GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS. ]5 



Connate, when organs are so closely united that they cannot be separated without 



tearing. Each of the connate parts is said to be adnate to the other. 

 Connective, the part of an anther which connects the two cells. 

 Connivent (or converging) , organs approaching one another at the summit. 

 Cordate, heart-shaped, with the notch below. 

 Coriaceous, leathery. 

 Corm, a solid tuberous bulblike rootstock, in which the buds are not covered by 



scales, or by very thin ones. 

 Corolla, inner envelope of the flower, consisting of free or united petals. 

 Corona, a small crown of free or united appendages inserted inside the corolla. 

 Corymb, inflorescence where the branches start from different points, but reach 



about the same height. 

 Cotyledon, see embryo. 



Cremate , bordered by blunt or rounded teeth. 

 Crenulate, crenate with very small teeth. 

 Crustaceous, hard, thin, and brittle. 

 Cuneate, wedge-shaped. 

 Cyme, an inflorescence branched like a panicle, but in which the branches are 



usually opposite, and the central flower opens first. 

 Deciduous, falling off finally. 

 Decurrent, when the blade of the leaf is prolonged downwards along the stem in 



raised lines or narrow wings. 

 Decussate, opposite leaves crossing each other in pairs at right angles. 

 Deflexed (decurved) , bent downwards. 



Dehiscent {dehiscing), opening when ripe, as a seed vessel or anther. 

 Dentate, toothed. 

 Denticulate, finely toothed. 

 Depressed, flattened from above downwards. 

 Dichotomous, forked once or several times. 

 Diffuse, spreading horizontally and loosely branched. 

 Digitate, a compound leaf whose leaflets spread from a common centre, like the 



fingers of a hand. 

 Dioecious, plant whose male and female flowers grow on different individuals. 

 Disk, (1) an extension of the receptacle between the calyx and pistil. It may 



be conspicuous in the form of a ring or cushion, or reduced to separate glands 



or scales. (2) All the central or disk- flowers in a radiate flowerhead. 

 Dissepiment (septum), one or more vertical partitions dividing the ovary and 



fruit into two or more cells. 

 Distal, applied to the free end of the labellum of an orchid, as opposed to the 



proximal or attached end. 

 Distichous, regularly arranged in two opposite rows. 

 Distinct, separate, free. 

 Divaricate, spreading in different directions from a common centre almost at a 



right angle. 

 Divergent, spreading in different directions with a more upright tendency. 

 Dorsal, relating to the back. 



Dorsifixed, an anther attached by its back to the filament. 

 Drupe, a fruit in which the pericarp consists of 3 layers: (1) the epicarp or 



skin, (2) the mesocarp or juicy layer, (3) the bony endocarp or stone; 



within the endocarp lies the seed or kernel. The peach and olive, and 



(among Australian plants) the fruit of Nitraria Schoberi are familiar 



examples. 

 Emarginate, notched at the summit. 

 Embryo, the young plant while still enclosed in the seed, consisting of the 



radicle, or base of the future root, 1 or more cotyledons, or future seed- 

 leaves, and the plumule, or future bud. The radicle always points towards 



the micropyle. 

 Embryo-sac, see ovule. 



Endemic, peculiar to a country or district and not native elsewhere. 

 Endocarp, the innermost layer of the pericarp. 

 Endopleura, the inner seed-coat, sometimes called the tegmen. 

 Entire, when the margin of an organ (such as a leaf), is neither toothed, lobed, or 



divided. 

 Epicarp, see pericarp. 

 Epigynous, when the sepals, petals, and stamens are inserted upon the ovary and 



the adnate receptacle. 

 Epiphyte, one plant growing upon another, without deriving nourishment from it. 



