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A dry, indeshiscent fruit that has developed from one flower having a single ovary divided into one-seeded carpels, each having a wing at maturity
A plant, lacking chlorophyll, that lives on dead, organic debris. Certain fungi or bacteria also fit in this classification
a modified or rudimentary leaf, such as those protecting buds; in the case of conifer cones, a sporophyll (a modified leaf) is often referred to as a scale—onto which the reproductive parts are positioned
A dry, several-seeded fruit that has developed from one flower having a single ovary divided into several fused carpels, and splits into one-seeded, indehiscent segments (between carpels) when mature.
As occurs in dicot plants and gymnosperms. The thickening/expansion of a woody plant axis (added girth) through the activity of lateral meristems (the vascular cambium in stems); the end result is increased amounts of vascular tissue, such as added tree rings
The ripened ovule - a small embryonic plant enclosed in a protective covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food (the endosperm)
The conical, seed-bearing unit of a conifer (female strobilus)
An inflorescence of tightly clustered florets/flowers, as in grass spikelets arranged in various larger displays
A plant that loses all of the leaves in winter only if it is cold enough
A primary root
The process of biological aging in a plant or plant part (such as a leaf) from full maturity to deterioration and death
The growth phase in a plant or plant part (as a leaf) from full maturity to death.
A modified leaf in the outermost whorl of flower parts that surround the whorl of petals. When the flower is in bud, they cover the flower and then open first. Typically they are colored green, but occasionally are similar to the petals (and then called tepals). Collectively, all of the sepals are called the calyx.
Attached directly, without a stalk, such as a leaf without a petiole/leaf stalk
Sun leaves and shade leaves are common in plant canopies, with sun leaves located on the top and outer, unshaded perimeter of the plant and shade leaves located on the shaded sides of the plant, under the sun leaves within the canopy.
Shade leaves receive less sunlight (photosynthetically active radiation) than sun leaves. As a result of their position within a canopy, individual leaves respond by developing slightly differently (called plasticity) but suited to their position within the canopy: morphologically, anatomically and metabolically. All this leaf variation, within one plant, results in maximizing a plant’s net rate of energy capture.
Shade leaves differ morphologically by being larger, less deeply lobed (if the species has lobed leaves), and thinner, and can have a deeper green coloring and a different texture than sun leaves on the same plant. Anatomically, sun leaves are thicker by having more or thicker palisade mesophyll cell layers with longer cells, a less developed spongy mesophyll, and a thicker cuticle than shade leaves. Shade leaves contain more chlorophyll (chloroplasts) within their thinner layer of mesophyll cells, resulting in an increased ability to harvest sunlight at low radiation levels.
A stubby branchlet (short, slow-growing) with densely crowded leaves, nodes, and leaf scars, and potentially, flowers and fruit. (Fruiting spur: a short twisted branch which flowers and produces fruit)
A dry, dehiscent, elongated fruit, typically more than twice as long as wide, formed from one flower having a single ovary divided into two carpels, separated by a partition (septum) that bears the ovules/seeds; generally, the carpels separate when ripe, although a few separate between seeds along joints (plants of the mustard family). (A silicle is a short silique, no more than twice as long as broad.)
A fruit that has developed from one flower with a single pistil having one carpel/ovary or several fused carpels/ovaries
A leaf with an undivided lamina/blade
An unbranched inflorescence that has one central stalk/axis with lateral, sessile (i.e. no pedicels) flowers or spikelets (grasses).
Can refer to a small spike or secondary spike, but is also the most basic floral unit in the grass family. A whole grass spikelet generally consists of 2 glumes (an upper glume and a lower glume) situated below one to many grass flowers/florets that alternate along the rachilla (the main spikelet stem/axis). Depending on a given species, spikelet parts can be missing and florets can be unisexual.
The basic form of grass and sedge flower clusters; where one or many small flowers/florets attached to an axis are subtended by two bracts (glumes)
The reproductive cell in cryptogams (plants and plant-like organisms that lack flowers and do not reproduce by seeds) which in function corresponds to a seed but is haploid (has half a set of chromosomes) - unlike a seed that is a product of sexual reproduction and has a full set of chromosomes
A leaf-like organ upon which one or more sporangia are produced and supported.
A short shoot (short, slow-growing) having densely crowded leaves, nodes, leaf scars, and potentially flowers and fruit
The male reproductive part of a flower made up of a filament (stalk) and anthers (contain pollen).
A male flower, with or without a perianth, that has only functioning male reproductive parts, or if female reproductive parts (pistils) are present, they are non-functioning
The main trunk of a plant, or the primary axis that develops buds and shoots instead of roots.
The portion of a pistil (often at the top) - that receives pollen - and once received can promote (or restrict) the growth of the pollen tube to initiate the process of fertilization.
An adventitious root that arises from a stem that provides support for a plant (aerial)
An appendage, often leafy, at the base of a leaf petiole, mostly appearing in pairs, one on each side of the petiole
A specialized, slender, horizontal, elongate, creeping stem initiating from the base of a plant, and having minute leaves at its nodes, also rooting at the nodes, and developing new plantlets/plants that will eventually root and separate from the mother plant (a colonizing organ that enables a plant to reproduce, producing new clone plants that may surround it)
Leaves of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or storage of water, such as the storage leaves found in bulbs
Roots that function to store plant nutrients/food
A cone-like cluster of sporophylls on an axis, such as a pinecone
The portion of the pistil (female flower reproductive organ) connecting the stigma to the ovary, usually narrow
The surface on or material in which a plant or animal lives
Juicy or fleshy, such as a plant having fleshy stems or leaves
A shoot originating from below ground, as from a root or lower part of a stem
Sun leaves and shade leaves are common in plant canopies, with sun leaves located on the top and outer, unshaded perimeter of the plant and shade leaves located on the shaded sides of the plant, under the sun leaves within the canopy.
Shade leaves receive less sunlight (photosynthetically active radiation) than sun leaves. As a result of their position within a canopy, individual leaves respond by developing slightly differently (called plasticity) but suited to their position within the canopy: morphologically, anatomically and metabolically. All this leaf variation, within one plant, results in maximizing a plant’s net rate of energy capture.
Shade leaves differ morphologically by being larger, less deeply lobed (if the species has lobed leaves), and thinner, and can have a deeper green coloring and a different texture than sun leaves on the same plant. Anatomically, sun leaves are thicker by having more or thicker palisade mesophyll cell layers with longer cells, a less developed spongy mesophyll, and a thicker cuticle than shade leaves. Shade leaves contain more chlorophyll (chloroplasts) within their thinner layer of mesophyll cells, resulting in an increased ability to harvest sunlight at low radiation levels.
a flower's ovary position when located above the attachment of the sepal, petal, and stamen whorls
A fruit that has developed from more than one flower, in which the flowers were tightly clustered, and matured into a tight cluster of individual fruits - yet these flowers - ovaries/fruit are borne inside of the hollow, inverted receptacle (such as fig). The fleshy fruit consists mostly of receptacle tissue.