Native Plants
Botanical Glossary
Glossary of commonly used botanical terms and their definitions.
| term | definition | image |
| Grass/Grass-like | Having narrow leaves, usually arising from the base of the plant. | |
| Halophyte | A plant which tolerates a salty environment. | |
| Hastate | A triangle with two sides abruptly concave; in the form of two pointed lobes pointing outwards. | |
| Head | A compact cluster of flowers attached to essentially the same point on the peduncle. | head.jpg |
| Herb | A plant species lacking woody tissue when mature. | |
| Herbaceous | Herblike; not woody. | |
| Hermaphrodite | Bisexual, having both male and female parts in the same flower. | |
| Hermaphroditic | Having the properties of a hermaphrodite, with both male and female structures located within the same flower. | |
| Imperfect flower | A flower bearing either stamens or pistils, but not both. | |
| Incomplete flower | A flower lacking one or more of the following: stamens, pistils, petals, sepals. | |
| Inferior ovary | An ovary situated below the origin of sepals and petals. In many species the ovary is below the point of attachment of all the other parts of the flower, i.e., embedded in the flower stem. It usually shows as a swelling below the flower and may be seen only by cutting through this swelling. | |
| Inflorescence | A group of flowers and associated plant parts. | |
| Infructescence | A group of fruits and associated parts arising from an inflorescence. An inflorescence with mature or maturing fruit. | |
| Internode | The part of the stem between leaves or branches. | stem.jpg |
| Involucel | A bract or bracts subtending an individual flower in a compound inflorescence. | |
| Involucre | A whorl of distinct or united leaves or bracts beneath a flower or cluster of flowers commonly found especially on species in Asteraceae but also in Apiaceae, Dipsacaceae and Polygonaceae. Also a bract or bract pair subtending the inflorescence of some members of Betulaceae, especially Carpinus and Corylus. | |
| Irregular flower | A flower unequal in the size, form, or union of its similar parts; zygomorphic or bilaterally symmetrical. Example: Fabaceae (Legume Family). | |
| IUCN | International Union for Conservation of Nature. | |
| Laciniate | Fringed or having edges irregularly and finely slashed. | |
| Lanceolate | Having the shape of a spear-head or lance. | |
| Leafless | Without leaves. | |
| Leaflet | A division or part of a compound leaf. | |
| Legume | Any of a large group of plants in the pea family (Fabaceae). | |
| Lenticel | A corky pore in young bark. | stem.jpg |
| Lobe | Part or segment of a flower or leaf; a deep indentation that does not break the continuity of the structure. | |
| Lobed flower | A tubular or funnel shaped flower that opens into petal like lobes. | |
| Lobed leaf | A leaf with indentations not more than halfway to the midrib, with the tips of the segments rounded. | lobed_leaf.jpg |
| Lyrate | A pinnately divided leaf with an enlarged terminal lobe. | |
| Midrib | The main or central rib or vein of a leaf. | |
| Monoecious | A plant or plant species producing male and female reproductive structures on the same plant but on separate flowers. | |
| Mucronate | Leaf apex with short spiny tip. | |
| Native | A plant that lives or grows naturally in a particular region without direct or indirect human intervention. | |
| Nectar | A sweet fluid produced in flowers. | |
| Needle | The long and narrow leaf of pines and related species. | |
| Node | The place on a stem where leaves or branches normally originate; a swollen or knoblike structure. | stem.jpg |
| Nut | A dry fruit with one seed and a thick hard wall. | |
| Obcordate | Inversely cordate, heart-shaped with petiole attached to point. | |
| OBL | Obligate - Hydrophyte. Almost always occurs in wetlands. | |
| OBL* | Obligate - Hydrophyte. Almost always occurs in wetlands. Occurs only in the South Pacific Islands subregion. | |
| Oblanceolate | Inversely lanceolate with top wider than bottom. | |
| Oblique | Leaf shows asymmetry at the base. | |
| Oblong | Much longer than broad with sides nearly parallel. | |
| Obovate | Inversely ovate, with the narrower end of the leaf blade toward the branch. | |
| Obtuse | Blunt or rounded at the tip. | |
| Opposite | Said of leaves originating in pairs at a node, with the members of each pair opposite each other on the stem. | opposite.jpg |
| Orbicular | Circular or nearly so. | |
| Oval | Having the general form, shape, or outline of an egg; egg-shaped. | |
| Ovary | The basal part of the pistil, bearing the ovules, which later develop into seeds. See also Inferior ovary; Superior ovary. | |
| Ovate | Shaped like an egg, with the narrow end at the apex. | |
| Palmate | Divided or radiating from one point, resembling a hand with the fingers spread. Leaves may be palmately compound and/or palmately lobed; they may also have palmate venation. | palmate.jpg |
| term | definition | image |