Glossary
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Acrocarpus: A moss in which the spore producing
capsules are born at the tip of the main stem, the plant thus usually appearing
upright.
Aquatic: As used here, a plant growing immersed under
or floating on top of the surface of water.
Bramble: A prickly stemmed perennial plant such as
a blackberry, raspberry, or dewberry. Sometimes extended to include roses.
Graminoid: An herbaceous plant with long, narrow
leaves and small flowers lacking showy or colorful parts; grass-like.
Herb: A plant with above ground stems living for only
one growing season, usually not woody (though a few "Herbaceous" plants
in our flora, such as the Scouring Rush, have persistent above ground stems).
Herbaceous. Also used in reference to a plant of culinary or medicinal value.
Of tissue or a plant part, leaf-like in texture, neither hard nor papery.
Leafy: A liverwort in which the stem bears thin,
flat, (leafy) appendages, usually in two lateral ranks sometimes with a third
ventral rank.
Liana: A plant with woody perennial above ground stems
that grow along the ground or climb over a support by means of twining or tendrils.
Compare with Vine.
Pleurocarpus: A moss in which the spore producing
capsules are born on a short lateral branch off the main stem, the plant thus
usually with a horizontal, creeping growth form.
Shrub: A plant with multiple, woody, perennial, above
ground stems usually less than 2.75 meters (30 feet) tall.
Thalloid: A Liverwort in which the plant body consists
of a Thallus; a broad, flattened, leafless, photosynthetic stem. Generally,
a plant body that is not differentiated into leaf, stem, and roots.
Tree: A plant with a single, woody, perennial, above
ground stem usually 2.75 meters (30 feet) or more tall at maturity.
Vine: A weak stemmed herbaceous plant that grows along
the ground or climbs over a support by means of twining stems or tendrils. Compare
with Liana.
EX: Exotic, not native to North America.
G: At Rice Creek, restricted to cultivated gardens.
NA: Native to the North America but not to New York State.
NY: Native to New York State.
Calyptra: The cap of tissue covering the maturing
capsule of a moss.
Capsule: In a moss or liverwort, the structure within
which reproductive spores are produced. The sporangium of a moss or liverwort.
Indusium: A flap of delicate tissue covering the
developing sorus in many ferns.
Peristome: The set of tooth-like structures surrounding
the terminal opening of the capsule of a moss.
Seta: In a moss, the stalk which supports the capsule.
Sorus: A cluster of sporangia and related structures.
Shape and position of sori provides useful characters in the classification
and identification of ferns.
Sporangium: A structure within which reproductive
spores are produced. Structure and position of sporangia provides useful characters
in the classification and identification of club-mosses, horsetails, and ferns.
Strobilus: A cone-like structure containing sporangia,
seeds, or fruits.
Achene: a small, dry (at maturity) fruit containing
a single seed and not opening to release the seed; the entire fruit looks and
functions as a seed.
Anther: The terminal, enlarged, pollen containing
structure of the stamen.
Aril: A fleshy, often colorful layer of tissue on the
outside of a seed.
Bract: A leaf-like structure of reduced size and often
modified shape, texture, and/or color at the base of a flower, flower stalk,
or inflorescence branch. A "bracteole" is a small bract or,
more technically, a small bract situated on the leaf- or flower stalk
instead of at the base of the stalk.
Calyx: The collective term for all the sepals of
a flower taken as a unit.
Catkin: An inflorescence of small flowers lacking perianth
but usually accompanied by small bracts and arranged compactly along the length
of a central stalk; upright as in the pussy willow or lax and drooping as in
aspens and poplars.
Corolla: The collective term for all the petals of
a flower taken as a unit.
Discoid: In the flowering heads of the Aster family,
flowers with a tubular corolla terminating in five lobes of more or less equal
size and shape, as in the central disk of a daisy. Also, flowering heads composed
entirely of such flowers.
Filament: The stalk, usually elongated, supporting
the anther.
Glume: One of a pair of bracts at the base of a grass
spikelet.
Inflorescence: A cluster of flowers or flower
heads on a plant, usually of characteristic shape and branching structure.
Involucre: A whorl or series of bracts enclosing
or surrounding a flower or inflorescence; in the Aster family, the set of bracts
forming the outer layers of the flower heads and surrounding the flowers proper.
Lemma: The outer of two bracts surrounding the flower
of a grass.
Ligulate: Tongue or strap shaped. In the flowering
heads of the Aster family, flowers with flattened, extended corollas such as
the peripheral flowers of a daisy. Also, flowering heads composed entirely of
such flowers as in the dandelion and its relatives.
Ovary: The basal, usually enlarged portion of the
pistil containing the ovules.
Palea: The inner of two bracts surrounding the flower
of a grass.
Perianth: The collective term for all parts of the
calyx and corolla taken as a unit.
Perigynium: In the genus Carex, a more or less
flask like structure of generally herbaceous tissue containing the pistil.
Petals: The often enlarged and colorful floral parts
positioned just within the sepals and around (outside of) the stamens and/or
pistil(s); by convention only called petals if there is a surrounding set of
sepals.
Pistil: The ovule containing structure of a flower
which, when present, is positioned centrally (terminally) within the flower.
On maturity the pistil becomes the fruit and the ovules become the seeds. A
pistillate flower contains no stamens. A pistillate inflorescence or plant produces
only pistillate flowers.
Sepals: The outermost floral parts enclosing the
petals, stamens, and/or pistil(s) (if present). Often green and herbaceous but
sometimes colorful and taking on the appearance of petals.
Spike: An elongate inflorescence of stalkless or short
stalked flowers in which the flowers open in sequence from the base to the tip
of the stalk. Small individual spikes of grasses are refered to as "spiklets".
