Flora of North America Glossary
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| Term | Synonyms | Category | Limitation | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cryptic | coloration | Similar to its natural background, from which it is not readily distinguished. | ||
| cryptocotyloid | germination | seed | Having the cotyledon(s) remaining inside the seed coat. | |
| cuboid | solid shape | Generally but not strictly cubic; more or less equilaterally six-sided, each side basically square. | ||
| cucullate 1 | = hooded | architecture | Bearing, incorporating, or surmounted by a hood-shaped structure. | |
| cucullate 2 | = cuculliform, hood-shaped | solid shape | Convex or compressed-convex overall with a distal peak or ridge, relatively thin-walled and essentially hollow with the interior open to one side below the distal portion; resembling a hood or cowl. See also galeate (galeiform, helmet-shaped), which overlaps conceptually. | |
| cuculliform | = cucullate, hood-shaped | solid shape | Convex or compressed-convex overall with a distal peak or ridge, relatively thin-walled and essentially hollow with the interior open to one side below the distal portion; resembling a hood or cowl. See also galeiform (galeate, helmet-shaped), which overlaps conceptually. | |
| cucullus pl. cuculli | = hood | STRUCTURE | A cucullate (cuculliform) structure or component, esp. in an inflorescence or flower. | |
| culm | < cane, stem | STRUCTURE | A stem of a sedge (Cyperaceae) or grass (Poaceae), usually hollow. Use of this term or cane instead of stem is a matter of tradition and preference, not of descriptive precision or necessity. | |
| cuneate 1 | = obtriangular, wedge-shaped | base | laminar structure | Attenuate with the sides more or less straight and intersecting at an acute angle. |
| cuneate 2 | = obtriangular, wedge-shaped | plane shape | Inversely triangular; like the outline of the broad lateral face of a wedge, broadest at the apex. See also obdeltate. | |
| cuniculate | solid shape | elongate structure | Hollow over a significant part of its length, the interior open at the end of the hollow portion. | |
| cup-shaped | = calyciform, cupulate | solid shape | Truncate-globose with the distal margin more or less entire; like the bowl of a cup. | |
| cupulate | = calyciform, cup-shaped | solid shape | Truncate-globose with the distal margin more or less entire; like the bowl of a cup. | |
| cupule | STRUCTURE | A cup-like structure inserted at the base of a fruit, partially enclosing it or not; composed of a persistent, usually dried, sometimes hardened involucre, perianth, or portion thereof, the constituent parts often coalescent, yielding a unitary structure. | ||
| curly | = crispate, crisped | margin | Having closely and irregularly spaced, irregularly shaped, often compound convexities that curve irregularly through three dimensions. | |
| cushion-shaped | = mound-shaped, pulvinate, pulviniform | solid shape | Essentially round in transverse section, much broader than long or high, with a convex distal face that intersects either a more or less plane proximal face or, when the structure is sessile, its bearing surface. | |
| cuspidate | apex | Tapering gradually to a rigid tip composed of both vascular and laminar tissues. | ||
| cut | = incised, lacerate, torn; > laciniate, slashed | plane shape | Having straight to irregular lines of separation extending inward from the margin. See also cleft (dissected, divided, lobate, lobed, parted, partite, segmented). | |
| cyathiate | architecture | inflorescence | Comprising one or more cyathia. | |
| cyathiform | solid shape | perianth, calyx, corolla, pappus | Having a cupulate tube and an indistinct, erect limb. See also cotyliform, urceolate (urn-shaped). | |
| cyathium pl. cyathia | nominative | inflorescence | Resembling a single flower, the unbranched axis very short with a terminal pistillate flower and several lateral staminate flowers, the whole subtended and to some degree enclosed by a cupulate envelope of bracts, the flowers diminutive and presumed to be evolutionarily reduced; characteristic of Euphorbia. | |
| cycle | = series, verticil, whorl | STRUCTURE | A set of three or more lateral structures that are inserted around an axis at the same level. | |
| …cyclic | = …seriate, …verticillate, …whorled | arrangement | Disposed in the number of cycles (series, verticils, whorls) indicated by the prefix; as in monocyclic, 3-cyclic. | |
| cyclic | = seriate, verticillate, whorled | arrangement | Disposed along the axis in groups of three or more, the members of each group (cycle, series, verticil, whorl) inserted around the axis at the same level. | |
| cylindric(al) | solid shape | Solid and transversely round with a more or less uniform diameter, the ends blunt. |
Displaying 601-625 of 2673