Wildflower Glossary
This glossary explains botanical and related terminology that you may come across in wildflower books and in plant science papers.
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Achene | One-seeded, non-splitting dry fruit |
| Acidophile | Preferring to grow on acid soils |
| Achlorophyllose | Without chlorophyll, a green pigment, and therefore unable to photosynthesise |
| Actinomorphic | Radially symmetrical or having more than one plane of symmetry |
| Aculeate | Armed with sharp prickles or thorns |
| Acute | Sharply pointed (referring to a leaf, for example) |
| Adventitious | Roots and buds that appear on a stem in abnormal places |
| Albinism | A complete lack of pigmentation |
| Albino | Plant lacking pigmentation |
| Alien | Plant introduced from outside its natural range |
| Alkaline | Calcareous or chalky substrates |
| Allele | One possible form of a gene |
| Allogamy | Fertilisation by pollen from a flower of the same species |
| Allopatric | Species in geographical areas that do not overlap |
| Alternate | Leaves occurring singly on opposite sides of a stem, rather than in pairs |
| Anemophilous | Pollinated by wind |
| Angiosperm | Flowering plant whose seeds develop inside an ovary |
| Annual | A plant that germinates, flowers and dies within 12 months |
| Annular | Ring-shaped |
| Anther | A male reproductive organ of a flower that bears pollen |
| Anthocynanins | Pigments producing red or purple colours |
| Anthoxanthins | Yellow pigments in plants |
| Aphyllous | Without leaves |
| Apical | At the tip |
| Apochromy | Having abnormal colour |
| Apomixis | Seed reproduction from unfertilised egg cells |
| Aquatic | A plant whose natural habitat is water (usually implying inland freshwater habitats) |
| Asymbiotic | When symbiotic fungi are absent |
| Auricles | Ear-shaped structures |
| Autogamous | Self-pollinating |
| Axil | The angle between a stem and a branch or a leaf |
| Back-cross | Cross between a hybrid and one of its parents |
| Basal | Located at the base of an organ, for example a leaf at the base of a stem |
| Bog | Wet, acidic peat |
| Bosses | Irregular swellings |
| Bract | Leaf-like structure often found beneath a flower |
| Bracteole | Secondary bract at the base of secondary branches of the flower stalk |
| Bulb | Food storage organ formed by a cluster of fleshy leaf bases |
| Bulbil | A small bulb sometimes located in the axil of a leaf or bract |
| Calcareous | Usually refers to limstone rock or chalky soil with a high calcium content |
| Calyx | The outer whorl of a flower, which is made up of its set of sepals |
| Capsule | A dry seed pod |
| Carapace | Hardened shell |
| Carpel | The female seed-producing unit in a flower, consisting of an ovary connected by a style to a stigma |
| Cilia | Tiny fleshy hair-like structures |
| Chlorophyll | Green pigment important in photosynthesis |
| Cladode | Modified stem that resembles a leaf (for example in Butcher's Broom) |
| Cleistogamous | Self-pollinating flowers with petals and sepals that never open |
| Clone | Identical genetic match to a 'parent' |
| Corolla | Inner whorl of petals of a flower |
| Corona | Petal-like flaps, often elongated to form a crown-like tube (as for example in a daffodil) |
| Crenate | Structures with minute scalloped or round-toothed margins |
| Cross-pollination | Pollination of one flower by pollen from another, usually from a different plant |
| Cyme | Cluster of flowers with lateral branches each ending in a flower |
| Deciduous | Sheds leaves or other organs in one limited period during every year (unlike evergreens whose leaves are not all shed at the same time) |
| Decurved | Curved downwards |
| Deflexed | Bent sharply downwards |
| Diploid | Normal state for plant cells - containing two matching sets of chromosomes |
| Disc floret | A flower in the centre of a flower-head whose petals form a tube |
| Drupe | Fleshy fruit containing seeds surrounded by a toughened coat (as in plums, peaches etc) |
| Drupelet | One of a group of connected drupes (as in blackberries etc) |
| Ectomychorrhiza | Association with fungi where the fungus forms a layer on the outside of the roots of a plant |
| Endomychorrhiza | Association with fungi where the fungus penetrates the root of a plant |
| Epicalyx | Second ring of sepal-like organs immediately below the true sepals (calyx) |
