Acute

Sharp-pointed.

Akene

A dry fruit.

Alternate

Not opposite, arranged singly at different heights on the stem.

Annual

Of one year's duration. Winter Annual, a plant from autumn-sown seed which blooms and fruits the following spring.

Anther

That part of the stamen which contains the pollen.

Apetalous

Without petals.

Apex

The outer tip of a leaf or petal.

Axil

The point on a stem directly above the base of a leaf.

Axis

The central line of any organ.

Basal

Leaves near the ground; at the base.

Bearded

Bearing tufts of hairs.

Berry

A fruit in which the whole pericarp is fleshy or pulpy.

Biennial

Of two years' duration, usually flowering and fruit" ing the second year only, and then perishing.

Blade

The expanded portion of the leaf.

Bract

A small modified leaf at the base of or upon the flower-stem.

Bractlet

A secondary small bract.

Bulb

A bud with fleshy scales, usually underground.

Bulbous

Having the character of a bulb.

Calyx

The outer and lower set of leaves at the base of the flower, usually green, but sometimes highly colored.

Carpel

A single pistil, or one member of a compound pistil.

Cleistogamous

Small, inconspicuous flowers which never open but fertilize themselves in the bud and usually grow near the ground.

Composite

A floral head, composed of few or many florets gathered in a head, such as daisy or dandelion.

Compound

Composed of two or more similar parts united into a whole; e. g., a compound leaf is one divided into separate leaflets.

Convolute

Rolled up longitudinally.

Cordate

Heart-shaped.

Corm

A solid enlargement at the base of the stem, bulb-like.

Corolla

The flower-leaves standing next within and above the calyx. Crenate Scalloped; with rounded teeth.

Cross-Fertilization

Is produced by the pollen which has been transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another by bees, moths, butterflies, other insects, and the wind.

Crucifer

Name given to corollas of four petals in the form of a cross.

Dentate

Toothed; teeth outwardly projecting.

Diadelphous

Stamens divided into two sets.

Dioecious

Bearing staminate flowers on one plant and pistillate flowers on another plant of the same species.

Disk-Flowers

The tubular florets composing the central "button" of a daisy or an aster, usually surrounded with a circle of ray-florets.

Entire

Without divisions, lobes, or teeth.

Evergreen

Bearing green leaves throughout the year.

Exserted

Prolonged past surrounding organs.

Extrorse

Facing outward.

Fertile

Fruit-producing flowers; bearing seeds.

Fertilization

A process whereby the tiny pollen grain, which comes in contact with the stigma, penetrates the style and enters the ovary, where it quickens the seed formation into life.

Filament

The threadlike part of a stamen which supports the anther.

Floret

A small flower; one of the flowers of a head, such as daisy or clover.

Follicle

A simple dry fruit, opening on one side only.

Fruit

The seed-bearing product of the plant.

Glabrous

Smooth, neither rough nor hairy.

Gland

A secreting cell or group of cells.

Globose

Spherical or nearly so.

Habitat

A plant's natural place of growth.

Head

A dense cluster of nearly stemless flowers, like the daisy or clover.

Herb

A plant with no persistent woody stem above ground.

Imperfect Flower

One having cither stamens or pistils, but not both.

Introduced

Brought intentionally from another region.

Introrse

Facing inward.

Involucre

A whorl of bracts, subtending a flower or flower-cluster.

Irregular

Showing inequality in the size, form, or union of its similar parts.

Keeled

Ridged like the keel of a boat; applied to the two united petals of the peculiar corolla of the blossoms of the Pea family.

Lanceolate

Longer than wide, broadest above the base and tapering to the apex.

Leaflet

A separate or single division of a compound leaf, or a tiny leaf or bract.

Ligulate

Strap-shaped, as the rays of composite heads.

Lip

The prominent petal of Orchids; or the divisions of the two-parted flowers of the Mints.

Lobe

The rounded segments of any part of a flower or leaf.

Margin

The edge or outline of a leaf or petal.

Midrib

The central or main rib of a leaf.

Mucronate

Having a bristle at the apex of a leaf.

Naturalized

Plants not native to the region but so firmly established as to have become part of the flora.

Nectar

A sweetish fluid contained in some part of the flower.

Obcordate

Inversely heart-shaped.

Oblong

Longer than broad, with nearly parallel or curving sides.

Obovate

Inversely ovate.

Obtuse

Blunt or rounded.

Ovary

Lower part of a pistil which bears seeds.

Ovate

Egg-shaped, with the broadest end toward the stem.

Ovule

The seed-sacs in the ovary.

Panicle

A compound flower-cluster of the racemose type.

Papilionaceous

Having a winged corolla, somewhat resembling a butterfly and peculiar to the flowers of the Pea family.

Perennial

Lasting year after year.

Perfect (Flower)

One having both stamens and pistils.

Pericarp

The outer wall of the seed-vessel, sometimes dry and sometimes fleshy.

Petal

A division of the corolla.

Petiole

The stalk of a leaf.

Pistil

The central and seed-bearing part of a flower, consisting of the ovary, stigma, and style when present.

Pistillate

Having pistils but no stamens.

Pod

Any dry fruit that opens when ripe; especially used for the fruit of the Pea family.

Pollen

The yellow fertilizing powder contained in the anther.

Pollination

The placing of the pollen grains of the stamens upon the surface of the stigma.

Pubescent

Hairy.

Raceme

A lengthened flower-cluster.

Ray

One of the branches of an umbel; one of the flat marginal flowers of composite heads.

Receptacle

The end of the flower-stem, bearing the floral organs, or, in Composita, bearing the flowers.

Rootstock

An underground stem - rooting at the joints, and becoming erect at the apex.

Rotate

A flat, round corolla with very short tube.

Salver-Shape

A corolla which forms a long tube below, expanding into a flat border above.

Scape

A leafless or nearly leafless flower-stalk rising from the ground.

Sepal

One of the leaves of a calyx.

Serrate

With teeth projecting forward.

Sessile

Without a stalk.

Spadlx

A fleshy spike enveloped by a spathe as in the Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Spathe

A large, leaf-like bract or pair of bracts enclosing a flower or spadix.

Spike

An elongated, closely set flower-cluster.

Spur

A hollow sac-like or tubular extension of some part of the blossom, usually nectar-bearing.

Stalk

Here used to designate the main ascending part of the plant.

Stamen

One of the pollen-bearing organs of a flower.

Staminate

Flowers which bear stamens but no pistils.

Stem

Here used to designate the connecting parts between the stalk and the leaves and flowers.

Sterile

Unproductive, as a flower without a pistil or a stamen without an anther.

Stigma

The tip or side of a pistil through which the pollen is received which by means of minute tubes penetrates the style and conveys the minute grains to fertilize the seed-sacs within the ovary.

Stipule

A tiny leaflet borne at the base of a petiole.

Style

The usually slender part of a pistil connecting the stigma and the ovary.

Terete

Circular in cross-section.

Terminal

Borne at the summit of the stem.

Tuber

A short, thick, underground branch having eyes, like a potato.

Tufted

Growing in clusters or clumps.

Umbel

A terminal floral cluster in which the stems spring from the same point, like the ribs of an umbrella.

Utricle

A bladder-like cover to a one-seeded fruit.

Veinlet

A branch of a vein.

Veins

The threadlike branching parts in the fibre or tissue of the leaf.

Venation

The arrangement of the veins.

Whorl

An arrangement of leaves in a circle around the stem.

Winged

Having a thin expansion on either side of the stem, or of the petiole, or of a dry fruit.