Flora of North America Glossary
Displaying 151-175 of 2673
| Term | Synonyms | Category | Limitation | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| archegonium pl. archegonia | STRUCTURE | A female gametangium; a multicellular fertile organ of a mature gametophyte within which female gametes (eggs, ova) are produced and fertilized; having a broad, bulbous base and a narrower distal neck. Technically present but highly reduced and of no descriptive significance in Magnoliophyta. | ||
| arching | = recurved | orientation | Curving backward or downward. | |
| architecture | CHARACTER | Composite structural configuration as to type, orientation, symmetry, insertion, position, fusion, presence, number, relative size, shape, texture, differentiation, and/or derivation of components and features. Overlaps conceptually with habit. | ||
| arcuate 1 | course | Curving more or less regularly in one direction. | ||
| arcuate 2 | plane shape | Elongate and more or less regularly curved from one end to the other, one side convex, the opposite concave. | ||
| areola 1 pl. areolae | = areole | STRUCTURE | Any distinctive surficial discontinuity of generally circular outline, whether concave, flush, or convex; when protuberant, sometimes bearing trichomes or spines, as in some Cactaceae. This term is used only when such entities are deemed structurally distinctive enough to merit description in their own rights, rather than as aspects of the surface. | |
| areola 2 pl. areolae | = areole | STRUCTURE | foliaceous structure | Any distinguishable laminar portion bounded on all sides by anastomosing veins and not traversed or dissected by any vasculature other than veinlets. |
| areolate | relief | Having numerous, small, irregularly disposed, transversely angular, shallow depressions or low protrusions overall. | ||
| areole 1 | = areola | STRUCTURE | Any distinctive surficial discontinuity of generally circular outline, whether concave, flush, or convex; when protuberant, sometimes bearing trichomes or spines, as in some Cactaceae. This term is used only when such entities are deemed structurally distinctive enough to merit description in their own rights, rather than as aspects of the surface. | |
| areole 2 | = areola | STRUCTURE | foliaceous structure | Any distinguishable laminar portion bounded on all sides by anastomosing veins and not traversed or dissected by any vasculature other than veinlets. |
| aril 1 (broad sense) | > arillode, arillus | STRUCTURE | An appendicular structure that wholly or partly envelops a seed and is produced from or a modification of the funicle, raphe, outer integument, or (in some Pinophyta) a subtending involucre; usually fleshy or pulpy, sometimes spongy or tufted-capillate, often brightly colored. | |
| aril 2 (strict sense) | = arillus | STRUCTURE | An appendicular structure that wholly or partly envelops a seed and is an outgrowth from the funicle or raphe, and thus is ontogenetically derived from the placenta; usually fleshy or pulpy, sometimes spongy or tufted-capillate, often brightly colored. | |
| arillate | architecture | seed | Having an aril. | |
| arillode | < aril (broad sense) | STRUCTURE | A "false" aril; an appendicular structure that wholly or partly envelops a seed and is produced from or a modification of the outer integument or (in some Pinophyta) a subtending involucre, but not from the funicle or raphe, and thus is not ontogenetically derived from the placenta; usually fleshy or pulpy, sometimes spongy or tufted-capillate, often brightly colored. | |
| arillus pl. arilli | = aril (strict sense); < aril (broad sense) | STRUCTURE | An appendicular structure that wholly or partly envelops a seed and is an outgrowth from the funicle or raphe, and thus is ontogenetically derived from the placenta; usually fleshy or pulpy, sometimes spongy or tufted-capillate, often brightly colored. | |
| arista pl. aristae | = awn, bristle, seta | STRUCTURE | A slender, more or less straight and stiff, fine-pointed, terminal or subterminal appendage or prolongation, sometimes a continuation of the bearing structure's central primary vein, as on a glume, lemma, or palea in Poaceae (Gramineae). | |
| aristate 1 | = awned, bristled | apex | Bearing one or more aristae (awns, bristles, setae). | |
| aristate 2 | apex | pappus scale | Terminating in one or more awn- or bristle-like appendages. | |
| aromatic | odor | Having a distinct odor; usually restricted to pleasant odors. | ||
| arrangement | CHARACTER | Disposition of equivalent structures with respect to one another (positions/insertions and/or orientations, regarded collectively) within some explicit or implicit standard context. Overlaps conceptually with habit, insertion, orientation, position, and shape. | ||
| arrowhead-shaped 1 | = sagittate | base | laminar structure | Having two retrorse, generally triangular lobes, one to either side. |
| arrowhead-shaped 2 | = sagittate | plane shape | Generally triangular, tapering gradually from the base to an acute apex, the base with a relatively large, acute, retrorse lobe to either side; like the outline of the broad lateral face of an arrowhead. | |
| articulate(d) | = jointed | architecture | Elongate with one or more distinct, relatively narrow zones of demarcation between adjacent main portions of the whole, these articulations (joints) often thicker and sometimes sites of eventual abscission. | |
| articulation | = joint | STRUCTURE | A distinct, relatively narrow zone of demarcation between adjacent main portions of an elongate structure, often thicker than the rest of the structure and sometimes a site of eventual abscission. | |
| ascending | = assurgent, upcurved | orientation | lateral structure | Spreading at the base and then curving upward or forward, the distal portion more or less parallel to the bearing structure. |
Displaying 151-175 of 2673