Native Plants
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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.
15 Random Botanical Terms
Opposite - Said of leaves originating in pairs at a node, with the members of each pair opposite each other on the stem.
Bilateral symmetry - Usually referencing flower structure, descripes a plant part or parts that may be divided along a single plane forming two mirror-image halves; zygomorphic, irregular flower.
Sepals - Parts that surround the petals, stamens, and pistil; usually green and leaflike. Sometimes they are the same size, shape, and color as the petals; as in Cooperia pedunculata (rain lily), in which case both sepals and petals are called sepals.
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.
Actinomorphic - Refers to flowers that can be divided into equal halves along any axis (radially symmetric).
Zygomorphic - Refers to flowers capable of division by only one plane of symmetry (bilaterally symmetric).
Attenuate - A tapering leaf base with concave margins that form an angle less than 45 degrees.
Oblanceolate - Inversely lanceolate with top wider than bottom.
Aril - An outer covering or appendage of some seeds.
Endemic - Occurring naturally only in a single geographic area.
IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Decumbent - Lying on the ground but having an ascending tip.
Fascicled - In a tight bundle, several leaves appearing to arise from a common point.
Superior ovary - An ovary situated above the origin of sepals and petals.
Elliptic - Shaped like an ellipse, resembling a flattened circle.