monocotyledonous

Strange to say, the islet of Ronde, about 16 miles north of Mauritius, forms a separate biological kingdom, possessing one peculiar species of cabbage-palm, some lizards, two snakes, and relatively more monocotyledonous plants than any other region in the world.

1890, [Jacques] Élisée Reclus, “The Mascarenhas”, in A. H. Keane, editor, Oceanica (The Earth and Its Inhabitants; 14), New York: D. Appleton and Company, Flora and Fauna:

(botany) Of or pertaining to a flowering plant having a seed with one embryonic leaf (a single cotyledon).

μονοκοτυλήδονος

of or pertaining to a flowering plant having a seed with one embryonic leaf (a single cotyledon)


undifferentiated

en-adj

undifferentiated (comparative more undifferentiated, superlative most undifferentiated)

more undifferentiated (comparative)
most undifferentiated (superlative)

(botany) describes a plant body where the vascular tissue has not developed, as in the thallophytes


bryophyte

/ˈbɹʌɪ̯.əˌfʌɪt/

From Bryophyta, from Ancient Greek βρύον (brúon, “moss”) + φυτόν (phutón, “plant”) ( + -phyte).

Without going into their reasons, Bold, Alexopoulos, & DelBevoryas (1980) and Crandall-Stotler (1980) believe that there are at least three independent lines of bryophytes and that this is best reflected by establishing three divisions - the Bryophyta (mosses), Hepatophyta (liverworts), and Anthocerotophyta (hornworts).

1993, Wilson Nichols Stewart, Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants, page 77:

2002, William R. Buck, Bryophytes, entry in Niles Eldredge (editor), Life on Earth, page 202,
Because of their small size and often delicate structure, bryophytes have a poor fossil record, dating back only about 290 million years.

And so it was that I was introduced to Len Ellis and the quiet world of bryophytes – mosses to the rest of us.

2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 312:

(botany) Any plant of the division Bryophyta, defined sensu lato to comprise the mosses, liverworts and hornworts and corresponding to all embryophytes that are not vascular plants.

briofito

member of the Bryophyta; moss, liverwort, or hornwort


prostrate

From Latin prōstrātus, past participle of prōsternere (“to prostrate”).

(botany) Trailing on the ground; procumbent.


emasculate

en-verb

emasculate (third-person singular simple present emasculates, present participle emasculating, simple past and past participle emasculated)

emasculates (present singular third-person)
emasculating (participle present)
emasculated (participle past)
emasculated (past)

From Medieval Latin ēmasculātus, perfect passive participle of ēmasculō (“to emasculate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ē(x)- (“out, from, apart”) + masculus (“male, masculine”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), further from mās (“a man, a male”) + -culus (diminutive suffix).

скопявам

to deprive of virile or procreative power; to castrate

It is well understood that in artificial cross-fertilizing, in order to prevent self-fecundation, we emasculate the flower from which we wish to obtain the seeds for new varieties; that is, we remove the anthers from that flower, and in the proper season apply to the stigma the pollen from some other distinct flower.

1854 March, Charles G[rafton] Page, “Article IV. Artificial Fecundation of Flowers. [From the American Polytechnic Journal.]”, in M. Tarver, H. Cobb, editors, The Western Journal and Civilian, Devoted to Agriculture, Manufactures, Mechanic Arts, Internal Improvement, Commerce, Public Policy, and Polite Literature, volume XI (volume V, New Series), number VI, St. Louis, Mo.: Printed by M. Niedner & Co., cor[ner] of Pine & Third Streets, →OCLC, page 409:

Legume flowers are emasculated by removing the corolla, staminal tube, and anthers with small forceps, leaving the pistil intact. Anthers and pollen are sometimes removed from flowers with suction, washed off with a jet of water, or killed by immersing the flower in an alcohol solution or hot water. In crops that have a high degree of self-sterility, such as red clover, it may be unnecessary to emasculate, especially if the pollen parent has a dominant marker gene so that plants originating by self-pollination may be identified.

1987, John Milton Poehlman, “Breeding Forage Crops”, in Breeding Field Crops (An AVI Book), 3rd edition, New York, N.Y.: Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISBN, page 639:

(transitive, botany) Of a flower: to deprive of the anthers.


bryology

(botany) The study of bryophytes (non-vascular plants including mosses, liverworts and hornworts).


follicle

(botany) A type of primitive dry fruit produced by certain flowering plants.


nodding

(botany) Having the flower facing downwards.


rachitis

Unadapted borrowing from New Latin rachitis, used by the British physician Francis Glisson (1597–1677) to refer to rickets, from Koine Greek ῥαχῖτις (rhakhîtis) (in ῥαχῖτις νόσος (rhakhîtis nósos, “spinal inflammation”, literally “spinal disease”)), the feminine form of ῥαχίτης (rhakhítēs, “in or of the spine, spinal”), from Ancient Greek ῥάχῐς (rhákhĭs, “lower part of the back; (anatomy) backbone, spine”) (probably ultimately Pre-Greek) + -ῖτις (-îtis) (feminine form of -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming nouns with the sense ‘one connected to’)). By surface analysis, rachi- + -itis.

nb...

operâ primò ac potissimm Francisci Glissonii Doctoris & publici professoris medicinæ in almâ Cantabrigiæ academiâ, & socii collegii medicorum Londinensium, conscriiptus: adscitis in operis societatem Georgio Bate, & Ahasuero Regemortero medicinæ quoque doctoribus, & pariter sociis collegii medicorum Londinensium

First and Most Powerfully by Francis Glisson Doctor & Public Professor of Medicine in the University of Cambridge, & a Member of the College of Physicians of London: Approved in affiliated works by George Bate, & Assuerus Regimorter also doctors of medicine, & fellow members of the College of Physicians of London

apud quos veneunt in vico vulgò-vocato Little Britain

and to be sold in the neighbourhood commonly known as Little Britain

der

(botany) A disease that produces abortion in the fruit.


cruciferous

And cruciferous vegetables—broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage—are loaded with sulforaphane.

