| abscision scar | adhesion scar |
| accrescent | inflated |
| achene | 1-seeded, coriaceous (q.v.) fruit |
| acuminate (of a leaf) | apex tapering gradually or abruptly into a narrow point |
| acute | pointed |
| adaxial (of a leaf) | upper surface |
| adventitious roots | roots arising from an organ other than the root |
| aflatoxins | group of secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus spp. |
| commonly growing on stored food and often highly toxic | |
| alternate (of leaves) | inserted at different levels along the stem or branch, i.e., not opposite |
| androecium | male component, i.e., stamens (q.v.) of an angiosperm flower |
| annual | plant completing its life cycle within a year |
| apetalous | without petals |
| aril (of a seed) | an appendage covering or partly enclosing the seed and arising from |
| the funicle (q.v.) | |
| armed | equipped with spines |
| axil | the angle between the leaf and branch |
| axillary | arising from the axil (q.v.) |
| beaked | terminating gradually in a hard, long, straight point |
| berry | a juicy fruit with seeds immersed in pulp |
| bipinnate (of a leaf) | where the primary divisions of a leaf (leaflets) of a pinnate leaf (q.v.) |
| are themselves pinnate | |
| bony | hard and very close textured and only cut with difficulty |
| bract | a small leaf subtending a flower or flower stalk |
| bur, burr | a rough, prickly or spiny husk (q.v.), also commonly applied to the |
| entire fruit | |
| buttress | a plank-like outgrowth of the lower trunk and providing support |
| caducous | falling early |
| calcifuge | a plant that grows in calcium deficient soils |
| calyx | collective term for the sepals (q.v.) |
| carpel | a simple pistil formed by a fruit-leaf folded lengthwise and united by |
| its edges (suture, q.v.), or one of several such united to form the | |
| ovary | |
| cartilaginous | flexible but firm and tough |
| cathartic | purgative |
| catkin | a closely packed, bracteate, pendulous spike (q.v.), usually composed |
| of small, inconspicuous unisexual flowers | |
| chartaceous | papery |
| compound leaf | leaf divided to the midrib or petiole to form leaflets (q.v.) |
| coriaceous | leathery |
| corm | a short, swollen, perennating, underground stem |
| corolla | collective term for the petals (q.v.) |
| cotyledon | first leaf or leaves of the angiosperm embryo |
| cupule | cup-shaped structure partially or completely enclosing the fruit in the |
| Fagaceae formed from the fused extensions of the pedicel (q.v.) | |
| cyme | a type of inflorescence (q.v.) in which each axis ends in a flower |
| cypsela | a fruit similar to an achene (q.v.) but develops from an inferior ovary |
| and consequently includes non-carpellary tissue. Typical of the | |
| Compositae, where the fruit is surrounded by hairs, pappus, (q.v.), | |
| derived from the calyx | |
| deciduous | eventually falling; not evergreen |
| dehiscent | opening spontaneously when ripe |
| determinate | growth ending in a bud |
| dioecious | with unisexual flowers (c.f. monoecious) |
| disc | a circular enlargement of the receptacle (q.v.) |
| dorsal | lower surface, side facing away from the main axis |
| drupe | a fleshy, indehiscent fruit in which the seed or seeds are surrounded by |
| a hardened, sclerochymatous endocarp (q.v.) | |
| dry | not fleshy |
| ellipsoid | an elliptic solid |
| elliptic | oval shaped, broadest in the middle |
| endocarp | innermost layer of the pericarp (q.v.) |
| endosperm | the nutritive material stored within the seed |
| epicarp | see exocarp |
| etiology | the study of the casual agents of a disease |
| exocarp | the outer layer of the pericarp (q.v.) |
| exfoliate | peeling off |
| fan palm | palm with fan or wedge-shaped leaves |
| fastigiate | a tree in which the branches grow almost vertically |
| feather palm | palm with pinnate leaves |
| FOB | free on board |
| foliate | leaves divided into leaflets (q.v.) |
| follicle | a pod (q.v.) consisting of a single carpel (q.v.) usually opening along |
| the inner suture (q.v.) to which the seeds are attached | |
| funicle | the stalk attaching the ovule and later the seed to the ovary wall |
