120 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
the cultivated plant must be determined by the result of the 
first season’s experience, and any perceivable change should be 
encouraged until it can be decided what is most likely to be 
profitable. 
Britannicus. 
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN BOTANICAL 
DESCRIPTIONS. 
A difficulty which often besets the English reader has been 
pointed out to us, as militating much against the enjoyment of 
botanical reading, and the utter impossibility of understanding 
the subject in which such complicated out-of-the-way terms are 
so frequently used; we therefore propose to remedy the 
unavoidable evil by the introduction of a list of terms and their 
significations, in carrying out which we shall confine ourselves 
in the first instance to such as are of more ordinary occurrence, 
reserving the abstruse and such as appear indefinite until another 
series, should it hereafter be called for. 
A (from the Greek a). In composition signifies “withoutas 
apetalous , without petals ; aphyllous , without leaves. In the 
case of its joining a vowel it is softened into an; thus, 
ananthous , without flowers. 
Abbreviate. Used to indicate that an organ or part of one is 
shorter than another. 
Aberrant. Wandering from the natural way, applied in Natural 
History when the character of certain species or genera 
differs from those of their neighbours. 
Abnormal. Of similar meaning to the above, applied usually 
when the difference exists among more closely allied 
species. 
Abortion. An imperfect developement. 
Abortient. Abortive. 
Abraded. Having the appearance of being rubbed or worn off. 
Abrupt. A sudden termination, an imperfect end. 
Abruptly pinnate. When a pinnate leaf terminates in a pair 
instead of an odd leaflet. 
Absorption. As in ordinary composition. 
