Native Plants
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BOTANICAL GLOSSARY
Glossary of commonly used botanical terms and their definitions. Use the search bar below to look up a botanical term.
15 Random Botanical Terms
Apex - The topmost or distal portion of a plant or plant part.
Drupe - Fruit with exocarp or skin, fleshy mesocarp and hardened endocarp with seed inside.
Pistillate flower - A flower with pistils, but no stamens.
Corm - A short, fleshy underground stem, broader than high, producing stems from the base and leaves and flower stems from the top.
Cork - Bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use.
Leaflet - A division or part of a compound leaf.
Follicle - Dry, dehiscent fruit.
Head - A compact cluster of flowers attached to essentially the same point on the peduncle.
Capitulum - An inflorescence composed of multiple florets arranged in a flower head and surrounded by an involucre of bracts as found on many species in Asteraceae.
Flower head - A dense arrangement of flowers arising from a common point, as in Apiaceae, or as in Asteraceae where many ray flowers and/or disc flowers make up one "flower head." See also, Capitulum.
Acute - Pointed apex with margins that form an angle between 45 and 90 degrees.
Thorn - A sharp-pointed structure formed by a modified branch.
Acaulescent - Without a distinct stem.
Leafless - Without leaves.
Bark - Tough outer covering of trunks or stems of trees, shrubs, and vines.