Tree Terms
Abortive.= Defective or barren, through non-development of a part.
Acuminate.= Long-pointed.
Acute.= Ending with a sharp but not prolonged point.
Adherent.= Growing fast to; adnate anther, attached for its whole
length to the ovary.
Adnate.= Essentially same as adherent, with the added idea of
congenital adhesion.
Aggregate fruits.= Form
d by crowding together all the carpels of the
same flower; as in the blackberry.
Ament.= Name given to such flower-clusters as those of the willow,
birch, poplar, etc.
Anther.= The part of the stamen which bears the pollen.
Appressed.= Lying close against another organ.
Ascending.= Rising upward, or obliquely upward.
Axil.= Angle formed on the upper side between the leaf stem or flower
stem and the branch from which it springs.
Bract.= Reduced leaf subtending a flower or flower-cluster.
Branches, primary.= The leading or main branches thrown out directly
from the trunk, giving a general shape to the head.
Branches, secondary.= Never directly from the trunk but from other
branches.
Buttressed.= Supported against strain in any direction by a conspicuous
ridge-like enlargement of the trunk vertically to the roots. Several of
these buttresses often give a tree a square appearance.
Caducous.= Dropping off very early after development.
Calyx.= The outer set of the leaves of the flower.
Campanulate.= Bell-shaped.
Capitate.= Head-shaped or collected in a head.
Capsule.= A dry compound fruit.
Carpel.= A simple pistil.
Catkin.= See ament.
Ciliate.= Margin with hairs or bristles.
Coherent.= One organ uniting with another.
Compound.= See leaf, ovary, etc.
Connate.= Similar organs, more or less grown together.
Connective.= The part of the anther connecting its two cells.
Coriaceous.= Thick, leathery in texture.
Corolla.= Leaves of the flower within the calyx.
Corymb.= That sort of flower-cluster in which the flower stems arranged
along the central axis elongate, forming a broad convex or level top,
the flowers opening successively from the outer edge towards the center.
Crenate.= Edge with rounded teeth.
Crenulate.= Edge with small rounded teeth.
Cyme.= Flat-topped or convex flower-cluster, the central flower opening
first; blossoming outward.
Deciduous.= Falling off, as leaves in autumn, or calyx and corolla
before fruit grows.
Declining.= Bent downwards.
Decurrent.= Leaves prolonged on the stem beneath the insertion:
branchlets springing out beneath the point of furcation, as the
feathering along the trunk of elms, etc.
Dentate.= With teeth pointing outwards.
Disk.= Central part of a head of flowers; fleshy expansion of the
receptacle of a flower; any rounded, flat surface.
Drupe.= A stone fruit; soft externally with a stone at the center, as
the cherry and peach.
Erose.= Eroded, as if gnawed.
Exserted.= Protruding, projecting out of.
Falcate.= Scythe-shaped.
Fertile.= Flowers containing the pistil, capable of producing fruit.
Anthers in such blossoms, if any, are generally abortive.
Fibrovascular.= Bundle or tissue, formed of wood fibers, ducts, etc.
Filament.= Part of stamen supporting anther.
Fungus.= A division of cryptogamous plants, including mushrooms, etc.
Furcation.= Branching.
Glabrous.= Smooth without hairiness or roughness.
Glandular.= Bearing glands or appendages having the appearance of
glands.
Glaucous.= Covered with a bloom: bluish hoary.
Globose.= Spherical or nearly so.
Habit.= The general appearance of a plant.
Habitat.= The place where a plant naturally grows, as in swamps, in
water, upon dry hillsides, etc.
Hybrid.= A cross between two species.
Imbricated.= Overlapping.
Inflorescence.= Mode of disposition of flowers; sometimes applied to
the flower-cluster itself.
Involucre.= Bracts subtending a flower or a cluster of flowers.
Keeled.= Having a central dorsal ridge like the keel of a boat.
Key.= A winged fruit; a samara.
Lacerate.= Irregularly cleft, as if torn.
Lanceolate.= Lance-shaped, broadest above the base, gradually narrowing
to the apex.
Leaf.= Consisting when botanically complete of a blade, usually flat, a
footstalk and two appendages at base of the footstalk; often consisting
of blade only.
Leaf, compound.= Having two to many distinct blades on a common
leafstalk or rachis. These blades may be sessile or have leafstalks of
their own.
