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APPENDIX 1


GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

Agglomerate

Sheets of cork made from cork granules agglutinated with resin.

Apiculture

The science and art of raising bees (mostly Apis mellifera) in hives for production of honey and/or pollination of agricultural crops.

Arboriculture

The science and art of planting and caring for trees and other woody plants for their products or for landscape and ornamental purposes.

Astringent

A substance that contracts the tissues or canals of the body, therefore diminishes blood flow.

Bonsai

An ancient art form with origins in China and Japan that involves cultivation of trees and shrubs in tiny pots. The objective of bonsai is to produce miniature plants that retain their original growth form.

Copperas

A common name for ferrous sulphate, a chemical commonly used as a mordant for dyes.

Coppice

A silvicultural technique that involves regenerating trees from stump sprouts.

Cultivar

A mutation or distinct form of a plant, initially found in nature and propagated asexually with the objective of maintaining those characteristics.

Cultivariant

Plant cultivars that appear somewhat different from their vegetative parent due to propagation from non-typical foliage.

Decoction

The end result of boiling a substance in water in order to extract certain properties.

Demulcent

A substance that is usually mucilaginous and has soothing or mollifying properties.

Essential oils

Volatile, aromatic oils extracted from the foliage, wood or other parts of a plant that are used in the manufacture of cosmetics, flavourings, medicinal products, perfumes and cleaning products.

File gumbo

The powdered, dry leaves of Sassafras albidum, which are used as a flavouring in stews and gumbo, a traditional seafood stew in the southern United States.

Glucoside

An extensive group of compounds that yield glucose and some other compounds when treated with a dilute acid or when decomposed by fermentation or an enzyme.

Mordant

A chemical added to a dye bath to alter the colour of the dye or change its ability to penetrate a fibre.

Mycorrhizae

Certain fungi which form a symbiotic relationship with higher plants. They form extended root systems and help the host plant take in nutrients. The fruiting bodies or sporocarps of many species of mycorrhizae are edible and commercially important.

Nut

Generally a one celled, one seeded fruit with a bony, woody, leathery or papery wall and usually partially or wholly encased in a husk.

Parasite

An organism that is dependent on another living organism (host) for its nourishment, often resulting in stress, disease or death of the host.

Pellicle

A thin skin or membrane such as the inner skin of a nut.

Planks

Strips of corkwood removed from the cork oak, Quercus suber.

Pollard

A technique of severe tree pruning that involves removal of all of the branches. This results in the production of a dense mass of new branches.

Quercitron

A yellow dye extracted from the inner bark of the North American black oak, Quercus velutina.

Reproduction cork

Cork planks obtained from the second and subsequent harvests of cork oak trees. Reproduction cork is generally of good quality and can be used for production of bottle stoppers and related products.

Saponins

Amorphous, glucosidal compounds of steroid structure that are obtainable from many plants. Aqueous solutions of some saponins foam like soap and are used as detergents.

Saprophyte

An organism that causes the breakdown of dead organic matter (e.g. certain fungi that produce edible mushrooms).

Sericulture

The art and science of raising silkworms, Bombyx mori, for production of silk.

Sporocarp

The reproductive stage of a fungus. Many sporocarps are commonly known as mushrooms. Some species are edible and important NWFP while others are poisonous.

Sugarbush

A maple forest dedicated to collection of sap for syrup and sugar production.

Sugarcamp

A building or site where maple sap is boiled down into syrup.

Symbiont

An organism that co-exists with another organism for the mutual benefit and survival of both organisms (e.g. mychorrhyzal fungi on tree roots).

Tannin

A group of astringent compounds taken from plants or insect caused plant galls that are used in the curing of leather.

Taphole

A hole made in the trunk of a maple tree from which sap is collected for production of syrup or sugar.

Tussah

Silk produced by certain species of wild silkworms (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) indigenous to China and India.

Variety

A plant population that has distinct morphological characteristics but is not separable at the species level. Varieties are one step below species in the taxonomic hierarchy, appear in nature, are genetically stable and reproduce from seed.

Virgin cork

The cork obtained from the first harvest of a mature cork oak tree. Virgin cork is of inferior quality to reproduction cork and is used in the production of agglomerate.


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