XII. 
GLOSSARY. 
V 
Crenate, Crenulate: with larger or smaller 
blunt or rounded teeth, as along the 
margins of certain leaves. 
Cyme : a flower cluster with branchlets that 
fork and spread in an open manner and 
carry the flowers at their extremities. 
Deciduous: falling away after the manner of 
dead leaves, dead petals, or loose dead 
bark. 
Dioecious: having stamens on one plant or tree 
and pistils on another. (Greek di, two, 
and oikos, a dwelling place). 
Dehiscence : the splitting of the thecae to 
release the pollen or of a seed vessel to 
emit the seeds. The splitting takes place 
along prepared lines of weak cohesion. 
Dimorphic: growing in two distinct forms, at 
the same time or at different periods in 
the plant’s life. 
Exserted: protruded beyond an orifice or rim; 
often shortened to exsert. 
Falcate: shaped like a scythe or a reaping- 
hook. 
Filaments: thread-like objects; the slender 
stalklets that carry the anthers in a 
flower. (See Stamens.) 
Fruit : any seed-vessel that has been modified 
by fertilization and still contains the fer¬ 
tilized seed. 
Note .—The female parts of any 
flower, after they have been changed and 
perfected by fertilization, constitute a 
fruit, the vital function in the change 
being in all cases that whereby the ovule 
(or each ovule) becomes a seed. 
Genus: a group of apparently related plants 
including smaller groups called species. 
Glabrous: free from hairy or downy covering; 
smooth. 
Glaucous: bluish green, or chalky green, the 
appearance being due to a powdery 
bloom on the surface. 
Habitat : the place or region where a race or 
species is found growing. The adjective 
natural is often used to indicate that the 
place of growth has been determined 
without any human agency. The science 
of habitat is now regarded as of very 
great importance. It is termed by the 
learned oecology. (Gk. oikos, a dwell¬ 
ing place, and logos, teaching.) 
Hermaphrodite: having male and female 
organs in the same flower. 
Hispid : thickly covered with rather stiff hairs. 
Inflorescence: the mode or form in which a 
plant produces its flowers. Fruiting or 
infructescence follows as its result. 
Lanceolate: tapering to an acute apex and 
narrowing a little to the base like the 
blade of a lance. 
Macro and Micro: prefixes meaning large and 
small respectively. 
Mallee: a eucalypt with thickened woody root- 
stock or rudimentary stem and slender 
stem-like branches. It is the usual word 
for eucalypts of this type in South Aus¬ 
tralia, Victoria, and New South Wales. 
In Western Australia the word Marlock 
is used with similar application. 
Medulla: pith; a soft narrow column found in 
the centre of some tree stems. 
Medullary Rays: longitudinal and radiating 
bands of paler (parenchymatous) cells 
in the stems of coniferous and dicoty- 
ledonous trees. The bands extend from 
the centre of the stem or from inter¬ 
mediate points therein to the cambium 
tissue and bark. They serve to convey 
from the cambium the substances that 
change sapwood (alburnum) into heart- 
wood (duramen). The bands appear as 
rays only when a stem or branch is cut 
across. 
Midrib : the primary rib or vein in a leaf. It 
is a prolongation of the footstalk or 
petiole where that is present. 
Monoecious: having male and female organs 
in separate flowers on the same plant. 
(Gk. monos, one, and oikos, dwelling 
place). 
Obconical: cone-shaped with the broad end 
free. 
Obcordate: heart-shaped with the notched end 
free. 
Operculum : an undivided lid or cover. 
Orbicular : flat and circular or nearly circular. 
Ovary : the part of the pistil in which the 
ovules are formed and fertilized. 
Ovate: flat with the outline of a hen’s egg. 
Ovoid: shaped like an egg. 
