BOTANICAL PHRASEOLOGY. a 
Abbreviated. — Of two organs in comparison, the shorter is 
said to be abbreviated ; an abbreviated calyx, a calyx 
shorter than the corolla. 
Abortive. — Barren; as a flower that falls without producing 
fruit. 
Abrupt. — Winged leaves that have no odd leaflet or tendril 
are said to be abrupt, or abruptly winged. 
Absorption. — The process by which vegetables take up their 
aliment, is termed absorption. 
Acerose. — Linear and needle-shaped, as in the leaves of cone- 
bearing trees. 
Acini. — The distinct granulations of which the fruits called 
berries are composed. 
Acinaciform. — Scimitar-shaped; having one edge thick and 
straight, the other thin and curved. 
Acotyledonous. — Plants whose seeds are either without or 
with indistinct lobes. 
Acuminate. — Sharp-pointed ; when terminating in a point. 
Adnate. — Adhering ; applied to parts which appear to grow 
together. 
.Estivation. — A term employed by Botanists to denote the 
manner of folding up of the parts of the flower, whe- 
ther sepals, petals, or stamens, previous to their evo- 
lution in the progress of vegetation. 
Affinity. — Vegetable affinity is that natural relation or con- 
nexion by which plants having the same form and 
structure of parts, are regarded as belonging to the 
same tribe, or class, or genus. 
Aggregate Flower. — A flower composed of a number of mi- 
nute florets, or floscules, contained within a common 
calyx, or inserted in a common receptacle, with the 
florets or peduncles, but the anthers not united, is an 
aggregate flower ; as in Dipsacus or Scabiosa. 
Albumen. — The term albumen, as applicable to vegetables, 
has an acceptation both anatomical and chemical; for 
in its anatomical acceptation it signifies an organ 
which constitutes the bulk or farina of many seeds, as 
in the grasses, and often invests the embryo entirely, 
as in the palms and lilies ; but in some tribes, as in 
the leguminosse, it is altogether wanting. In its 
chemical acceptation it signifies a substance which is 
obtained from vegetable gluten when treated with 
alcohol, part of the mass is soluble, and takes the 
name of Zhnome, the principle of leaven (Taddei), or 
retains that of gluten (Berzelius), and part of it is in- 
soluble, and takes the name of gliadine (Taddei), or 
of vegetable albumen (Berzelius.) Hence gluten sgeins 
to be a compound of two substances as yet imperfect- 
ly known. Raspail Chem. Organ. 140. 
Alburnum. — The alburnum is the outermost and last formed 
layer of the woody portion of caudex of exogenous 
plants. It is the softest and the whitest of all the 
layers except, as they say, in the eagle-tree, Aqv.il aria 
Malaccensis, in which it is black. It owes its forma- 
tion to the descent of the cambium, or elaborated sap, 
which is deposited as it descends, between the bark 
and alburnum of the former year. In the following 
year, it is the chief channel of the sap’s ascent, for 
which, from its soft and succulent texture, it seems to 
be well adapted, but it remains in the state of alburnum 
only so long as it is the outer layer, the new layer that 
is formed above it, taking the name of alburnum in its 
turn, while the old alournum, being now an inner lay- 
er, and no longer the main channel of vegetable juices, 
grows gradually harder and denser, and of a duller and 
deeper shade each succeeding year, till at last it is con- 
verted into what is called the duramen or heart-wood 
of the plant. 
Algje or Flags. — The term algae, which is of Latin origin, and 
which we translate flags, seems primarily to have de- 
noted any sort of plant or herb growing in sea water. 
* For this we are principally indebti 
Yet botanists have extended its application to many 
plants that are not even aquatics, agreeing, however in 
the common character of having their herbage frondose 
and their frond for the most part without a distinct 
root. 
Alternate.— L eaves are so called when not in pairs, but 
given off one after the other. 
Angled. — When a circumference has considerable projections 
which are not lobular. 
Annuals. — Plants which spring from seeds, grow up and pro- 
duce seed, and then decay and die, all in the course of 
a single year or season. 
Annulus. — The annulus or ring is a term applied to designate 
a peculiar organ connected with fructification of cer- 
tain tribes of plants, namely. Ferns, Mosses, Fungi, 
though it is neither of the same form in all of them, 
nor destined to the same function. 
Anther. — The anther- is an organ belonging to the flower, 
being a small bag of viscus attached to the filament, 
and containing a fine powder. Its altachment is 
usuallv terminal, as in the Tulip, but sometimes it is 
lateral’, as in Herb Paris. If the filament is altogether 
wanting, it is then placed immediately on the ovary or 
pistil, and is said to be sitting. The anther is the only 
essential part of the stamen ; in this part there is a fine 
dust, called pollen or farina, which, when the anther 
is ripe and bursts, it is discharged upon the summit of 
the pistil, and fecundates the embryo seeds in the 
germen. 
Apetalous. — Absence of petals. 
Apophysis. — A globular bunch or protuberance, in which the 
pedicle of some of the Mosses terminates, and on 
which the capsule sits, as in the genus Splachnum. 
Appendiculated. — Signifying somethingin particular attached 
to a part. 
Aquatics. — Plants growing in water. 
Arborescent. -Partaking of a woody nature, tree-like. 
Aril. — The aril, ari/las, is a coat formed by expansion of the 
umbilical cord, and proper to an individual seed, which 
it invests as an appendage, either wholly or in part, 
though not adhering to it, closely, except by the base, 
and detaching itself at last spontaneously. It is ele- 
gantly exemplified in the outer arid orange-coloured 
coat of the seed of Evonymits Europceus, that presents 
itself so conspicuously to the eye when the valves of the 
capsule have opened. In this case it invests the seed 
wholly, and is hence said to be complete ; but in others 
as in Celastrus, it invests the seed only in part, and is 
hence said to be dimidiate. It is usually of a mem- 
branaceous or leathery sort of a texture ; but in 
Evonymus it is somewhat succulent, and in a few 
species of Orchis, it is said to resemble a finely reticu- 
lated web, if this web is really an aril. In Oxalis, it 
is membranaceous and elastic, ejecting the ripe seed 
with considerable force. The mace which envelopes 
the shell or internal pericarp of the nutmeg, is gene- 
rally regarded by botanists as an aril ; and this view of 
the subject seems to be sufficiently correct, because the 
organ in question, though not enclosed within the shell 
is yet enclosed within the external pericarp or ovary, 
and has its origin in the umbilical cord. The envelope 
of the seed of the Carem has been by some botanists 
* transferred to the head of the aril also, and yet in this 
case the propriety of the transference may be doubted, 
because the organ in question includes not merely the 
seed, but also the ovary itself; and if not, the seed is 
without an ovary. 
Armature. — Many plants are furnished with special organs 
that seem destined as a defence to protect them from 
the attack of animals, as thorns, prickles, spines, 
stings. Such organs have been called their armature. 
to Mr. Keith’s Botanical Lexicon. 