| gametophyte | the haploid generation in the life-cycle of a plant |
| geocarpic | where the fruit are pushed into the soil by the gynophore (q.v.) and |
| mature | |
| glabrescent | becoming glabrous (q.v.) or nearly so |
| glabrous | devoid of hairs |
| gourd | fruits of the Curcurbitaceae with a hard rind (c.f. pepo) |
| gynoecium | female component, i.e., carpels (q.v.), of an angiosperm flower |
| gynophore | an extension of the receptacle (q.v.) which bears the ovary (q.v.) |
| hapaxanthic (palms) | a plant which flowers only once and then dies (c.f. pleonanthic) |
| hastula | a small flange of tissue at the junction of lamina (q.v.) and petiole |
| (q.v.) of most palm leaves | |
| haustorium | a nutrient absorbing organ, often produced by a plant parasite |
| hermaphrodite | male and female organs present in the same flower |
| herbaceous | soft, not hard or woody |
| hull | lay term for skin of kernel |
| husk | lay term rather loosely applied for the fleshy or fibrous outer cover of |
| a fruit | |
| hypanthium | a flat or cup-shaped receptacle (q.v.) on which the ovary is either |
| immersed or on the same level as the calyx and corolla | |
| imparipinnate(of a leaf) | leaf pinnate (q.v.) with an odd terminal leaflet (c.f. paripinnate) |
| indehiscent(of a fruit) | not opening when ripe |
| Indo-China | region of Southeast Asia which includes Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, |
| Cambodia and Viet Nam and the Malay Peninsula | |
| inflorescence | the arrangement of the flowers on a plant |
| infructescence | fruiting inflorescence |
| involucre | a number of bracts (q.v.) surrounding the base of a flower-head, |
| sometimes persisting in fruit | |
| kernel | the inner, usually edible part of a nut (q.v.) or stone (q.v.) |
| lamina | leaf blade |
| lanceolate | lance-shaped |
| leaf | leaf blade plus petiole (q.v.) |
| leaf sheath | basal part of a leaf surrounding the stem |
| leaflet | a leaf-like unit of a compound leaf (q.v.) |
| legume | the fruit-pod of the Leguminosae, consisting of a single carpel, usually |
| opening along both sutures (q.v.) into two halves | |
| locule | cavity of ovary or fruit |
| loculicidal | opening into the cells, when a ripe capsule splits along the back |
| Malaysia | Federation which includes Peninsular Malaysia, East Malaysia, Sabah |
| and Sarawak | |
| Malesia | bio-geographical region which includes Malaysia (q.v.), Indonesia, the |
| Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Papua New Guinea | |
| mastic | resin |
| mericarp | one of the separate halves or parts of a fruit |
| mesocarp | the often fleshy or succulent middle layer of the pericarp (q.v.) |
| monoecious | where the male and female flowers are separate but on the same plant |
| (c.f. dioecious) | |
| mucilaginous | a substance that swells with water to form a slimy solution |
| muricate | with a surface covered by sharp points or prickles or hard, sharp |
| projections | |
| mycoplasma | small, parasitic microorganisms that lack rigid cell wall; they are |
| believed to be responsible for certain yellow diseases of plants | |
| nut | 1-seeded, indehiscent (q.v.), fruit with a hard, dry pericarp (q.v.) |
| nutlet | a small nut (q.v.) |
| oblong | oval (q.v.) with parallel sides |
| obovate | ovate (q.v.) with the broadest part farthest from the petiole |
| oleaginous | oily |
| operculum | lid of a pyxidium (q.v.) |
| ovate | egg-shaped with the broadest part nearest to the petiole |
| ovoid | solid form of oval |
| oval | broadly elliptic |
| ovary | the swollen, basal part of a carpel (q.v.) containing the ovule (q.v.) or |
| ovules | |
| ovule | the immature seed before fertilization |
| panicle | inflorescence in which the axis is divided into branches bearing several |
| flowers | |
| pappus | rig of hairs or scales round the top of Compositae fruit |
| paripinnate | pinnate leaf (q.v.) without an odd terminal leaflet (c.f. imparipinnate) |
| pedicel | the stalk attaching a flower to the main axis of an inflorescence |
| peduncle | general name for a flower stalk bearing either a solitary flower or a |
| cluster of flowers | |
