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BOTANICAL GLOSSARY

Glossary of commonly used botanical terms and their definitions. Use the search bar below to look up a botanical term.

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15 Random Botanical Terms

Subshrub - Shorter than a shrub, often weakly woody and persisting for only a few years.

Proximal - Toward the base of a plant or the point of attachment of a plant part. Cf, Distal.

Falcate - Sickle-shaped.

Infructescence - A group of fruits and associated parts arising from an inflorescence. An inflorescence with mature or maturing fruit.

Cuneate - Leaf shape narrowly triangular, wider at the apex and tapering toward the base.

FACU* - Facultative Upland - Nonhydrophyte. Usually occurs in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands. Occurs only in the South Pacific Islands subregion.

Bark - Tough outer covering of trunks or stems of trees, shrubs, and vines.

Alternate - Placed singly at different heights on the stem; not opposite or whorled.

Leaflet - A division or part of a compound leaf.

Spine - A sharp-pointed structure commonly related to a leaf in origin.

Evergreen - Remaining green and leafy through the winter.

Weed - Any plant growing where it is not wanted.

Tendril - A slender coiling or twining structure modified from a leaf, branch, or other organ.

Stem - The main axis of a plant.

Axillary - Growing from an axil.