| Epichile | Outer portion of the lip in those orchid genera where the lip is divided into two parts |
| Epidermis | A 'skin' or surface layer |
| Epiphyte | A plant that grows on the surface of another but without taking nutrients from it |
| Escape | Refers to a non-native plant that is cultivated and then becomes established in the wild |
| Esker | Glacial deposits such as sand and gravel |
| Eutrophication | Where a habitat becomes over-enriched with nutrients. This happens frequently with rivers or ponds as a result of run-off from farming and is often the cause of native species becoming stifled or destroyed |
| Fall petal | One of the three outer petals of the iris that droop downwards |
| Family | Classification unit grouping closely related genera |
| Fen | Marshes and wetlands sited on alkaline, neutral or only very slightly acid soil, often but not always beside lakes |
| Floret | One of the small flowers contained in a flower-head |
| Filiform | Thread-like |
| Flower head | A cluster of florets or flowers |
| Garrigue/Garigue | Habitat with low-growing shrubs with wide gaps in between them. Common in the Mediterranean region |
| Geitonogamy | Fertilised by pollen from a flower on the same plant |
| Genus | Classification unit grouping together closely related species (Pl. genera) |
| Gland | Superficial organ that secretes oils or other substances |
| Glandular hair | Hair containing a gland |
| Hemiparasitic | A plant relying partly on the nutrients abstracted from other plants |
| Herbarium | Collection of dried, pressed plants |
| Herbaceous | A plant that dies down to ground level at the end of the growing season |
| Hooded | Developed into a concave shape |
| Hybrid | Plant originating from cross pollination between two different species |
| Hybrid swarm | Population of plants where the barriers between two species have broken down leading to hybrids and back crosses interbreeding. The resulting plants exhibit a variety of characteristics from both 'parents' |
| Hybrid vigour | Where plants of the first generation of hybrids become exceptionally large and robust |
| Hypanthial tube | Tube formed from by an extension of the receptacle below a flower |
| Hyperchromic | Having an excessive amount of pigmentation, resulting in more intense colour |
| Hypha | Fine thread-like structure that makes up the body of a fungus. Pl. hyphae |
| Inflorescence | A group of flowers arising from one stem |
| Intergeneric hybrid | A hybrid where the 'parents' are from two different genera |
| Internode | Stem section between two nodes |
| Introduced | Brought into an area by human or other means |
| Involucre | Ring of crowded bracts encircling a flower head |
| Involucral bract | Bract forming part of an involucre |
| Keel/Keel petal | Lower fused petals of a pea flower folded to form a hull-like structure |
| Lanceolate | Oval and narrowing to a pointed tip |
| Latex | Milky sap |
| Lax | Loose rather than densely packed (usually applied to the flowers in an inflorescence) |
| Lignify | To become woody |
| Lip | A petal that protrudes, forming a lobe. Found in orchids and in flowers of the Mint family |
| Machair | Confined to the coasts of western Ireland and Scotland, a sandy, lime-rich (usually as the result of crushed shells) habitat usually species-rich |
| Maquis | An area of densely-packed shrubs up to five metres in height. Common in the Mediterranean region |
| Meadow | Grassy field which kept for the production of hay and grazed only infrequently |
| Mealy | A flour-like texture or substance |
| Mericarp | One-seeded portion of a fruit formed when it splits from the rest of the fruit |
| Monocarpic | Flowers once and then dies |
| Mutualism | Relationship between organisms from which all benefit |
| Micorrhizome | Early stage of seedling development during which it is solely dependent on fungi for nutrients |
| Mycorrhiza | Relationship between plant and fungus where the fungus will penetrate or form a layer over the roots |
| Mycelium | Mass of branching filaments that make up the body of a fungus |
| Mycotrophic | Acquiring nutrients from fungus |
| Native | Belonging to a region through natural circumstances |
| Naturalised | Introduced to a region but subsequently forming self-sustaining populations |
| Nectary | Nectar-secreting gland |
| Node | Point on a stem where one or more leaves are attached |