2007 November, Elizabeth Drake, “Combine and conquer: Use these winning food pairings to protect your health”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 126:

(botany) Of or relating to the crucifer plants or products from these plants; of the family Cruciferae, the cabbage family, including cabbage and mustard.


anadromous

From Ancient Greek ἀνάδρομος (anádromos, “fish entering a river from the sea”). By surface analysis, ana- + -dromous.

(botany) Of a fern: in which the first veins in a frond segment are produced towards the apex of the frond.


crucifer

From Latin crucifer (“cross-bearer”), from crux (“cross”) + ferō (“I carry, bear”).

(botany) A member of the family Cruciferae (Brassicaceae), the cabbage family, including cabbage and mustard.

kruisbloem

(botany) a member of the family Cruciferae


vexillum

Borrowed from Latin vēxillum (“flag, banner”).

(botany) The upper petal of a papilionaceous flower.

vexilo

the upper petal of a papilionaceous flower


zygospore

(botany) A spore formed by the union of several zoospores.


zygosperm

(botany) A spore formed by the union of the contents of two similar cells, either of the same or of distinct individual plants. They are found in certain orders of algae and fungi.


zygophyte

From zygo- (“union; pair”) + -phyte (“plant”).

confix

(botany, obsolete) Any plant of a formerly proposed class or grand division (Zygophytes, Zygophyta, or Zygosporeae), in which reproduction consists in the union of two similar cells.


soredium

Latinate form from Ancient Greek σωρός (sōrós, “heap”).

(lichenology) A common scalelike reproductive structure in lichens consisting of algal cells enveloped in a network of hyphae.


ruderal

Borrowed from New Latin ruderalis, from Latin rudus (“rubble”).

(botany) Any plant growing in rubbish or very poor soil

(botany) A plant tending to volunteer in disturbed soil.


ruderal

en-adj

ruderal (comparative more ruderal, superlative most ruderal)

more ruderal (comparative)
most ruderal (superlative)

Rafinesque perfected his variant of this honorable philosophy while botanizing in the literal backyards of my childhood, examining ruderal plants I've known all my life, and so I have appropriated it from him, with minor tweaks.

(botany) That grows in rubbish or poor soil


emergent

emergent (comparative more emergent, superlative most emergent)

more emergent (comparative)
most emergent (superlative)

/ɪˈmɜːd͡ʒənt/

/ɪˈmɝd͡ʒənt/

(botany) Taller than the surrounding vegetation.

(botany, of a water-dwelling plant) Having leaves and flowers above the water.


emergent

/ɪˈmɜːd͡ʒənt/

/ɪˈmɝd͡ʒənt/

(botany) A plant whose root system grows underwater, but whose shoot, leaves and flowers grow up and above the water.


composite

composite (comparative more composite, superlative most composite)

more composite (comparative)
most composite (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French composite, from Latin compositus, past participle of compōnō (“put together”). Doublet of compost and compote.

(botany) Belonging to the Asteraceae family (formerly known as Compositae), bearing involucrate heads of many small florets.


composite

(botany) A plant belonging to the family Asteraceae, syn. Compositae.

mykerökukkainen

plant belonging to the family Compositae


etiolated

etiolated (comparative more etiolated, superlative most etiolated)

more etiolated (comparative)
most etiolated (superlative)

From etiolate + -ed (suffix forming adjectives); modelled after French étiolé, the past participle of étioler (“to become pale and weak, etiolate”), from Norman étieuler (“to become plant stalks left over after harvesting to be used as fodder or for thatching”), probably from éteule (“plant stalks left over after harvesting, stubble”) + -er (suffix forming verbs). Éteule is derived from Old French esteule (“straw”), from Latin stipula (“plant stalk; plant stalk left over after harvesting, stubble; straw”), from Proto-Italic *stipelā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steyp- (“to be stiff; erect”).

der

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-etiolated.wav

[T]he external leaves which enjoy the light are perfectly green, while those within, naturally or artificially covered up and involved in darkness, are blanched or etiolated; they are thereby rendered white, soft, delicate, and tender, and lose the taste and flavour of the native plant in its green state, or retain these very slightly.

1806 August 11, “Extracts from Fourcroy on the Philosophy of Vegetation, Translated and Abridged by a Correspondent”, in The Farmer’s Magazine: A Periodical Work Exclusively Devoted to Agriculture, and Rural Affairs, volume VII, number XXVII, Edinburgh: […] D. Willison, […], for Arch[ibald] Constable & Co. […], →OCLC, part IV (of the Influence of Light on Vegetation), paragraph 4, pages 302–303:

If there is too great an accumulation of oxygen, as when a plant is kept in a dark place, then it will grow towards the nearest ray of light, which if it does not reach, it will remain white, or etiolated, and sickly.

1835, J[ohn] L[ee] Comstock, “The Leaf. (Folium.)”, in An Introduction to the Study of Botany; […], 3rd edition, New York, N.Y.: Robinson, Pratt, & Co. […], →OCLC, page 43:

They had been so long accustomed to nestle in their old dwellings sheltered in the narrow closes, "Piled deep and massy, close and high," that they seemed to regard the exposure to open streets and broad thoroughfares pretty much as some etiolated hot-house exotic might be supposed to reflect on its being turned out to the open garden.

[1853], “First Buildings of the New Town”, in Modern Edinburgh, London: The Religious Tract Society, →OCLC, page 54:

In a report of 1901, the "triple response" of etiolated pea seedlings (growth inhibition, thickening of the subapical region, horizontal nutation) was observed to occur in the presence of illuminating gas and ethylene was identified as the inducing agent.

