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
Perfect - A flower with both male and female reproductive organs; bisexual, hermaphroditic or monoclinous.
Genus - A group of related species classified within a family.
Unisexual - A flower that possesses either stamens or carpels but not both.
OBL - Obligate - Hydrophyte. Almost always occurs in wetlands.
Wing - A thin extension of a plant part, as of a branch or dry fruit.
Falcate - Sickle-shaped.
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.
Orbicular - Circular or nearly so.
Irregular flower - A flower unequal in the size, form, or union of its similar parts; zygomorphic or bilaterally symmetrical. Example: Fabaceae (Legume Family).
Special Value to Bumble Bees - Recognized by pollination ecologists as attracting large numbers of bumble bees.
Mucronate - Leaf apex with short spiny tip.
Zygote - A reproductive cell formed by the fusion of two gametes.
Herbaceous - Herblike; not woody.
Pistillate flower - A flower with pistils, but no stamens.
Whorled - Three or more leaves or flowers arranged in a circle around a stem.