| Ovary | Female reproductive organ containing ovules |
| Ovule | Organ inside ovary enclosing the embryo sac containing an egg |
| Panicle | Branched cluster of flowers with stalks |
| Pappus | Tuft of hair on achenes or other fruits which aids seed dispersal |
| Parasitic | Entirely dependent for it survival on abstracting nutrients from another plant |
| Pasture | Grassland that is grazed for part of a year and not cut for hay or silage |
| Pedicel | Stalk of flower |
| Petals | Inner whorl of perianth segments - the outer one being the sepals |
| pH | Measure of acidity or alkalinity based on a logarithmic scale of hydrogen ion concentration, where 0 is most acidic, 7 is neatral, and 14 is most basic (alkaline) |
| Pheromone | Chemical produced by animal or insect that influences the behaviour of other members of the same species |
| Photosynthesis | Process of production of food by green plants |
| Phototropic | Acquisition of food by photosynthesis |
| Pinnate | Leaflets arranged on two sides of a single stalk |
| Pollen | Spores with single cell containing male gamete |
| Pollinium | Mass of pollen transported during pollination |
| Raceme | Unbranched flower cluster where each flower is stalked |
| Ray/Ray-floret | Outer, flattened flower of a daisy-type flower head with a large petal extending radially outwards; the inside reagion of the flower head consists of disc florets with much smaller, equal-sized petals |
| Receptacle | That part of the stem that has flower parts attached to it |
| Recurved | Bent or curved backwards |
| Reflexed | Bent down or back |
| Reticulation | Marked with network of veins |
| Rhizome | Creeping (usually underground) thickened stem that stores food |
| Runner | Stem that creeps along the ground and forms roots at periodic intervals that will eventually form separate plants |
| Saprophyte | Plant feeding on rotten vegetation in the ground |
| Scape | Leafless stem bearing flowers |
| Secund | Facing in the same direction |
| Sepal | Outer row or ring of perianth segments forming the protective covering of a flower bud |
| Septum | A thin partition or membrane separating the individual seeds within a seed pod or fruit |
| Sessile | Without a stem |
| Silicula | Fruit of the cabbage family, often rounded and three times longer than it is broad |
| Simple | Leaves not divided into leaflets |
| Spadix | Fleshy spike with unstalked flowers |
| Spathe | Large hooded bract enclosing a spadix |
| Species | Classification of a group of similar individuals that breed true in the wild |
| Speculum | Mirror-like patch found on the petals of some orchids |
| Spike | Unbranched cluster of flowers that are unstalked |
| Stamen | Male reproductive organ of a flower |
| Spur | Hollow pouch, sometimes cylindrical or conical, projecting from a flower and containing nectar |
| Standard/Standard petal | Upright, upper petal of a pea flower that is larger than the others |
| Stemless | A plant without an obvious stem but with a flower stalk that arising directly from the ground |
| Stigma | Part of a flower that receives pollen |
| Stigma ray | Star-shaped stigma with radiating branches |
| Stipule | Leaf-like organ at the base of a leaf stalk |
| Stolon | Stem growing horizontally above or below the ground |
| Style | The part of the female reproductive organ that joins the ovary to the stigma |
| Subshrub | Small perennial with woody stems |
| Succulent | Plant with fleshy leaves |
| Suture | Seam along which pods or other fruits split open |
| Symbiosis | Relationship between two or more organisms in which all benefit |
| Tap root | Strong main root that grows vertically downwards |
| Tepal | Petals and sepals that cannot be clearly distinguished from each other |
| Trifoliate | Leaf made up from three distinct leaflets, for example as in clover |
| Tuber | Food storage organ formed by a swollen underground stem |
| Tubercle | Small warty protuberance |
| Umbel | Flat or domed-topped flower cluster with all the stems originating at the same place, as for example in cow parsley |
| Valve | One of several parts of a fruit that become partially or fully separated |
| Whorl | Collection of organs that encircle a stem |
| Wing/Wing petal | Lateral petals of many flowers particularly orchids and pea flowers |
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