XI. 
EXPLANATORY NOTES 
On some of the Technical Words used in books on Botany. 
(GLOSSARY.) 
Acuminate: gradually tapered and sharply 
pointed. 
Acute: less gradually tapered to a sharp point. 
Adherent : attached and holding together. 
Adnate : united in growth, as one organ to 
another where the two are different. 
Anther : the pollen-hearing portion of a stamen, 
consisting usually of two lobes called 
thecae with their connecting tissue and 
contents. Each theca contains two 
pollen sacs. Upon maturity, one slit or 
opening in each theca releases the pollen 
from its two contained sacs. 
Apex: the highest or extreme point of anything. 
Axil: the upper angle formed by a leaf and the 
twig upon which it grows. 
Axillary : growing in the axils or angles of 
the leaves. 
Bark: in coniferous and dicotyledonous trees, all 
the layers of tissue external to the cam¬ 
bium. The newly-formed layers consist 
of living cells, and serve to conduct tissue 
food prepared in the leaves to other parts 
of the plant. As new layers are formed 
within, those on the outside die. In some 
cases the dead bark soon scales off and 
falls away; in others it clings to the tree 
and persists in the form of a stringy, 
spongy, or hard coating. 
Bract : a rudimentary or modified leaf in the 
axil of which a flower arises. 
Cambium : the actively growing tissue immedi¬ 
ately outside the wood in coniferous and 
dicotyledonous trees. It gives rise to new 
layers of wood on the inside and new 
layers of bark on the outside, and thus 
brings about increase of thickness in 
roots, trunk, and branches. 
Cells: the microscopic units of which the plant 
hody is built. Each cell is surrounded 
by a wall, which, in living tissues, is 
pervious to water holding mineral salts 
and organic substances in solution. By a 
process not fully understood, but sugges¬ 
tive of suction and propulsion, each 
living cell can receive fluid from one con¬ 
tiguous cell and pass it on to another. 
The process, however it may be explained, 
helps to make possible the upward flow 
of sap from rootlets to leaves. The term 
cell is also sometimes used to mean the 
cavity of a pollen sac or of an ovary. 
Chlorophyll: the green pigment in the leaves 
of plants wdiereby is made possible the 
assimilation of carbon dioxide from the 
air. 
Clavate : club-shaped with gradual taper from 
the free end to the attached end. 
Conical : cone-shaped with the small end free. 
Connate: united ill growth, as one organ with 
another where the two are alike. 
Cordate: heart-shaped with the small end free. 
Corymb: a flower cluster consisting of several 
branchlets and numerous flowers, and so 
formed as to present an even and 
cushion-like appearance on the top. 
Cotyledons: the seed leaves or first leaves of 
a germinating plant. They are often 
thick and fleshy, in other cases thin and 
membranous. They may remain below 
the ground or rise above it and become 
coloured by the light. Their chief function 
is storage of food for the infant plant- 
Grasses, palms, etc., have only one coty¬ 
ledon, and are called Monocotyledons. 
The broad-leaf trees and many other 
plants have two cotyledons, and are 
called Dicotyledons. The Conifers vary 
in number of cotyledons from two to over 
twelve. They are sometimes called Poly¬ 
cotyledons. 
