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Flora of North America Glossary

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Term Synonyms Category Limitation Definition
feminine = female reproduction Of the sex that produces megaspores and ova.
fenestrate architecture pollen grain Having more or less isodiametric, regularly disposed lacunae.
fertile reproduction plant, reproductive structure Producing functional spores, gametes, pollen, ovules, seeds, or other propagules.
fertile frond < spore leaf, sporophyll STRUCTURE A frond that bears sporangia; in Polypodiophyta. See also sterile frond (trophophyll).
fetid = putrid odor Stinking like rotting flesh.
few-… = oligo… prefix Indicating presence of or constitution by a relatively small number of entities of the type denoted by the term's stem; as in few-celled, few-flowered, few-seeded. See also many… (multi-…, pluri…, poly…).
fibrous texture Having tough, woody or sclerotic strands distributed through a softer matrix.
fibrous root < diffuse root STRUCTURE A diffuse root that includes a significant component of woody or sclerotic strands and is consequently tough and often wiry.
fibrous-rooted < diffuse-rooted architecture plant Diffuse-rooted with fibrous roots. See also taprooted.
…fid ? …cleft, …lobate, …lobed, …parted, …partite, …segmented plane shape Having the number of lobes, divisions or segments indicated by the prefix; as in bifid, quadrifid.
…fid ? …cleft, …lobate, …lobed, …parted, …partite, …segmented solid shape Having the number of lobes, divisions or segments indicated by the prefix; as in bifid, quadrifid.
fiddlehead = crozier STRUCTURE A circinate leaf (frond) prior to full expansion, while still wholly or distally coiled; esp. in Polypodiophyta.
fiddle-shaped = pandurate plane shape Basically obovate but with deep, rounded sinuses opposite one another in the proximal half; like the frontal outline of an inverted fiddle body.
fig = syconium; < coenocarp, infructescence (not recommended), multiple fruit, syncarp nominative fruit Compound and derived from a many-flowered inflorescence borne on the deeply invaginated, thus interior, surface of an enlarged, fleshy, enclosing, wall-like structure of accessory stem tissue that has a distal aperture (ostiole); the individual fruits tiny, dry, and indehiscent, each derived from a simple, superior ovary; in Ficus (Moraceae).
filament STRUCTURE The stalk, when present, of a stamen, clearly differentiated from and bearing at its summit an anther.
filamentous texture Composed of filiform (thread-like) strands with no intervening tissue.
filiform = thread-like solid shape Elongate and very slender, basically round in transverse section and of more or less uniform diameter, variously curved over its length or not. See also capillary (capillate, hair-like).
fimbria pl. fimbriae = fringe STRUCTURE A marginal series or cycle of regular, slender, closely adjacent, more or less flexible divisions or protrusions, when treated as an aggregate structure.
fimbriate = fringed margin Regularly divided into slender, closely adjacent, more or less flexible segments, or having protrusions that give the appearance of such division. See also fimbrillate (fine-fringed).
fimbrillate = fine-fringed margin Finely fimbriate (fringed).
fine-fringed = fimbrillate margin Finely fringed (fimbriate).
fine-pitted = foveolate, scrobiculate relief Finely pitted (foveate).
firm texture Yielding under only moderately strong pressure; only slightly deformable without internal structural disruption.
first glume STRUCTURE The lower (proximal) or sometimes solitary small bract inserted at the base of a grass (Poaceae) spikelet, the second glume, when present, inserted immediately above (distal to) it.
fissure FEATURE A relatively narrow, split or crack in the outer tissue(s) of a structure.
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