1985, Klaus Lurssen, “Plant Responses to Ethylene and Ethylene Releasing Compounds”, in S. S. Purohit, editor, Hormonal Regulation of Plant Growth and Development (Advances in Agricultural Biotechnology), volume 2, Dordrecht, Berlin: Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W. Junk Publishers, →ISBN, page 307:

Seedlings are elongated and have closed cotyledons in the dark (aetiolated) while the hypocotyls are short and the cotyledons are open in the light (de-aetiolated).

2007, László Bögre, “Cell Signalling Mechanisms in Plants”, in Keith Roberts, editor, Handbook of Plant Science, volume 1, Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, pages 417–418:

Any visitor to New York over the past few years will have witnessed this curious new breed of pencil-thin tower. Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense. They stand like naked elevator shafts awaiting their floors, raw extrusions of capital piled up until it hits the clouds.

2019 June 1, Oliver Wainwright, “Super-tall, super-skinny, super-expensive: the ‘pencil towers’ of New York’s super-rich”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-10-05:

(chiefly botany, horticulture) Of a plant or part of a plant: pale and weak because of sunlight deprivation or excessive exposure to sunlight.

etiola

of a plant or part of a plant: pale and weak because of sunlight deprivation or excessive exposure to sunlight


ligneous

en-adj

ligneous (comparative more ligneous, superlative most ligneous)

more ligneous (comparative)
most ligneous (superlative)

From Latin ligneus; compare Latin lignōsus; equivalent to lign- + -eous.


liliaceous

liliaceous (comparative more liliaceous, superlative most liliaceous)

more liliaceous (comparative)
most liliaceous (superlative)

(botany) of the Liliaceae family, which contains the lily, and tulip, but which formerly contained a great number of plants now in other families.


elongate

en-verb

elongate (third-person singular simple present elongates, present participle elongating, simple past and past participle elongated)

elongates (present singular third-person)
elongating (participle present)
elongated (participle past)
elongated (past)
elongate (infinitive)

/ˈiːˌlɒŋɡeɪt/

/əˈlɔŋˌɡeɪt/

From Late Middle English elongat, elongate (“kept away; different or remote in nature”, adjective), borrowed from Late Latin ēlongātus (“having been stretched out, elongated; prolonged, protracted; having been kept aloof, removed”) + Middle English -at (suffix forming participles). Ēlongātus is the perfect passive participle of elongō (“to prolong, protract; to keep aloof, remove; to depart, withdraw”), from Latin ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + longus (“extended, long, prolonged; far”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”, adjective)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of eloign.
cognates
* French éloigner

der

Shepherd’s-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. […] FLOWERS White, blooming March–December; inflorescence of racemes, elongating greatly with fruit; […]

2009, Tom Reaume, “Mustard—Brassicaceae”, in 620 Wild Plants of North America—Fully Illustrated (Canadian Plains Studies; 57), Winnipeg, Man.: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 216:

(botany) Of a plant part: to grow long; also, to have a long and slender or tapering form.

olla pitkulainen

of a plant part: to have a long and slender or tapering form


polygamous

/pəˈlɪɡəməs/


agrarian

en-adj

agrarian (comparative more agrarian, superlative most agrarian)

more agrarian (comparative)
most agrarian (superlative)

/əˈɡɹɛ(ə)ɹi.ən/

From Middle French agrarien, from Latin agrarius (“of the land”), from stem of ager (“field”) + -arius.

(botany) Wild; said of plants growing in a cultivated field.


nectar

en-noun

nectar (countable and uncountable, plural nectars)

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

der

(botany) The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds.


apple of Sodom

apple + of + Sodom; compare the common assumption that the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden was an apple. Possibly also imitative of Hebrew תַּפּוּחַ (tapuah, “apple”) + סְדוֹם (Sdom, “Sodom”).

Calotropis procera
Calotropis procera#Translingual

(botany) Any of various plants, often bearing bitter or poisonous fruit.

A mudar (Calotropis procera), a flowering plant, found from northern Africa to southeast Asia, which bears poisonous fruit.

Citrullus colocynthis
Citrullus colocynthis#Translingual

A bitter apple, colocynth, etc. (Citrullus colocynthis), a desert plant native to Asia and the Mediterranean Basin with extremely bitter flesh.

Any of certain species of plants of the genus Solanum (nightshades).

A forest bitterberry (Solanum anguivi), a plant native to non-arid parts of Africa.

A Carolina horsenettle (Solanum carolinense), a plant native to North America.

A bitter apple, bitterball, or bitter tomato (Solanum incanum), a plant native to sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and India.

A black spine nightshade or devil's apple (Solanum linnaeanum), a plant native to southern Africa that bears poisonous berries.

A nipplefruit (Solanum mammosum), a plant native to South America.

A particularly dangerous plant, and one that may cause confusion, is the apple of Sodom, a low, prickly bush with a tomatolike fruit that is highly poisonous.

1997, Richard McMahon, “The Outdoor Environment and the Camper”, in Camping Hawai‛i: A Complete Guide, rev. edition, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawai‛i Press, →ISBN, page 14:


bearded

From Middle English berded, from Old English ġebearded, ġebeardede, ġebierd, ġebierde (“bearded”), from Proto-Germanic *bardōdaz (“bearded”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰéh₂tos (“bearded”), equivalent to beard + -ed. Cognate with Dutch bebaarde (“bearded”), Middle Low German bārt (“bearded”), archaic German gebartet (“bearded”).

The herbaceous perennial irises benefit from at least one feeding a year in early spring as growth begins. Siberian and Japanese irises appreciate a second feeding just as the flowers fade. Beardeds do best with a second feeding in late summer.

