A FLORA OF MANILA 



By E. D. Merrill 



DEFINITIONS OP THE TERMS USED IN DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY 



A work containing descriptions of the different kinds of plants growing 

 in a country, or within some part of a country, properly arranged accord- 

 ing to their relationships or assumed relationships is called a flora. The 

 principal object . of a flora is to enable the student or the individual 

 interested in the study of the vegetation properly to determine the names 

 of the various kinds of plants growing within the area treated by the 

 work in question, and to gain some ideas of the range,- abundance, and 

 relationships of the various forms. In order to facilitate the naming of 

 plants botanists have arranged the different kinds in groups according to 

 the natural relationships of the different species, and botanical usage has 

 established the values of numerous technical names used in describing- 

 plants. In the following pages an attempt has been made to define the 

 more important and common terms used in descriptive botany; these, 

 with additional less important ones, will also be found in the appended 

 glossary. 



THE PLANT. — .According to their habit of growth plants are (described 

 as trees when they are erect, living from year to year, with a large 

 defvelopjnent of woody tissue, having a single distinct stem or trunk, and 

 reaching a height of 5 to 6 m or more. Shrubs are really small trees, 

 and this term is frequently applied to tree-like plants less than 5 m in 

 height, but by other -authorities it is restricted to small, erect, woody 

 plants which produce several trunks from the base; small shrubs less 

 than a meter high are called undershrubs, but all intergrades occur 

 between undershrubs, shrubs, and trees. Herbs are plants of various 

 habit which contain but little woody tissue, and which, at. least the parts 

 above ground, persist for a year or less; they vary greatly in size. Plants 

 that climb either by twining, by means of special organs for attachment, 

 or by sprawling over other plants or objects are called mnes; these may 

 be either woody or herbaceous according to the development, and per- 

 manence of the woody tissue. Some woody vines are frequently called 

 scandent shrubs, especially when sprawling over other plants or objects, 

 with no special adaptations for climbing. 



Most plants . are terrestrial, that is, growing on the earth and rooting 

 in the soil; those that grow in water, either entirely or partly submerged, 

 are called aquatic; those that grow on other plants may be either epiphytes, 

 that is simply growing on the supporting plant but taking no nourish- 

 ment from it, like most erchids, many ferns, mosses, etc., or parasites, 

 when taking part or all of their nourishment from the host-plant, like 



9 



