Flora of North America Glossary

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Term Synonyms Category Limitation Definition
bushy < shrubby; >< frutescent, fruticose habit plant Having or developing the character of a bush. See also arboreous, arborescent, subshrubby, suffrutescent, suffruticose, tree-like, woody-clumping.
butterfly-like = papilionaceous architecture corolla Having a relatively large, erect adaxial (upper) petal (the standard, banner or vexillum), two smaller lateral petals (the wings or alae), and two individually smaller but connate or coherent abaxial (lower) petals that together form a carinate structure (the keel or carina), the whole loosely resembling a butterfly with wings spread.
caducous duration structure Deciduous upon or immediately after emergence, with little or no evident senescence beforehand.
caesious < ceraceous, cereous, pruinose, waxen, waxy coating Greenish pruinose; covered with a thin, opaque, greenish deposit (bloom) of macroscopically indistinguishable waxy particles that rubs off easily. See also glaucescent, glaucous.
caespitose habit See cespitose.
calcarate = spurred base Having a relatively slender protrusion resembling a spur.
calceolate = slipper-shaped solid shape Relatively thin-walled with an essentially hollow interior that is open on one side at the broader end.
callose = callous texture Hard-leathery; callose tissue usually is also thicker than comparable adjacent tissue.
callous = callose texture Hard-leathery; callous tissue usually is also thicker than comparable adjacent tissue.
callus FEATURE A small, relatively hard covering, outgrowth, or swelling of tissue; esp. in axes of grass (Poaceae) inflorescences just distal to points of eventual disarticulation.
calyciform = cup-shaped, cupulate solid shape Truncate-globose with the distal margin more or less entire; like the bowl of a cup.
calyculate 1 architecture capitulum (head) With the involucre subtended by a calyculus; in Asteraceae (Compositae).
calyculate 2 architecture flower Subtended by a calyculus (epicalyx).
calyculus 1 pl. calyculi = epicalyx STRUCTURE A whorl of bracts immediately subtending (beneath or outside) a calyx; literally, a little calyx.
calyculus 2 pl. calyculi STRUCTURE Collectively the bractlets (bracteoles) sometimes subtending (beneath or outside) the involucre in a capitulum (head); in Asteraceae (Compositae).
calyptra pl. calyptrae STRUCTURE A distal hood- or lid-like portion that detaches as a unit from the remainder of the structure; esp. in some Papaveraceae the unopened calyx that separates from the rest of the flower at anthesis.
calyptrate architecture Having or constituting a calyptra.
calyptriform solid shape Hollow, roughly circular in cross-section, broader and open distally, and tapering to a closed apex, like a candle snuffer or elongate hood.
calyx pl. calyces STRUCTURE Collectively, the sepals of a flower, whether distinct or connate; the outer or proximal envelope of a differentiated perianth, whether the other envelope (corolla) is also actually present or is deemed to be secondarily absent due to evolutionary reduction.
calyx tube STRUCTURE A relatively narrow, fully connate portion of a synsepalous (gamosepalous) calyx proximal to a broader portion (limb) that comprises the distinct or connate distal portions of the sepals.
campanulate = bell-shaped solid shape Circular in transverse section, inflated proximally, thence broadening gradually to a flared distal portion.
campylodromous venation Having several primary and/or strongly developed secondary veins that diverge from a point or small area near the base of the blade and run thence ultimately toward the apex, recurving proximally, arcuate and converging distally, reaching the apex or not.
campylotropous orientation ovule Having the (reniform) ovule curved toward the ovary wall, the micropyle facing the wall, and the funiculus attached near the center of the concave side, the curvature and displacement of funicular insertion due to asymmetrical growth during ontogenesis.
canalicular insertion Upon or otherwise directly associated with the channel of a petiole or petiolule.
canalicular position Upon or otherwise directly associated with the channel of a petiole or petiolule.
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