Leaf, pinnately compound.= With the leaflets arranged along the sides
of the rachis.
Leaf, palmately compound.= With leaflets all standing on summit of
petiole.
Leaf-cushions.= Organs resembling persistent decurrent footstalks, upon
which leaves of spruces, etc., stand; sterigmata.
Leaf-scar.= The scar left on the twig where the petiole was attached.
Lenticel.= Externally appearing upon the bark as spots, warts, and
perpendicular or transverse lines.
Linear.= Long and narrow with sides nearly parallel.
Monopetalous.= Having petals more or less united.
Mucronate.= Abruptly tipped with a small, sharp point.
Nerved.= Having prominent unbranched ribs or veins.
Obcordate.= Inversely heart-shaped.
Obovate.= Ovate with the broader end towards the apex.
Obtuse.= Blunt or rounded at the end.
Orbicular.= Having a circular or nearly circular outline.
Ovary.= The part of the pistil containing the ovules.
Ovoid.= A solid with an oval or ovate outline.
Ovuliferous.= Bearing ovules.
Panicle.= General term for any loose and irregular flower-cluster,
commonly of the racemose type, with pedicellate flowers.
Pedicel.= The stalk of a single flower in the ultimate divisions of an
inflorescence.
Peduncle.= The stem of a solitary flower or of a cluster.
Perfect.= Having both pistils and stamens.
Perianth.= The floral envelope consisting of calyx, corolla, or both.
Persistent.= Not falling for a long time.
Petal.= A division of the corolla.
Petiole.= The stalk of a leaf.
Petiolule.= The stalk of a leaflet in a compound leaf.
Pistil.= The seed-bearing organ of the flower.
Pistillate.= Provided with pistils; usually applied to flowers without
stamens.
Pollen.= The fertilizing grains contained in the anthers.
Puberulent.= Minutely pubescent.
Pubescent.= Covered with short soft or downy hairs.
Raceme.= A simple cluster of pediceled flowers upon a common axis.
Rachis.= The main axis of a compound leaf, of a raceme or of a spike.
Ramification.= Branching.
Range.= The geographical extent and limits of a species.
Reflexed.= Turned backward.
Reticulated.= Netted; in the form of a network.
Revolute.= Rolled backward from the margin or apex.
Samara.= Key fruit; winged fruit, like that of the ash or maple.
Scarf-bark.= The thin, outermost layer which often peels off.
Segment.= One of the divisions into which a plane organ, such as a
leaf, may be divided.
Sepal.= A calyx leaf.
Serrate.= With teeth inclining forward.
Serrulate.= With small teeth inclining forward.
Sessile.= Not stalked, as when the leaf blade or flower rests directly
upon the twig.
Simple leaf.= Not compound, having one blade not jointed with its stem.
Sinuate.= Strongly wavy-margined.
Sinus.= Interval between two lobes or divisions of a leaf; sometimes
sharp-angular, sometimes rounded.
Spatulate.= Gradually narrowed downward from a rounded summit.
Spike.= A cluster of sessile or nearly sessile lateral flowers on an
elongated axis.
Spray.= The smaller branches and ultimate branchlets of a tree taken as
a whole.
Stamens.= The pollen-bearing organs of a flower, each stamen consisting
of a filament (stem) and anther which contains the pollen.
Staminate.= Having stamens.
Sterile.= Variously applied: to flowers with stamens only; to stamens
without anthers; to anthers without pollen; to ovaries not producing
seed, etc.
Stigma.= Part of pistil which receives the pollen.
Stipels.= Appendages to a leaflet, analogous to the stipules of a leaf.
Stipules.= Appendages of a leaf, usually at the point of insertion.
Striate.= Streaked, or very finely ridged lengthwise.
Style.= Part of pistil uniting ovary with stigma; often wanting.
Sucker.= A shoot of subterranean origin.
Suture.= The line of union between parts which have grown together;
most often used with reference to the line along which an ovary opens.
Terete.= Cylindrical.
Ternate.= In threes.
Tomentose.= Densely pubescent or woolly.
Truncate.= As if cut off at the end.
Umbel.= An inflorescence in which the flower stems spring from the same
point like the rays of an umbrella.
Verticillate.= Arranged in a circle round an axis; whorled.
Villose= or =villous.= With long, soft hairs.
Whorl.= Arranged in a circle about an axis.