GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS. 



Abortive, imperfectly developed. 



Accrescent , growing larger after flowering, as the sepals. 



Achene, a dry indehiscent 1 -seeded fruit. 



Actinomorphic, see regular. 



Acuminate, tapering suddenly into a point. 



Acute, sharp, gradually pointed. 



Adnate, see connate. 



Adventitious, any organ produced in an abnormal position. 



Albumen, material stored within the seeds of many plants for the nourishment 



of the embryo; it lies between the seedcoats and the embryo sac (perisperm), 



or within the embryo sac (endosperm). 

 Alternate, (1) leaves or flowers inserted at different heights along the branches; 



(2) intervening between: as stamens which are alternate with the petals. 

 Amphitropous, when the ovule is laterally attached to the funicle, so that the 



chalaza and micropyle are at opposite ends of the ovule. 

 Anastomosing, applied to the small nerves or veins of a leaf when they are 



connected like the meshes of a net (reticulate). 

 Anatropous (inverted), when an ovule is bent back along its funicle, so that 



the micropyle stands at the apparent base of the ovule and the chalaza at 



the opposite end (the apparent summit). Owing to the presence of the 



rhaphe the hilum of the seed does not coincide with the chalaza, but lies 



close to the micropyle. This is the commonest form of ovule (fig. 2). 

 Androecium, a collective name for the stamens. , 



Androgynous, when male and female flowers are mixed in a spike or head. 

 Angiosperms, plants having seeds enclosed in a seedvessel. 

 Annual, a plant flowering and dying in one year. 

 Annular, ring-shaped. 

 Anterior, the parts of a flower furthest from the axis of the branch or stem on 



which it grows. 

 Anther, see stamen. 



Apiculate, ending abruptly in a short point. 

 Apocarpous, a pistil or gynoecium consisting of one carpel, or of several carpels 



all free and distinct (Eanunculaceae, Dilleniaceae) . 

 Appressed, pressed closely against another organ, as leaves against a stem. 

 Approximate, growing near together. 

 Aril (arillus), an expansion of the funicle into a membranous or fleshy 



appendage, sometimes covering a considerable part of the seed. 

 Article, part of an organ which separates easily from the rest of the organ at a 



point called the articulation or joint. 

 Articulate, jointed. 



Ascending , spreading horizontally and then becoming erect. 

 Auricle, ear-shaped lobe at the base of a leaf or other organ. 

 Awn, a fine bristle terminating an organ or inserted on its back. 

 Axil, the angle formed by the leaf and the branch. 

 Axile — Placentas are axile when they and the ovules are attached to the inner angle 



(inner suture) of the carpels of a compound ovary (fig. 1). 



-caJL-t. 



Fig. 1. — Transverse section of 

 ovary of Wahlenbergia oracilis : 

 cal.-t., adherent receptacle (formerly 

 described as the " calyx-tube ") ; 

 w. ov , wall of ovary; plac., axile 

 placentas, intruding into each of 

 the three united carpels of the 

 ovary ; d, place of loculicidal de- 

 hiscence of the ripe capsule ; ov., 

 ovules. 



Axillary, arising from the axil of a leaf or a bract. 



Axis, line passing through the centre of a body: the stem, the rhachis and 



branches of a panicle, the rhachilla of grasses, are all axes. 

 Barb, one of the lateral or radial hairs of a plumose bristle. 

 Barbellate, furnished with short, sometimes microscopic barbs, too small for the 



bristle to be called plumose. 

 Basifixed, an anther attached by its base to the filament. 

 Berry, a juicy fruit with the seeds immersed in the pulp. 



