330 GLOSSARY OF TERMS. 



Pistillate The flower bearing the female organ or pistil, 

 which consists of ovary, style, and stigma. 



Pitted Having very small depressions. 



Placenta The portion of the ovary to which the seeds are 

 attached. It usually consists of the thickened edges of the 

 carpellary leaf turned inside the ovary, but sometimes is a 

 growth formed from their edges, as in the Poppy capsule. 



Procumbent Prostrate branches with the end slightly raised. 



Protosalt Salts consisting of the lower oxide of metals com- 

 bined with an acid ; they contain less oxygen than the per- 

 salts, and usually differ in colour, e.g., the protosalts of iron 

 are green, and the persalts, red. 



Pubescent Having short downy hairs. 



Pyrenes The fruit of the Labiate and Boraginacece, resembling 

 seeds, but each consisting of a half carpel containing one 

 seed. 



Pyriform Shaped like a pear. 



Quilled Applied to bark which becomes inrolled when dry, as 

 in Cinnamon and Cinchona. 



Raceme An inflorescence in which flowers having stalks of 

 equal length are arranged along a central stem, the lowest 

 flower opening first. 



Rachls The backbone or central rib of a large, much-divided 

 leaf, like a Fern. 



Radical Leaves arising from the top of the root or rootstock. 



Raphe A thread in the inner seed coat consisting of vessels 

 connecting the interior of the ovule with the placenta, as in 

 the Orange seed. 



Raphides Needle-like crystals of oxalate of calcium, found in 

 the cells of plants, as in the Squill root. 



Receptacle The name given to the disc-like top of the stem to 

 which the florets of a composite flower are attached. The 

 same name is also given to the cavities in plant tissues con- 

 taining oil or mucilage. 



Reniform Shaped like a kidney. 



Reticulated Covered with a network of veins or lines. 



Revolute Rolled back at the edges. 



Rhizome A prostrate stem more or less embedded in the soil, 

 giving off leaves from the upper, and roots from its lower, 

 surface. The name is also sometimes given to the short 

 upright stem covered with the remains of fallen leaves, and 

 ringed, as in Gentian root. This is preferably distinguished 

 as the rootstock, as it is stem continuous with the root. 



Rhombic Shaped like a rhomb. 