2017, Barbara W. Ellis, “Iris: Irises”, in Taylor's Guide to Growing North America's Favorite Plants: Proven Perennials, Annuals, Flowering Trees, Shrubs, & Vines for Every Garden, New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 181:

(informal, botany, horticulture) A bearded iris.


urceolate

en-adj

urceolate (comparative more urceolate, superlative most urceolate)

more urceolate (comparative)
most urceolate (superlative)

From the Latin urceolatus, from urceolus, diminutive of urceus.

an urceolate corolla


prolepsis

en-noun

prolepsis (countable and uncountable, plural prolepses)

From Latin prolepsis, from Ancient Greek πρόληψις (prólēpsis, “preconception, anticipation”), from προλαμβάνω (prolambánō, “take beforehand, anticipate”).

der

(botany) Growth in which lateral branches develop from a lateral meristem, after the formation of a bud or following a period of dormancy, when the lateral meristem is split from a terminal meristem.


bourse

Borrowed from French bourse, from Old French borse, from Latin bursa, from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa). Doublet of purse, compare Danish børs, Swedish börs, German Börse. See also bursar.

(botany) The swollen basal part of an inflorescence axis at the onset of fruit development; it bears leaves whose axillary buds differentiate and may grow out as shoots.


stele

From 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”).

The stele may have—in different structures—one to many protoxylem (primitive wood) groups, and is accordingly described as monarch...diarch...triarch...tetrarch...polyarch.

1895, Sydney Howard Vines, A Students' Text-book of Botany, section 179:

The so-called central cylinder, for which Van Tieghem has proposed the name stele (column).

1898, Eduard Strasburger et al., translated by Hobart Charles Porter, A Text-book of Botany, section 109:

(botany) The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.

varsi

(botany) central core of the root and shoot system


service tree

Properly, the tree that bears sorb fruit, from Middle English serves, plural of serve (“sorb apple, serviceberry”), from Old English syrfe, from Vulgar Latin *sorbea, from Latin sorbus (“service tree”). See sorb.

Wild cherry and rowan, as well as wild apple, wild pear, wild service tree, whitebeam, and true service tree, are all affected by being nibbled by voles, mice and other wild animals.

2000, F. W. M. Vera, Grazing Ecology and Forest History, page 341:

In England, the wild service tree (sorbus torminalis) is regarded as an indicator of ancient woodland although there is little written about it in books on the subject.

2002, Mélusine Draco, Paul Harriss, Root & Branch: British Magical Tree Lore, page 102:

The wild service tree is very local in our study area.[…]At the time when these wild service trees had ripe fruit the much more abundant hawthorns, as well as a number of other plants, were providing alternative sources of fruit, which were probably safer to exploit than the service tree’s fruit 3—15 m up on terminal twigs of the leafless branches.

2010, Barbara Snow, David Snow, Birds and Berries, page 54:

Sorbus domestica
Sorbus domestica#Translingual

Sorbus torminalis
Sorbus torminalis#Translingual

(botany) Either of two rare Old World deciduous trees, Sorbus domestica or Sorbus torminalis.


deltoid

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-deltoid.wav

From Latin deltoideus, which was in turn from Ancient Greek adjective δελτοειδής (deltoeidḗs). See also: δέλτα (délta), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.

In the shape of the uppercase Greek letter delta (Δ); triangular.

(botany, of leaves) Of a triangular or roughly triangular shape and attached to the stem via the side.


herborize

en-verb

herborize (third-person singular simple present herborizes, present participle herborizing, simple past and past participle herborized)

herborizes (present singular third-person)
herborizing (participle present)
herborized (participle past)
herborized (past)

French herboriser, for herbariser, from Latin.

(intransitive, botany) To seek and classify new or previously known plant species.


herbaceous

en-adj

herbaceous (comparative more herbaceous, superlative most herbaceous)

more herbaceous (comparative)
most herbaceous (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin herbāceus (“grassy”).

[…] and it contains a very good selection of shrubs and herbaceous plants, which, having good soil and plentiful drenchings of water from a garden-engine all the summer, thrive to admiration.

1859, Shirley Hibberd, The Town Garden, page 53:

(botany) Not woody, lacking lignified tissues.


lamina

en-noun

lamina (plural laminae or (archaic) laminæ or laminas)

laminae (plural)
laminæ (archaic plural)
laminas (plural)

Borrowed from Latin lāmina (“a thin piece of metal, wood, marble; a plate, leaf, layer”). Doublet of lame.

bor

A thin layer, plate, or scale of material.

(botany) The flat expanded part of a foliage leaf or leaflet.


polyandrous

(botany) Belonging to the class Polyandria; having many stamens inserted in the receptacle.


mora

From New Latin from a botanical name, perhaps from Tupi.

At length, somewhere about the centre of the wood, she led me to an immense mora tree, growing almost isolated, covering with its shade a large space of ground entirely free from undergrowth.

1904, W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions, A Romance of the Tropical Forest:

(botany) Any tree of the genus Mora of large South American trees.


actinomorphous

en-adj

actinomorphous (comparative more actinomorphous, superlative most actinomorphous)

more actinomorphous (comparative)
most actinomorphous (superlative)

(botany, of a flower) Having petals arranged in a radially symmetric pattern.


actinomorphic

actinomorphic (comparative more actinomorphic, superlative most actinomorphic)

more actinomorphic (comparative)
most actinomorphic (superlative)

(botany, of a flower) Having its petals arranged in a radially symmetric fashion.

actinomorphe

having its petals arranged in a radially symmetric fashion


apple tree

From Middle English appeltre, appiltre, appultre, from Old English æppeltrēow, corresponding to apple + tree. Cognate with Danish æbletræ, Swedish äppelträd, Norwegian epletre, Icelandic eplatré.

