GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS 



Abortive. Not developed. 



Acuminate. Tapering to apex. 



Acute. Pointed. 



Adventitious. Out of the natural order, as 



buds that are formed where the bark is 



bruised, or about a stub. 

 Anther. The pollen-producing part of the 



stamen. 

 Apetalous. Without petals. 

 Apex. The tip. 



Arbourescent. Having tree form. 

 Arboretum. An assemblage of living trees of 



many kinds. 

 Aril. Loose bag around the seed. 

 Axil. Angle between leaf and twig. 

 Axillary. Arising from the angle between 



stem and leaf. 

 Baccate, Berry-like. 

 Bast. Inner fibrous layer of bark. 

 Bloom. A pale film covering some ripe 



plums, grapes, etc. 

 Bract. Modified leaf in flower cluster. 

 Budding. Setting a bud upon a stock so it 



shall grow fast. 

 Burs. Woody, irregular excrescences upon 



trunks and roots. Spiny husks of 



nuts. 

 Calyx. The outer whorl of a flower. 

 Cambium. The mucilaginous living layer 



between wood and bark. 

 Capsule. A dry, dehiscent seed case of more 



than one compartment. 

 Carpel. A single pistil, or a division of a 



compound pistil. 

 Catkin. A slender spike of minute, crowded 



flowers, as in willows. 

 Chlorophyll. The green colouring matter in 



leaves. 

 Ciliate. Fringed with hairs. 

 Cion. See Scion. 

 Coalesce. To grow together. 

 Collar. The place where trunk and roots 



meet. 

 Compound. Of several units on a common 



stem, as the leaflets of a locust leaf. 

 Cone. A fruit made up of overlapping scales, 



as of pines. 

 Coppice. Woods made up of sprouting 



stumps. 

 Cordate. Heart-shaped. 

 Coriaceous. Leathery. 



Corolla. The whorl of petals. 



Cotyledons. Seed leaves. 



Crenate. Scalloped. 



Cross. To produce seed by fertilizing the 



ovules of one flower with pollen from flowers 



of another species. 

 Crustaceous. Dry; horny. 

 Cutting. A piece of root or twig by which 



certain species are able to reproduce them- 

 selves. 

 Cyme. A flat flower cluster. 

 Deciduous. Falling in autumn. 

 Dehiscent. Opening when ripe, as the husks 



of hickory nuts. 

 Deltoid. Triangular. 

 Disuse. Loosely spreading. 

 Dioecious. Bearing pistillate and staminate 



flowers on separate trees. 

 Disk. Base of flower to which all floral parts 



are attached. 

 Drupe. A stone fruit, as a plum. 

 Duct. A tube. 

 Elliptical. Evenly and narrowly oblong 



with rounded ends. 

 Entire. Without teeth or lobes, as leaves of 



magnolias. 

 Exotic. Not native. 

 Falcate. Sickle-shaped. 

 Fascicle. A crowded cluster, as seen in the 



leaf arrangement of larches. 

 Fertilisation. The union of pollen grain and 



ovule. The setting of seed. 

 Filament. The slender thread that supports 



the anther. 

 Fungi. Low vegetable organisms, including 



mushrooms, mildew, rust and decay in 



wood. 

 Genus (PI. genera). Subdivision of a family. 

 Germination. The sprouting of seeds. 

 Glabrous. Smooth. 

 Glaucous. Covered with a pale, powdery 



film. 

 Grafting. Inserting a cion in a stock so it 



will grow fast. 

 Habitat. Chosen situation of growth. 

 Heartwood. The dead wood in the trunk 



under the sapwood. 

 Humus. Vegetable mould. 

 Hybrid. A seedling resulting from a cross. 

 Indehiscent. Not opening to discharge seeds 



at maturity. See husks of walnuts. 



