GLOSSARY
- Alternate
- Placed singly along a stem or axis, one after another, usually each
successive item on a different side from the previous.
- Angular
- Having angles or sharp corners; generally used in reference to stems, as
contrasted with round stems.
- Annual
- A plant completing its life cycle, from seed germination to production of
new seeds, within a year and then dying.
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- Basal
- At the base or bottom of; generally used in reference to leaves.
- Biennial
- A plant that completes its life cycle in two years, and normally not
producing flowers during the first year.
- Bract
- Reduced or modified leaf, often associated with flowers.
- Bulb
- Underground plant part derived from a short, usually rounded, shoot that is
covered with scales or leaves.
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- Calyx
- The outer set of flower parts, composed of the sepals, which may be
separate or joined together; usually green.
- Cluster
- Any grouping or close arrangement of individual flowers that is not dense
and continuous
- Compound flower
- A leaf that is divided into two to many leaflets, each of which may look
like a complete leaf, but which lacks buds.
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- Disk flower
- Small, tubular flowers in the central portion of the flower head of many
plants in the Aster family.
- Erect
- Upright, standing vertically or directly perpendicular from a surface.
- Escape
- Referring to plants that have been cultivated in an area, and spread from
there into the wild.
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- Family
- A group of plants having biologically similar features, such as flower
anatomy, fruit type, etc.
- Forb
- Flowering plants that grow in grasslands.
- Genus
- A group of closely related species.
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- Hooded
- Arching over and partially concealing or shielding.
- Host
- A plant from which a parasitic plant derives nourishment.
- Leaflet
- A distinct, leaflike segment of a compound leaf.
- Lobe
- A segment of an incompletely divided plant part, typically rounded; often
used in reference to leaves.
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- Mesic
- Referring to a habitat that is well drained but generally moist through
most of the growing season.
- Opposite
- Paired directly across from one another along a stem or axis
- Ovary
- The portion of the flower where the seeds develop, usually a swollen area
below the style (if present) and stigma.
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- Parallel
- Side by side, approximately the same distance apart for the entire length;
often used in reference to veins or edges of leaves.
- Perennial
- A plant that normally lives for three or more years.
- Petal
- Component parts of the corolla, often the most brightly colored and visible
parts of the flower.
- Pistil
- The seed-producing, or female, unit of a flower, consisting of the ovary,
style and stigma; a flower may have one to several separate pistils.
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- Resinous
- Containing or covered with sticky to semi-solid, clearish sap or gum.
- Rosette
- A dense cluster of basal leaves from a common underground part, often in a
flattened, circular arrangement.
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- Sedge
- A large group of grasslike plants, many of which grow in wetlands.
- Sepal
- Component part of the calyx; typically green but sometimes enlarged and
brightly colored.
- Simple leaf
- A leaf that has a single leaflike blade, although this may be lobed or
divided.
- Stalk
- The stem supporting the leaf, flower, or flower cluster.
- Stamen
- The male unit of a flower, which produces the pollen; typically consisting
of a long filament with a pollen-producing tip.
- Stigma
- Portion of the pistil receptive to pollination; usually at the top of the
style, and often appearing fuzzy or sticky.
- Stipule
- Bract or leafy structure occurring in pairs at the base of the leaf stalk.
- Style
- The portion of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma; typically a
slender stalk.
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- Taproot
- A stout, main root extending downward.
- Tendril
- A slender, coiled or twisted filament with which climbing plants attach to
their support.
- Tuber
- Thick, creeping underground stems; sometimes also used for thickened
portions of roots.
- Variety
- A group of plants within a species that has a distinct range, habitat, or
structure.
- Whorl
- Three or more parts attached at the same point along a stem or axis and
often surrounding the stem.
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