Flora of North America Glossary
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| Term | Synonyms | Category | Limitation | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| scrotum-shaped | = scrotiform | solid shape | Saccate (bag-, pouch- or sack-shaped) and somewhat swollen bilaterally in the distal portion; like a scrotum. | |
| sculpture | = relief | CHARACTER | General topographic aspect of a surface. Overlaps conceptually with solid shape. | |
| scutate | = buckler-shaped, scutiform | solid shape | Relatively thin with opposite broad oblong faces, planate to shallowly concave-convex, sometimes thickened about the periphery such that each face has a marginal rim; like an oblong shield. See also scutellate (platter-shaped, scutelliform), which is not clearly distinct in its application. | |
| scutellate | = platter-shaped, scutelliform | solid shape | Relatively thin with opposite broad oval faces, shallowly concave-convex; like a serving platter. See also scutate (buckler-shaped, scutiform), which is not clearly distinct in its application. | |
| scutelliform | = platter-shaped, scutellate | solid shape | Relatively thin with opposite broad oval faces, shallowly concave-convex; like a serving platter. See also scutate (buckler-shaped, scutiform), which is not clearly distinct in its application. | |
| scutiform | = buckler-shaped, scutate | solid shape | Relatively thin with opposite broad oblong faces, planate to shallowly concave-convex, sometimes thickened about the periphery such that each face has a marginal rim; like an oblong shield. See also scutellate (platter-shaped, scutelliform), which is not clearly distinct in its application. | |
| secondary root | STRUCTURE | Any root branch that originates directly or indirectly from a primary root. | ||
| secondary vein | < lateral vein | STRUCTURE | A strand belonging to the second order of vasculature in a leaf or other basically laminar structure, except when that is the ultimate order (consisting of veinlets); branching directly from a primary vein or, with undiminished diameter, from another strand of the second order. See also costa, primary vein, rib, tertiary vein, veinlet. | |
| second glume | STRUCTURE | The upper (distal) member of a pair of small bracts inserted at the base of a grass (Poaceae) spikelet. | ||
| sectile | architecture | pollinium | Having partially separated sectors, as though cut. | |
| secund 1 | architecture | inflorescence | Having the pedicels oriented such that the main bodies of all the flowers lie to one side of the bearing axis. | |
| secund 2 | architecture | stem | Having the petioles oriented such that the main bodies of all the leaves lie to one side of the bearing stem. | |
| seed | STRUCTURE | A mature or ripened ovule containing an embryonic sporophyte and a nutritive tissue (endosperm or perisperm) with stored food that sustains the initial growth of the embryo upon germination, except when such food reserve is stored instead in the cotyledon(s) of the embryo itself, these enclosed by one or two integuments (the testa), the whole serving as a propagule. A fertile seed (one containing a viable embryo) normally results from sexual fertilization of an egg by a sperm; however, fertile seeds are sometimes produced asexually by apomictic processes (e.g., parthenogenesis). | ||
| seed coat | = testa | STRUCTURE | The outer protective layer of a seed, developed from the ovular integument(s). | |
| …seeded | = …spermous | architecture | fruit | Having the number of seeds indicated by the prefix; as in six-seeded, many-seeded. |
| seed leaf | = cotyledon | STRUCTURE | Any of the one or more primary foliar structures of an embryonic seed plant, proximal to all succeeding leaf primordia; sometimes serving as a storage organ for food reserves in the seed, as in peas and beans. | |
| seedling | PLANT | A plant in the first stages of its growth following emergence from the seed. | ||
| segment | ? division, lobe | STRUCTURE | Any generally convex, major peripheral protrusion or component sector that is delimited by concavities in the surface or margin and that is not proximally distinct from the remainder of the whole. | |
| …segmented | ? …cleft, …fid, …lobate, …lobed, …parted, …partite | plane shape | Having the number of segments indicated by the prefix; as in ten-segmented. | |
| …segmented | ? …cleft, …fid, …lobate, …lobed, …parted, …partite | solid shape | Having the number of segments indicated by the prefix; as in ten-segmented. | |
| segmented | ? cleft, dissected, divided, lobed, lobate, parted, partite | plane shape | Having two or more major component sectors or peripheral protrusions that are delimited by concavities in the surface or margin and that are not proximally distinct from the remainder of the whole. The meanings of this term and its approximate synonyms sometimes have been supposed to differ according to the depth of the delimiting concavities relative to the midline or midpoint of the overall structure, and/or to the shape or proportions of the protusions or sectors; however, there has been little consistency in the applications of the various terms according to such distinctions, which are ones only of degree and are necessarily arbitrary in any case. In general usage, these terms differ only indistinctly and connotatively: cleft, lobed (or lobate), parted (or partite) and segmented tend to connote fewer protrusions or sectors; lobate usually connotes as well a generally rounded shape; dissected tends to connote more numerous sectors that are elongate and angular. See also cut (incised, lacerate, torn), laciniate (slashed). | |
| segmented | ? cleft, dissected, divided, lobed, lobate, parted, partite | solid shape | Having two or more major component sectors or peripheral protrusions that are delimited by concavities in the surface or margin and that are not proximally distinct from the remainder of the whole. The meanings of this term and its approximate synonyms sometimes have been supposed to differ according to the depth of the delimiting concavities relative to the midline or midpoint of the overall structure, and/or to the shape or proportions of the protusions or sectors; however, there has been little consistency in the applications of the various terms according to such distinctions, which are ones only of degree and are necessarily arbitrary in any case. In general usage, these terms differ only indistinctly and connotatively: cleft, lobed (or lobate), parted (or partite) and segmented tend to connote fewer protrusions or sectors; lobate usually connotes as well a generally rounded shape; dissected tends to connote more numerous sectors that are elongate and angular. See also cut (incised, lacerate, torn), laciniate (slashed). | |
| self-fertilizing | = autogamous, automictic, idiogamous, selfing; > geitonogamous | reproduction | taxon | Having fertilization regularly involving gametes derived from the same plant. |
| selfing | = autogamous, automictic, idiogamous, self-fertilizing; > geitonogamous | reproduction | taxon | Having fertilization regularly involving gametes derived from the same plant. |
| sellaeform | solid shape | See selliform. |
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