Malus domestica
Malus domestica#Translingual

(botany) Any tree that bears apples, principally Malus domestica but also certain wild species.


succulent

succulent (comparative more succulent, superlative most succulent)

more succulent (comparative)
most succulent (superlative)

Borrowed from French succulent, from Latin succulentus.

(botany) Having fleshy leaves or other tissues that store water.

druz

botany: having fleshy leaves or other tissues that store water


hitchhiker

(informal, botany) A bur that attaches and clings to clothing, or a bur-bearing plant.


acrospire

(botany) The sprout at the end of a seed when it begins to germinate.


fusiform

fusiform (comparative more fusiform, superlative most fusiform)

more fusiform (comparative)
most fusiform (superlative)

Fusobacteria are fusiform bacilli (spindled rods).

Acorns come in spherical and fusiform varieties.

(chiefly botany, zoology) Shaped like a spindle with yarn spun on it; having round or roundish cross-section and tapering at each end.


bivalve

(botany) A pericarp in which the seedcase opens or splits into two parts or valves.


thriftless

thriftless (comparative more thriftless, superlative most thriftless)

more thriftless (comparative)
most thriftless (superlative)

From Middle English thrifteles, þriftles, equivalent to thrift + -less.

(botany, horticulture, dated) Not thriving.


three-cornered

a three-cornered stem

(botany) Having three prominent longitudinal angles.


operculum

(botany) The lidlike portion of a moss sporangium or of a fruit that detaches to allow the dispersal of spores or seeds.

درپوش

(botany) lidlike portion on a sporangium or fruit that detaches


geniculate

Learned borrowing from Latin geniculātus (“with bended knee”), from geniculum (“little knee”) + -ātus (participial adjective-forming suffix), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

af

a geniculate stem; a geniculate ganglion; a geniculate twin crystal

(anatomy, botany) Bent abruptly, with the structure of a knee.


meristem

From German Meristem, from Ancient Greek μεριστός (meristós, “divided”), from μερίζω (merízō), from μέρος (méros) + στέμμα (stémma, “wreath, garland”). First used in 1858 by Swiss botanist Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli (1817–1891).

af

Coordinate term: cambium

By looking back at a past populated by beings of grotesque difference, humans could place themselves at the apical meristem—the growing tip—of the future.

2020, Janet Chernela, quotee, “Life Finds A Way”, in Jonathan Elmore, editor, Fiction and the Sixth Mass Extinction, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN:

(botany) The plant tissue composed of totipotent cells that allows plant growth.


intercalary

From Latin intercalārius, from intercalāris, from intercalō, from inter (“among”) + calō (“call out, proclaim”).

(sciences, by extension) Inserted between other things

(botany) of a meristem: situated between zones of permanent tissue, thus a shoot growing at the base of a leaf, in comparison with apical growth at the tip of a root or plant.


trigamous

(botany) Having three kinds of flowers — male, female, and hermaphrodite — in the same flower head.


suspended

(botany, of an ovule) Attached slightly below the summit of the ovary.


aeciospore

[ˈiʃiəˌspɔː]

(botany) A binucleate spore of a rust fungus, formed in a chainlike series in an aecium.


doublet

From Middle English doublet, a borrowing from Old French doublet, from double, duble, doble + -et.

zeke

(historical in English) a man’s waistcoat

(botany) A very small flowering plant, Dimeresia howellii.


apical

(botany, of a meristem) Situated at the growing tip of the plant or its roots, in comparison with intercalary growth situated between zones of permanent tissue.


macrocephalous

en-adj

macrocephalous (comparative more macrocephalous, superlative most macrocephalous)

more macrocephalous (comparative)
most macrocephalous (superlative)

(botany) Having the cotyledons of a dicotyledonous embryo confluent, and forming a large mass compared with the rest of the body.


macropodal

macropodal (comparative more macropodal, superlative most macropodal)

more macropodal (comparative)
most macropodal (superlative)


macropodous

macropodous (comparative more macropodous, superlative most macropodous)

more macropodous (comparative)
most macropodous (superlative)

(botany) (of a leaf) Having a long stalk.

(botany) (of a plant embryo) Having a large hypocotyl.

(botany, obsolete) (of a plant embryo) Having a large radicle.


macrosporangium

(botany) A megasporangium; sporangium or conceptacle containing only large spores; opposed to microsporangium.


macrophyllous

macrophyllous (comparative more macrophyllous, superlative most macrophyllous)

more macrophyllous (comparative)
most macrophyllous (superlative)


ICBN

(botany, superseded by ICN) Abbreviation of International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, a body of rules and recommendations governing botanical names.


maculation

Females [of the species Speyeria nokomis] are cream above with heavy black maculation accompanied by much dark suffusion.

1975, William H. Howe, editor, The Butterflies of North America, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 217:

1990, Mason E. Hale, A Synopsis of the Lichen Genus Xanthoparmelia (Vainio) Hale (Ascomycotina, Parmeliaceae), Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 195,
[This lichen] species […] is recognized by […] more or less distinct maculation on the upper surface, and pale brown lower surface.

(zoology, botany, chiefly uncountable) A pattern of spots.


botanical name

Plantae, Betulaceae, Helianthemum, Zea mays and Stellaria media subsp. media are botanical names.

(botany) A formal scientific name of a plant, especially as conforming to the ICBN.


liana

From French liane, influenced by lien (“link, bond”). The word comes from the western dialects of West Indian French.

Many of the older trees presented a very curious appearance from the tresses of a liana hanging from their boughs, and resembling bundles of hay.

