20 GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS. 



Proliferous (viviparous), plants which bear adventitious leaf buds on the leaves 

 or flowers, such buds being capable of rooting and forming separate plants. 



Prostrate, lying flat on the ground. 



Proximal, see distal. 



Pubescent, downy, covered with short soft hairs. 



Punctiform, like a point or dot. 



Punctulate, finely dotted. 



Putamen, a hard bony endocarp. 



Raceme, an undivided axis or peduncle bearing pedicellate flowers. 



Racemose, arranged in a raceme. 



Radiate, a flowerhead of Compositae which has ligulate flowers in the circum- 

 ference and tubular flowers in the centre. 



Radical, springing from the root. 



Radicle, see embryo. 



Ray, (1) all the ligulate flowers (ray-flowers) in a radiate flowerhead; (2) each 

 of the branches of an umbel. 



Receptacle, (1) floral axis, torus or thalamus. The summit of the peduncle or 

 pedicel on which the parts of a single flower are arranged, either in whorls 

 or spirally. It may extend upwards as an annular or cushion-shaped disk, 

 and this may assume the form of glands or scales, which often alternate 

 with the stamens (Rutaccae, Zygophyllaceae). It may be lengthened into a 

 column or carpophore, such as those which bear the fruitlets of Geraniaceae 

 and Umbelliferae, or into a small stalk supporting the ovary (some 

 Caryophyllaceae, Leguminosae, Proteaceae). It is very frequently hollowed 

 out into a cup or rarely a tube, which surrounds the ovary and bears the 

 sepals, petals, and stamens on or near its margin, and is usually united with 

 the ovary, or more rarely free from it (Myrtaceae, Rosaceae, Oenotheraceae, 

 TltymeJaeaceae) . Formerly this hollow receptacle, when united with the 

 ovary, was described as the ' ' adnate (adherent) calyx-tube." (2) Floral 

 base or common receptacle. The expanded summit of the peduncle on which 

 the flowers, surrounded by an involucre of bracts, are inserted, usually in a 

 dense cluster (Compositae, Dipsacaceae) . In Compositae both forms of the 

 receptacle are present. 



Recurved (reflexed), bent backward. 



Rcduplimte-valvate, when the edges of petals or sepals are turned backward and 

 outward in the bud (see figure of Boronia palustris). 



Regular, a flower in which the segments of the perianth, or the parts of either 

 of the 2 whorls of the perianth (calyx and corolla) are alike in size and 

 shape (although in the latter case the 2 whorls need not have the same 

 number of parts), and are arranged regularly round the axis. The term 

 regular is thus practically equivalent to actinomorphic, or radially 

 symmetrical, i.e., where a flower can be bisected through two or more vertical 

 planes into two similar halves. Such flowers are Buttercup, Poppy, Boronia, 

 Geranium, the Cruciferous Family, &c. 



Reniform, kidney-shaped. 



Eeplum, a partition between the two carpels of the pod of Cruciferae. 



Resupinate (reversed) , when a flower is inverted by a twisting of the pedicel or 

 the ovary so that the parts usually uppermost become the lowest. 



Reticulata, when the nerves or veins cross each other like the meshes of a net. 



Revolute*, when the edges of leaves are rolled backwards towards the midrib (see 

 illustrations of Frarikenia). 



Rhachilla, the rhachis of the spikelet in grasses and sedges. 



Rhachis, any principal axis of inflorescence; also applied to the common petiole 

 of a compound leaf. 



Rhaphe, a cord adhering to one side of an anatropous ovule and connecting the 

 chalaza with the placenta. It is often visible as a raised line on the seed 

 (see fig. 2 and illustration of Franlenia pauciflora). 



Rhizome (rootstGck) , an underground creeping stem which grows more or less 



horizontally and emits roots downwards and buds and shoots upwards. When 



the axis is shortened and more or less covered with scales, the rhizome 



becomes a bulb or a corm. 



Rhomboid (rhomb oidal) , lozenge-shaped. 



Root, the descending axis of the plant, developed from the radicle, and imbibing 



nourishment through its fibres. 

 Rostellum, an extension of the upper edge of the stigma in orchids. 

 Rostrate, beaked. 

 Rotate, wheel-shaped, a corolla with very short tube and spreading limb. 



