower than elliptical and 

 with more parallel margins than lanceolate, and much 

 broader than linear, as applied to leaves. 



Obovate. Inverted ovate, broadest above the middle. 



Obtuse. Blunt, in contrast with acute. 



