INTRODUCTION lvii 
without separate envelopes, the whole having the appearance of 
a single flower. 
In Ficus numerous minute flowers are enclosed in the receptacle 
or fig. 
In Iris the stigmatic divisions of the style are like petals. 
These few deviations from the usual structure are given as a 
caution to' students not to be misled by external resemblances. 
GLOSSARY 
Comparatively few technical terms are used in the descriptions in this 
work, but some familiar words have a definite signification in botanical 
language which requires explanation. Even the term petal has a more 
restricted meaning than it has in common parlance. Therefore it seems 
desirable to give a glossary, if only a very limited one. In addition to 
the names of organs and qualifying terms, a number of the commoner 
specific names are included. Illustrative examples have been selected as 
far as possible from the plants figured. 
A, as a prefix, denotes absence of an 
organ or organs : apetalous , acotyle- 
donous. 
Accumbent. — Applied to the embryo, 
especially of the Cruciferse, when the 
radicle is turned up and applied to 
the edges of the cotyledons, thus o= . 
See Arabis alpina, p. 31. 
Achene. — A dry, one-seeded, indehiscent 
fruit, as in the Compositse, or one car- 
pel in a cluster, as in the fruit of the 
Buttercup. 
Aculeatus. — Armed with prickles, which 
arise in the epidermal tissue. 
Acuminate. — Having a tapering tip, as 
the leaves of Pilea umbrosa, p. 464. 
Acute. — Having a sharp-pointed tip. 
Adherent. — Employed to denote union 
of the parts of different whorls or 
series in flowers, as calyx and ovary in 
all inferior ovaries, and stamens and 
corolla in most of the Gamopetalas. ■ 
Adnate. — Organs of different series 
united, as the stamens to the corolla 
in Primula , p. 298. 
Adventitious. — Roots, tubers or buds 
produced on any other than the ordi- 
nary part of the plant are termed ad- 
ventitious. 
Estivation . — The disposition of the sepals 
or petals with regard to each other in 
the flower-bud. 
Alatus . — See Winged. 
Albumen. — The substance found in 
many seed sin addition to the embryo; 
in some orders i Graminese it forms the 
bulk of the seed, in others (Legumi- 
nosae), it is almost always entirely 
absent. 
Albus. — 'White. 
Alternate. — One above the other at 
different levels, as the leaves of the 
Oak, or between each other, as the 
sepals and petals of most plants. 
Amplexicaulis. — Clasping the stem, as 
the leaves of Parnassia , p. 177, 
Chirita, p. 866, and Platystemma , 
p. 867. 
Androgynous. — When male and female 
flowers are intermixed or associated 
in the same head or spike. 
Anemophilous. — - Fertilised by the wind 
conveying the pollen from flower to 
flower, as most plants having incon- 
spicuous flowers, such as the Sedges 
and Grasses. 
■Annual. — Plants that flower only once 
and the same year or season as they 
spring from seeds. See Monocarpic. 
Anther. — The part of a stamen in which 
the pollen is generated. They mostly 
open or dehisce to allow the pollen 
to escape by longitudinal slits ; some- 
times by valves, as in Berberis and 
Machilus, p. 482 ; sometimes by pores, 
as in Rhododendron. 
Arborescens.— Growing into a tree. 
Arenarius.' — Growing in sandy soil. 
Argenteus. — Silvery. 
Aril. — A pulpy or fleshy appendage to 
the coat or testa of a seed, as in 
E uonymiis. 