Stamen: The pollen producing structure of a flower
which, in flowers that also contain a pistil, is positioned immediately outside
(below) the position of the pistil(s). A staminate flower contains no (functional)
pistil. A staminate inflorescence or plant produces only staminate flowers
Stigma: A specialized, usually terminal, portion of
the pistil on which pollen is deposited during pollination.
Style: That portion of the pistil, often elongate,
connecting the stigma with the ovary.
Tepals: Applied to both outer and inner perianth
segments in flowers with two whorls of perianth parts of similar shape, color,
and texture, as in a Lily.
Glabrous: Smooth, without surface hairs, glands,
or prickles.
Glaucous: Covered with a whitish or bluish layer of
fine, waxy powder that can be rubbed off.
Pubescent: Bearing hairs.
Alternate: Of leaves or branches, situated
alone at a particular level on the stem.
Arcuate: Curved or arching as in the lateral veins
of the leaf in Cornus
Auricle: In grasses and rushes, a flap or lobe of
tissue projecting from the leaf sheath on either side of the base of the leaf
blade. Generally, lobes projecting backwards (downwards) from either
side of the base of a leaf.
Basal: Attached at the base of the stem or plant, at
or near ground level.
Bundle Sheath: In Pines, the sheath of small
bracts encircling the developing cluster of needles and, in some species, retained
at the base of the group of mature needles.
Compound: Of leaves and similar structures, consisting
of two or more distinct and separate parts (leaflets).
Costa: A linear midrib-like thickening of the leaf of
a moss.
Deciduous: Of a tree or shrub, dropping all foliage
on a seasonal basis. More generally, dropping or falling off.
Decurrent: Having a wing or margin of leaf-like
tissue extending down the stem or axis from the point of attachment of a leaf
or segment of a leaf.
Entire: Of leaf, petal, bract margins; continuous and
smooth, not toothed, lobed, etc.
Evergreen: Of a tree or shrub, retaining leaves
throughout the year and thus never being without foliage despite the season.
Incubous: In leafy liverworts, having the leading
edge of each leaf overlaping the trailing edge of the leaf ahead (toward the
tip of the stem).
Leaf Sheath: The basal part of a leaf that
encircles the stem; an important characteristic of grasses, sedges, and rushes.
Ligule: In many grasses and some sedges a characteristic
flap of tissue or cluster of hairs attached to the upper (inner) side of the
leaf at the juncture of the sheath and the blade. In the Aster family, the flattened
corolla of a ligulate flower.
Lobed: Of leaves, petals, etc.; with projecting segments
too large to be called teeth.
Opposite: Of leaves or branches, situated directly
across from each other at the same level on the stem.
Palmate: With three or more parts arising
from a common point (veins or lobes of a leaf or leaflets of a compound leaf).
Perfoliate: A leaf with the basal margins fused
around the stem so that the stem appears to penetrate through the leaf.
Petiole: A leaf stalk, a narrow segment attaching
the leaf blade to the stem. A petiolate leaf has a petiole.
Pinna: A primary lateral division of a pinnately compound
leaf.
Pinnate: With two rows of lateral branches or parts
arranged along an axis (veins or lobes of a leaf or leaflets of a compound leaf).
Pinnule: The ultimate leaflet or segment of a compound
leaf that is two or more times compound.
Serrate: Of leaf, petal, bract margins, etc.; toothed,
specifically with sharp, forward pointed teeth.
Sessile: Of a leaf, lacking a petiole. Attached directly
to the stem without an intervening stalk.
Simple: Of leaves and similar structures, consisting
of a single blade all in one piece (though it may be lobed).
Stipule: One of a pair of appendages often found at
the base of a leaf, where the petiole joins the stem.
Succubous: In leafy liverworts, having the trailing
edge of each leaf overlapping the leading edge of the leaf behind (toward the
base of the stem).
Whorled: Of leaves or branches, with three or more
attached at the same level on the stem.
Annual: A plant that germinates, matures, reproduces,
and dies within a single year (or growing season). A winter annual germinates
in the fall, grows through the winter and matures and dies the following summer.
Biennial: A plant that lives for two years, maturing
and dying during the second year.
Perennial: A plant that lives for more than two
years, usually for an indefinite period of time.
Axilary: Situated in the axil of a leaf, the point
on the stem immediately above the attachment of the leaf.
Bulb: A compact undergound stem with a dense cluster
of modified, thickened leaves serving as a storage and over-wintering organ,
as an onion.
Clone: A group of individuals originating
from non-sexual reproduction (or a group of individual stems from a common,
shared root system) and thus sharing a common genotype.
Corm: A short, vertical, broad, perennial, underground
stem from which new shoots grow each year.
Internode: The section of a stem between two nodes.
Node: The point on a stem where a leaf is attached.
Pith: The soft tissue or open space at the center
of a stem or root, in woody plants enclosed by the first formed (innermost)
cylinder of vascular tissue.
Rhizome: A stem growing horizontally at or beneath
the surface of the ground, often developing roots along its length.
Stolon: An elongate, creeping stem on or above the
surface of the ground, usually rooting at the nodes.
Marsh: A plant community consisting predominantly
of herbaceous plants rooted in saturated and at least seasonally inundated soil.
Old growth: In North America, a plant community
that has persisted more or less in the form in which it existed prior to European
colonization.
Second growth: Plant communities that develop
on a site following disturbance by man or natural catastrophe. (See also Succession.)
Swamp: A plant community consisting predominantly of
woody plants rooted in saturated and at least seasonally inundated soil.
Succession: The sequence of species and communities
that occurs on a site following disturbance by man or natural processes, usually
leading eventually to development of a relatively stable, self reproducing community.