1839, Robert FitzRoy, Phillip Parker King, Charles Darwin, chapter II, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

1884, Achilles Daunt, Frank Redcliffe: A story of travel and adventure in the forests of Venezuela (A Book for Boys), London: T. Nelson & Sons, Chapter 5, p. 99,
Flowering lianas hung in long streaming lines from the outstretched boughs and dipped their pendulous bouquets in the water of the igarape, which reflected the cloudless blue of the sky.

Allow friendly natives to walk in front of you on the track. They have sharp eyes for pitfalls, snakes, hornets, and stinging plants. They will cut the lianas and thorny trailers. They like to do it.

1943 April 4, Allied Geographical Section, Southwest Pacific Area, Getting About in New Guinea, page 6:

They left the drive and stood among the wild tannia under the saman tree. Mrs Tulsi held a liana and offered it to Mr Biswas. While he felt it, she held a thinner liana and pulled it down. ‘As strong as rope,’ she said. ‘The children could skip with this.’

1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 3:

(botany) A climbing woody vine, usually tropical.


replicate

replicate (comparative more replicate, superlative most replicate)

more replicate (comparative)
most replicate (superlative)

/ˈɹɛpləˌkət/

From Latin replicātus, past participle of replicāre (“to fold or bend back; reply”), from re (“back”) + plicāre (“to fold”); see ply. Doublet of reply and replica.

a replicate leaf or petal

the replicate margin of a shell

(botany, zoology) Folded over or backward; folded back upon itself.


connive

en-verb

connive (third-person singular simple present connives, present participle conniving, simple past and past participle connived)

connives (present singular third-person)
conniving (participle present)
connived (participle past)
connived (past)

From French conniver (“to ignore and thus become complicit in wrongdoing”), or directly from its etymon Latin con(n)īvēre (“close or screw up the eyes, blink, wink; overlook, turn a blind eye, connive”) (perhaps alluding to two persons involved in a scheme together winking to each other), from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) + *nīvēre (related to nictō (“to blink, wink”), from Proto-Indo-European *kneygʷʰ- (“to bend, droop”)).

der

This species [...] differs from other species of this genus in the upper pinnæ being contracted, which are sinuously lobed, each lacinæ and lobe bearing a sorus, furnished with a nearly orbicular indusium, the free exterior margin of which connives with the margin of the lobe, [...]

1875, John Smith, “118.—Nephrolepis, Schott. (1834).: Hook Sp. Fil.”, in Historia Filicum; an Exposition on the Nature, Number, and Organography of Ferns, […], London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part 2 (General Arrangement and Characteristics of Tribes and Genera, […]), page 227:

(intransitive, botany, rare) Of parts of a plant: to be converging or in close contact; to be connivent.


pleroma

en-noun

pleroma (countable and uncountable, plural pleromas)

Adam Black
David Don
Wernerian Natural History Society

Learned borrowing from Late Latin pleroma (“(Gnosticism) spiritual universe seen as the totality of the essence and powers of God”), from Koine Greek πλήρωμᾰ (plḗrōmă, “(biblical) perfect fullness”), Ancient Greek πλήρωμᾰ (plḗrōmă, “that which fills, a complement; a filling up, a completing”), from πληρόω (plēróō, “to make full, fill; to complete, finish”) (from πλήρης (plḗrēs, “complete, full”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + -όω (-óō, suffix forming verbs with the sense of making someone be or do something)) + -μᾰ (-mă, suffix forming nouns denoting the result or effect of an action).
Sense 1.1 (“plant”) is borrowed from New Latin Pleroma, a genus name coined by the Scottish botanist David Don (1799–1841) in 1822, from Ancient Greek πλήρωμᾰ (plḗrōmă) (see above) to describe the way the seeds of the plant filled the capsule.
Sense 2 (“state of perfect fullness”) is chiefly used in reference to Colossians 2:9 of the Bible: “Ὅτι ἐν αὐτῶῳ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (Hóti en autôōi katoikeî pân tò plḗrōma tês theótētos sōmatikôs) [For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form]”.

coinage

In his [Jakob Eriksson's] investigations of the meristem (the tissue from which the permanent tissues are formed) by dicotyledonous roots he found four types of growth, […] In the second type only two separate meristem tissues are present in the tips of the roots; a pleroma and a common tissue, from which the primary bark and epidermis and root-cap proceed.

1876 December 9, “[Punctum vegetationis, or Growing Point of Dicotyledonous Roots]”, in The Gardeners’ Chronicle. A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Horticulture and Allied Subjects, volume VI (New Series), number 154, London: Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 750, column 1:

[I]n the pleroma of the primary meristem of roots there is not only cambium (persistent parenchyma) and procambium (forerunner of fibres and vessels), but pericambium—i.e., a special outer layer of the plerome that remains for a long time as meristem.

1890 August 22, Edward Aveling, “Botany for Students. Chapter XXII.—The Root.”, in The English Mechanic and World of Science and Art. […], volume LI, number 1326, London: […] E[beneezer] J. Kibblewhite, […], →OCLC, page 543, column 2:

In the pleroma of hyacinth and pea roots, t#95;#123;min#125; increases along the meristem, especially in its basal part[…].

2001, Russian Journal of Developmental Biology: A Journal of Original Papers and Reviews on Developmental and Cell Biology, volume 32, Moscow: Pleiades Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 205, column 1:

(archaic or obsolete, rare) Synonym of plerome (“the central portion of the apical meristem in a growing plant root or stem which, according to the histogen theory, gives rise to the endodermis and stele”)


aestivation

en-noun

aestivation (countable and uncountable, plural aestivations)

Formed from Latin aestīvō, aestīvāre (“to spend or pass the summer in a place”), from aestīvus (“of or pertaining to summer”), from aestās (“summer”) + -īvus.

uder

(botany) The arrangement (vernation) of the parts of a flower inside a bud; prefloration.

silmuasento

vernation of the parts of flower inside a bud; prefloration


cion

1621–1626 (published posthumously in 1627): Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum : or, A Natural History ; in ten centuries, century V, Experiments in consort touching the putting back or retardation of germination, ¶ 421; reprinted in:

421. Men have entertained a conceit that showeth prettily ; namely, that if you graft a late-coming fruit upon a stock of a fruit-tree that cometh early, the graft will bear early ; as a peach upon a cherry ; and contrariwise, if an early-coming fruit upon a stock of a fruit-tree that cometh late, the graft will bear fruit late ; as a cherry upon a peach. But these are but imaginations, and untrue. The cause is, for that the cion overruleth the stock quite : and the stock is but passive only, and giveth aliment, but no motion to the graft.