| peltate (of a leaf) | petiole attached to the undersurface instead of the margin |
| pepo | a type of berry (q.v.) with a hard exterior derived either from the |
| epicarp (q.v.), or, in the Cucurbitaceae, from the receptacle (q.v.) | |
| perennial | a plant that survives for several years |
| perianth | floral envelope consisting of sepals (q.v.) and petals (q.v.) |
| pericarp | fruit wall derived from the ovary; in fleshy fruits the pericarp is |
| divided into an outer, toughened epicarp (q.v.), a fleshy mesocarp | |
| (q.v.), and an inner, variously thickened or membraneous endocarp | |
| (q.v.) | |
| petal | an individual unit of the corolla (q.v.), interior to the calyx (q.v.), |
| usually coloured | |
| petiole | stalk attaching the leaf blade to the branch or stem |
| pinnate | a leaf divided along a common axis into leaflets (q.v.) |
| pinnatisect | a leaf almost divided to the axis into segments (c.f. pinnate) |
| piscicide | fish poison |
| pleonanthic (of palms) | method of flowering in which the stem does not die after flowering |
| (c.f. hapaxanthic) | |
| pod | a dry, indehiscent (q.v.) fruit |
| pome | a fleshy fruit where the succulent tissues are developed from the |
| receptacle (q.v.) | |
| pubescent | covered with short hairs |
| pyrene | a nutlet (q.v.) or kernel (q.v.), the stone of a drupe (q.v.) or similar |
| fruit | |
| pyxidium | seed capsule having a circular lid (operculum q.v.) which falls off to |
| release the seeds | |
| raceme | an inflorescence (q.v.) in which the flowers are borne on pedicels |
| along an individual axis or peduncle (q.v.) | |
| rachis | main axis of a compound leaf (q.v.) or inflorescence (q.v.) |
| receptacle | the extremity of a peduncle (q.v.) or pedicel (q.v.) on which the floral |
| parts are borne | |
| reniform | kidney-shaped |
| root tuber | a swollen root or branch of a root acting as a food reserve |
| samara | an indehiscent (q.v.), 1-seeded, winged fruit |
| samaroid | like a samara (q.v.) |
| sarcotesta (of palms) | outer seed coat developed as a fleshy layer surrounding the rest of the |
| seed | |
| schizocarp | a dry fruit derived from two or more 1-seeded carpels which divided |
| into 1-seeded units at maturity | |
| sclerenchymatous | composed of strengthening tissues |
| seed | the product of a fertilized ovule |
| sepal | an individual unit of the calyx (q.v.) exterior to the corolla (q.v.), |
| usually green | |
| septum (pl. septa) | dividing wall |
| septicidal | divided into compartments |
| serrate | with regular, saw-like, teeth |
| sessile | stalkless |
| shell | hard, dry pericarp (q.v.) of a nut (q.v.) |
| simple (of a leaf) | not divided into leaflets (q.v.) |
| solitary palm | stem not suckering |
| spike | inflorescence with sessile (q.v.) flowers along a simple, undivided |
| rachis (q.v.) | |
| stamen | male reproductive organ of a flowering plant |
| staminode | sterile or rudimentary stamen (q.v.) |
| stigma | receptive tip of the style (q.v.) or, where absent, carpel (q.v.) where |
| the pollen is received at pollination | |
| stipule | leaf-like or scale-like appendages , usually at the base of the petiole |
| (q.v.) | |
| stolon | a runner that roots |
| stoloniferous | with stolons (q.v.) |
| stone | woody endocarp (q.v.) of a drupe (q.v.) |
| strobili | pine cone |
| style | sterile portion of the carpel between the ovary (q.v.) and stigma (q.v.) |
| suture | line of union (and eventual opening) of a carpel (q.v.) |
| subcordate (of a leaf) | leaf base rounded and slightly notched |
| tendril | a coiling, modified plant organ used for climbing |
| terminal | at the end of |
| testa | outer seed coat |
| tomentose | densely covered with short, soft hairs |
| ton | long ton, equivalent to 1.016 tonnes |
| tonne | metric tonne (one thousand kilogrammes), equivalent to 0.984 tons |
| toothed (of a leaf) | variously and regularly indented (c.f. serrate) |
| trigonous | obtusely 3-angled |
| turgid | swollen |
| unarmed | without spines |
| valve (of fruit) | one of the segments produced by the splitting of a ripe capsule (q.v.) |
| ventral | upper surface, side facing the main axis |
| vermifuge | expels or destroys intestinal worms |
