Flora of North America Glossary

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Term Synonyms Category Limitation Definition
collar 1 STRUCTURE The free portion (if any) of a floral tube, distal to its casing and/or neck when one or both is/are present.
collar 2 FEATURE The junction between the sheath and blade of a leaf; esp. in Poaceae (Gramineae).
collateral insertion buds In pairs within or immediately straddling the leaf axils, the members of a pair lateral to one another.
collateral position buds In pairs within or immediately straddling the leaf axils, the members of a pair lateral to one another.
coloration CHARACTER Hue(s), intensity(ies), and/or pattern (if any) of coloring. When more than one hue and/or intensity is involved, a term describing the pattern of contrast will be applicable, and the description as a whole should be phrased to indicate the particular role of each in the pattern; e.g., "ovaries striate, yellow on green"; "petals pink, spotted yellow basally"; "sepals green, suffused with red".
…colpate = …fossulate, …furrowed, …grooved, …sulcate, …valleculate architecture Having the number of colpi indicated by the prefix; esp. pollen grains; as in monocolpate, polycolpate, 3-colpate.
colpate = fossulate, furrowed, grooved, sulcate, valleculate architecture Having one or more elongate, relatively narrow and shallow depressions (colpi).
…colporate architecture pollen grain Having the number of colpi indicated by the prefix, each containing a pore; as in dicolporate, 3-colporate.
colporate architecture pollen grain Having one or more elongate, relatively narrow and shallow depressions (colpi), each containing a pore.
colpus pl. colpi = fossula, furrow, groove, sulcus, vallecula FEATURE An elongate depression that is relatively shallow and narrow.
columella 1 pl. columellae, columellas = carpophore; < stalk STRUCTURE Any pedestal-like prolongation of a floral receptacle extending beyond the distalmost level of perianth insertion and bearing the gynoecium.
columella 2 pl. columellae, columellas = carpophore; < stalk STRUCTURE The stalk supporting a mericarp after dehiscence of a schizocarpic fruit, the central axis of the fruit having split longitudinally to yield two or four such stalks; composed of receptacular and (primarily) gynoecial tissues; esp. in Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).
column 1 = gynandrium, gynostemium STRUCTURE A central floral structure consisting of the partly to wholly fused (connate and adnate) androecium and gynoecium; esp. in Orchidaceae.
column 2 STRUCTURE A fused androecium (connate stamens) closely surrounding but free from the gynoecium; esp. in Malvaceae.
column foot = mentum STRUCTURE A lateral, often nectariferous protrusion from the proximal portion of a column, opposite the labellum, projecting in front of the rest of the flower; in Orchidaceae.
coma pl. comae, comas < tuft STRUCTURE A prominent single tuft of relatively long and slender, flexible, capillate trichomes; esp. from a seed, as in Asclepias (Asclepiadaceae).
comb-shaped = pectinate plane shape Finely divided, the divisions slender, oriented more or less perpendicular to the central axis, and resembling the teeth of a comb.
commissure FEATURE Precisely, the joint or common boundary between the facing surfaces of two coherent or mutually appressed structures such as mericarps or stigmas, but traditionally (though imprecisely) applied to such a facing surface itself.
comose pubescence Bearing a prominent single tuft of relatively long and slender, flexible, capillate trichomes (coma).
compact = congested, crowded architecture Having equivalent constituent parts disposed very near to one another.
complanate = compressed; < flattened solid shape Flattened bilaterally, parallel to the longitudinal axis, as though pressed or squeezed from opposing sides, the external surface otherwise basically convex. This term usually implies a strong degree of flattening. See also depressed, obcompressed.
complete architecture flower Having all sets of basic floral structures (calyx and corolla, or else undifferentiated perianth; androecium; and gynoecium) present and functionally normal.
complex architecture Comprising two or more basic structural entities, at least two of which are dissimilar.
composite = compound architecture Unitary as a whole but comprising two or more equivalent substructural entities, these topologically distinct (e.g., leaflets in a compound leaf) or not (e.g., carpels in a compound pistil).
compound = composite architecture Unitary as a whole but comprising two or more equivalent substructural entities, these topologically distinct (e.g., leaflets in a compound leaf) or not (e.g., carpels in a compound pistil).
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