Flora of North America Glossary
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| Term | Synonyms | Category | Limitation | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| spiral 2 | = helical | course | Curving with regularly increasing radius from one end to the other in one general plane. | |
| spiral 3 | = helical | course | Curving with constant or regularly increasing radius from one end to the other through three dimensions. | |
| spire-shaped | = strombuliform | solid shape | Attenuate-spiral in three dimensions, the coils contiguous or not. | |
| spirolobal | arrangement | cotyledons | Incumbent and folded together transversely. | |
| splendent | = glittering | reflectance | Interruptedly glossy (laevigate, lustrous, polished, shining, shiny) and thus sparkling when viewed from changing angles. | |
| spongy | texture | Soft, light, discontinuous but cohesive, and somewhat resilient. | ||
| sporangiophore | < stalk | STRUCTURE | A stalk that bears one or more sporangia. | |
| sporangium pl. sporangia | = spore case | STRUCTURE | A spore-producing organ; basically capsular, often supported by a slender stalk (sporangiophore), often operculate (lidded). In Bryophyta and Polypodiophyta, a distinct portion of the sporangial wall effects regular dehiscence at maturity. Sporangia or their equivalents are also present, but of little or no descriptive significance, in seed plants. | |
| spore | STRUCTURE | A simple, usually unicellular, sometimes oligocellular propagule derived by meiotic division of a diploid (2n chromosomes) sporocyte within a sporangium, thus of haploid (n chromosomes) genetic constitution. A spore constitutes the first ontogenetic stage of a gametophytic generation and gives rise to a usually multicellular gametophyte upon germination. Though technically present in seed-bearing plants, by itself it is descriptively significant only in those taxa that do not produce seeds. | ||
| spore body | = sporocarp | STRUCTURE | A multicellular structure that bears and more or less encloses several to (usually) many sporangia, the latter often aggregated into sori within it See also megasporocarp (macrosporocarp, not recommended), microsporocarp. | |
| spore case | = sporangium | STRUCTURE | A spore-producing organ; basically capsular, often supported by a slender stalk (sporangiophore), often lidded (operculate). In Bryophyta and Polypodiophyta, a distinct portion of the sporangial wall effects regular dehiscence at maturity. Spore cases or their equivalents are also present, but of little or no descriptive significance, in seed plants. | |
| spore leaf | = sporophyll; > fertile frond | STRUCTURE | A leaf or homologous structure that bears sporangia See also megasporophyll (macrosporophyll, not recommended), microsporophyll. | |
| sporocarp | = spore body | STRUCTURE | A multicellular structure that bears and more or less encloses several to (usually) many sporangia, the latter often aggregated into sori within it See also megasporocarp (macrosporocarp, not recommended), microsporocarp. | |
| sporophyll | = spore leaf; > fertile frond | STRUCTURE | A leaf or homologous structure that bears sporangia. See also megasporophyll (macrosporophyll, not recommended), microsporophyll. | |
| sporophyte | PLANT | The main, ultimate, spore-bearing stage in the diploid (2n chromosomes) phase of a taxon's life cycle. Two morphologically and genetically distinct and alternate phases together constitute the complete life cycle in sexually reproducing taxa, the other phase (gametophytic) being haploid (n chromosomes). Any taxon whose life cycle is confined to one or the other phase is limited to asexual means of reproduction, since sexual reproduction with consequent genetic recombination is impossible without alternation between haploid and diploid states via meiosis and fertilization. The term sporophytic applies to any part of the diploid phase, including all unicellular to multicellular entities belonging to it, whereas sporophyte is reserved for the principal and directly spore-producing stage of that phase. | ||
| spot | = blotch, macula | FEATURE | An area that differs in color from the rest of a structure's surface, usually due to differing coloration. See also eyespot. | |
| spotted | = blotched, maculate | coloration | Having one or more areas that differ in color from the rest of the surface. See also eyespotted. | |
| spreading | = patent, porrect, salient | orientation | lateral structure | Antrorse and diverging at an acute angle from the bearing structure. |
| spur 1 | STRUCTURE | A hollow protrusion from a calyx or corolla, often nectariferous. | ||
| spur 2 | = short-shoot | STRUCTURE | A first- or higher-order woody stem branch having relatively unelongated internodes, thus proximate nodes, and limited duration of growth, usually branching little if at all; often a main locus of flower production; usually more or less perpendicular to the axis that bears it and resembling a spur projecting from it; sometimes becoming more or less spinose after elongation ceases; esp. in Rosaceae. | |
| spurred | = calcarate | base | Having a relatively slender protrusion resembling a spur. | |
| squama pl. squamae | = lepis; < scale, trichome | STRUCTURE | A relatively thick, planate trichome. See also squamella (squamule). | |
| squamate | = lepidote, squamose; < scaly | pubescence | Bearing squamae (lepides). See also squamellose. | |
| squamella 1 pl. squamellae | = squamule; < scale, trichome | STRUCTURE | A diminutive squama (lepis). | |
| squamella 2 pl. squamellae | = squamule; < scale | STRUCTURE | A small, dry bract borne on the compound receptacle (torus) of a capitulum (head); in Asteraceae (Compositae). |
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