40 
BOTANICAL TERMS. 
productive organs : it is usually coloured, and 
as such, known as the ornamental and con- 
spicuous part of the flowering plants. 
Fruit ; strictly, the ovary arrived at matu- 
rity, but practically the term is extended to 
whatever is combined with the ovary when 
ripe. The matured ovary, whether esculent 
or not, of every plant, is regarded as a fruit. 
Frutescent {frutescens) ; of a shrub-like 
nature or habit ; fructicans has the same 
meaning. 
Frutex ; a shrub or plant with perennial 
branches, but without any trunk or main 
stem ; fruticulus signifies a very small shrub. 
Fulcra ; properly a prop or support, and in 
this sense correctly applied to tendrils ; but 
by the old botanists it was applied also to 
scales, stipules, bracts, thorns, hairs, and 
glands — parts which are not universal, nor 
all found in any one plant, and therefore not 
regarded as being essential to the idea of a 
plant. 
Glands; minute processes of firm cellular 
tissue, situated on the leaves and stems of 
plants, and supposed to be for the purpose of 
secretion; their tissue is often harder and more 
highly coloured than that which surrounds 
them. There are several kinds, as the stalked, 
the sessile (warts), papillas, and the lenticular 
gland. They are also denominated according 
to their forms. 
Hairs ; minute transparent filiform pro- 
cesses, found on different parts of plants, often 
closely covering the parts where they are met 
with, but at other times very thinly scattered. 
Serb ; a plant without a woody stem, pro- 
ducing annual shoots from the surface of the 
earth. 
Intercellular passages ; irregular spaces be- 
tween the cellular tissue. If a parcel of 
oranges are placed close together on a table, 
and over them a second and a third tier, a 
similitude of these intercellular passages, on 
a large scale, will be seen : this is when the 
cells are nearly globular, and the pressure 
trifling ; according to the amount of pressure 
they are submitted to, their capacity diminishes. 
Lacuna; a term applied to the air-cells; it 
is also used to express the little pits or hollows 
which occur on the upper surface of the thallus 
in lichens. 
Leaves; the flattened — usually green — ex- 
pansions of the bark at the base of the leaf 
buds. Though usually flat and thin, they 
occur also of .various forms ; and though 
usually green, they are sometimes either 
variegated or coloured. 
Ligneous tissue; same as woody tissue. 
Lymphceducts; same as ducts. 
Membrane ; the thin substance which forms 
the walls and sides of the cells of cellular tissue, 
is so called ; in fact, a thin skim 
Neck ; the collet, which see ; also the 
upper tapering end, in bulbs. 
Nectary {piectarium) ; the part of a flower 
which secretes honey : it is also applied to 
various little appendages of the petals, which 
are either inner rows of petals in a state of 
adhesion to the first row, or modified stamens. 
Nectarial ; of or belonging to the nectary. 
Organs of Vegetation ; the organs whose 
functions affect only the growth and exten- 
sion of the plant, as the root, stems, leaves, 
and stipules. 
Organs of Fructification ; the organs on 
which the propagation of the plants depends, 
namely, the bracts, flowers, and seeds. 
Papillce; minute transparent elongated 
points of the cuticle, covering the surface of 
the leaves and stems of some plants, as for 
instance, the ice-plant, the peculiar crystalline 
excrescences on which are papillre. 
Papula ; a term applied to papillce, when 
much elongated beyond the surface. 
Parasite ; applied to plants which grow 
upon other plants, and abstract nutriment 
from them, as the dodders (Cuscuta sp.) do 
from the plants they attack. Various fungi 
are parasitical, of which number rank the 
mildew, the smut, and the rust. 
Parenchyma ; the same as cellular tissue. 
Phcenogamous ; applied to plants which 
bear visible flowers, as distinguished from the 
ferns, mosses, lichens, alga?, fungi, &c, which 
bear no visible flowers, and are called crypto- 
gamous. Phasnogamous plants, though per- 
haps, not the most numerous, are the most 
obvious members of the vegetable kingdom. 
Pores ; the same as stomates. 
Prickles (aculei) ; rigid opaque processes, 
terminating in a sharp point ; they are un- 
connected with the woody fibre, and in this 
respect differ essentially from thorns : the 
sharp, sometimes hooked, bodies on the stem 
of a rose are prickles. 
Prosenchyma ; a peculiar kind of cellular 
tissue, in which the individual cells or bladders 
taper towards each end. 
Rapk.ides ; small needle-shaped transparent 
bodies found among the cellular tissue of 
plants ; they are said to be crystals of oxalate 
of lime. 
Reproductive Organs; the organs by whose 
agency propagation is effected ; the same as 
organs of fructification. 
Root {radix) ; the part by which a plant 
is attached to the soil in which it grows ; or 
to the substance on which it feeds : the de- 
scending axis. 
R amenta ; scales or scurfiness of a thin 
foliaceous texture, found sometimes on young 
shoots, and very numerous on the petioles of 
ferns. 
Seed ; the part which contains the embryo; 