1838, The works of Lord Bacon : with an introductory essay, and a portrait ; in two volumes, volume 1, page 133 (London : William Ball, Paternoster Row ; stereotyped and printed by John Childs and son)

(chiefly botany) Alternative spelling of scion


mosaic

en-noun

mosaic (countable and uncountable, plural mosaics)

From Middle French mosaïque, from Italian mosaico, from Medieval Latin musaicum, from Late Latin musivum (opus), from Latin museum, musaeum, probably from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon), shrine of the Muses (Μοῦσα (Moûsa)).

(phytopathology) Any of several viral diseases that cause mosaic-like patterns to appear on leaves.


divaricate

en-adj

divaricate (comparative more divaricate, superlative most divaricate)

more divaricate (comparative)
most divaricate (superlative)

Latin divaricat-, past participle stem of divaricare, from di- + varicare (“stretch (the legs) apart”), from varicus (“straddling”).

(botany) Having wide angles between the branches.


incumbent

incumbent (comparative more incumbent, superlative most incumbent)

more incumbent (comparative)
most incumbent (superlative)

From Latin incumbentem + English -ent (suffix denoting the causing, doing, or promoting of an action). Incumbentem is the accusative singular of incumbēns (“reclining”), the present active participle of incumbō (“to lay upon, to lean or recline on; to fall upon, to press down on”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘against; into; on, upon’) + *cumbō (“to lie down, recline”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb-).

rusten op

[T]he anther either looks inwards or outwards. When it is turned inwards, or is fixed to that side of the filament which looks towards the pistil or centre of the flower, the anther is incumbent or intorse, as in Magnolia and the Water-Lily. When turned outwards, or fixed to the outer side of the filament, it is extorse, as in the Tulip-tree.

1857, Asa Gray, “Lesson XVII. Morphology of the Stamens.”, in First Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology, […], New York, N.Y.: Ivison & Phinney and G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam & Co., […], →OCLC, paragraph 293, page 113:

Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.

(botany) Of an anther: lying on the inner side of the filament; also, of a cotyledon: having its back lying against the radicle.

poikkitelainen

of an anther: lying on the inner side of the filament; of a cotyledon: having its back lying against the radicle


pedate

pedate (comparative more pedate, superlative most pedate)

more pedate (comparative)
most pedate (superlative)

(botany, of a leaf) Having deeply divided lobes.


hastate

hastate (comparative more hastate, superlative most hastate)

more hastate (comparative)
most hastate (superlative)

From Middle English hastate, from Latin hastātus (“armed with a spear”), from hasta (“spear”) + -ātus.

(botany, of leaves) Shaped similarly to a halberd, with pointed lobes pointed outward from the base.

keihästyvinen

botany, of leaves: with lobes pointing outward from base


truncate

/ˈtɹʌŋˌkeɪt/

From Latin truncātus, perfect passive participle of truncō (“maim, reduce to a trunk”); see trunk as a verb.

(botany, anatomy) Having an abrupt termination.

κολοβός

botany, anatomy: having an abrupt termination


medulla

en-noun

medulla (plural medullas or medullae or medullæ)

medullas (plural)
medullae (plural)
medullæ (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-medulla.wav

Borrowed from Latin medulla (“pith, marrow”), perhaps from medius (“middle”).

(botany) The internal tissue of a plant.


tunic

→ Welsh: tiwnig

Borrowed from Middle French tunique, from Latin tunica, possibly from Semitic (compare Aramaic [script needed] (kittuna), Hebrew כותנת (kuttoneth, “coat”), English chiton); or from Etruscan. Existed in Old English as tunece; unknown if that term was lost and then reborrowed later. Doublet of tunica.

Select individual bulbs that are firm and have no noticeable blemishes on them. Don't worry about the papery covering or tunic. That may or may not be in place, […]

2015, Charlie Nardozzi, New England Month-by-Month Gardening: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year, Cool Springs Press, →ISBN, page 132:

(anatomy, botany) Any covering, such as seed coat or the organ that covers a membrane.

buroklevél

any covering, such as seed coat or the organ that covers a membrane


tetramerous

As their name suggests, the crucifers have tetramerous flowers.

(botany) in four parts: such that each whorl (of flower parts) has four flower parts.


pentamerous

The Apocynaceae have pentamerous flowers.

(botany) In five parts; made up of five parts.


dimerous

From di- + -merous; compare also Ancient Greek διμερής (dimerḗs, “bipartite”).

der

Plants with dimerous flowers are fairly rare.

(botany) In two parts; having two parts in each whorl of a flower.


trimerous

From tri- + -merous; ultimately from tri-, from Ancient Greek τρία (tría, “three”); + Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part”).

The monocots typically have trimerous flowers.

(botany) Organized in threes; having parts in numbers that are multiples of three.


nastic

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ναστός (nastós, “pressed together”), from νάσσω (nássō, “to press, cram full”), although the sense development is unclear.

Many flowers close themselves at night. This nastic movement is in response to the brightness of the sky.

(botany) Relating to the response of a plant to a stimulus that does not depend on the location of the stimulus.

nastinen

relating to the response of a plant to a stimulus


tepal

From French tépale, from New Latin tēpalum, coined 1827 by transposition of French pétale (“petal”).

1982, H. Q. Varekamp (translator and editor), Z. Botschantzeva, Tulips: Taxonomy, Morphology, cytology, phytogeography and physiology, page 27,
In Tulipa the pubescent tips of the tepals are quite interesting in particular those of T. fosteriana. The top of the tepal is initiated and develops before the reflexed, lateral parts.

The species bears creamy white flowers with a yellow base and tepals often streaked with rose-pink.

2001, Barbara W. Ellis, Taylor's Guide to Bulbs, page 400:

In our material of T. bulbosa, the abaxial outer tepal was larger at its inception than the lateral ones (Fig 8.4C), whereas the primordia of the outer tepals are of nearly equal size in both T. barrelieri (Fig 8.5E) and T. palustris (not shown).

2013, Margarita V. Remizowa, Dmitry D. Sokoloff, Paula J. Rudall, “8: Patterns of bract reduction in racemose inflorescences of early-divergent monocots”, in Paul Wilkin, Simon J. Mayo, editors, Early Events in Monocot Evolution, page 194:

(botany) Any component of the perianth (outermost whorls of flower parts, not involved in reproduction), especially when the components are not distinguished into sepals and petals.


abscise

en-verb

abscise (third-person singular simple present abscises, present participle abscising, simple past and past participle abscised)

abscises (present singular third-person)
abscising (participle present)
abscised (participle past)
abscised (past)

From Latin abscīsus, perfect passive participle of abscīdō (“cut off”); formed from abs- + caedō (“cut”).

(intransitive, botany) To separate by means of abscission; to shed or drop off.


punctum vegetationis

(botany) the terminal cell of a leaf bud or stem from which new growth originates


corolla

en-noun

corolla (plural corollas or corollae or corollæ)

corollas (plural)
corollae (plural)
corollæ (plural)

From Latin corōlla (“small garland, chaplet or wreath”), diminutive of corōna (“garland, chaplet, wreath”).

bor

Our wet fingers touched and we formed a circle like the corolla of a flower, floating into the silence of the desert dawn with the ancient sun on our bodies.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 125:

(botany) The outermost-but-one whorl of a flower, composed of petals, when it is not the same in appearance as the outermost whorl (the calyx); it usually comprises the petal, which may be fused.


gametophyte

In liverworts like Marchantia, which lives in most soggy places worldwide, the gametophyte is the dominant phase – the thing you would think of as the plant.

2018 May 25, Susannah Lydon, The Guardian:

(botany) A plant (or the haploid phase in its life cycle) which produces gametes by mitosis in order to produce a zygote.


indehiscent

The farmer wants indehiscent heads of a cereal which can be gathered without shedding their grain.

A rich and dark and indehiscent meat

2006 June, A. E. Stallings, “Olives”, in The New Criterion, volume 24, page 28:

(botany) Not dehiscing when mature; not dehiscent.


murrain

en-noun

murrain (countable and uncountable, plural murrains)

The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease”), Middle French morine, and Old French morine, mourine, murine (“widespread sickness, plague; animal which has died from a disease”), from Late Latin morina (“plague”), probably from Latin morī, the present active infinitive of morior (“to die; to decay, wither”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”).
The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun.
cognates
* Italian morìa (“plague”)
* Latin morticīnus (“that has died naturally, dead; (relational) carrion”) (Medieval Latin morticinium)
* Occitan moria (“death; plague”)
* Old French morie (“death”) mourie (“flesh of animals that have died of disease”) (Middle French murie)
* Portuguese morrinha (“cattle plague”)
* Spanish morriña (“cattle plague”)

cog

potato murrain

[H]e had reason to think that a murrain had fallen over the whole of the potato crops in England, and that, if it extended to Ireland, the most serious consequences must ensue.

1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], chapter XIV, in Endymion […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 141–142:

(countable, by extension, phytopathology) An infectious disease affecting plants.


thallic

en-adj

thallic (comparative more thallic, superlative most thallic)

more thallic (comparative)
most thallic (superlative)


stipulation

en-noun

stipulation (countable and uncountable, plural stipulations)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-stipulation.wav

(botany) The situation, arrangement, and structure of the stipules.


fynbos

From Afrikaans fynbos (“fynbos”), from fyn (“fine”) (as in fine-textured, as opposed to trees) and bos (“bush or forest”) .

The southern and western Cape is the home of a unique type of vegetation known as fynbos. Covering around 90 000 square kilometers of often harsh terrain, fynbos is made up of approximately 6 000 different plant species.

1992, Reader's Digest, The Great South African Outdoors:

(botany) Vegetation unique to the Cape Floral Kingdom, largely scrub, exceptionally biodiverse, including particlarly large numbers of species of Proteaceae, Restionaceae, and Ericaceae.


pollen parent

seed parent

antonym(s) of “plant that contributes pollen”

(botany) The plant that contributes male reproductive material, the pollen.


trimorphic

/ˌtɹaɪˈmɔɹfɪk/

(botany) Having three different forms of flowers, leaves, or any other attribute on the same plant.


tree trunk

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-tree trunk.wav

(botany) The main structural member of a tree.


storage organ

(botany) A part of a plant, such as a bulb, specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or of water.

zásobní orgán

botany: part of plant modified for storage of energy


coronal

en-adj

coronal (comparative more coronal, superlative most coronal)

more coronal (comparative)
most coronal (superlative)

From Middle English coronal, from Anglo-Norman coronal, from Latin corōnālis (“related to a crown”), from corōna (“crown”).

(botany) Relating to the corona of a flower.


fascicle

From Latin fasciculus, a diminutive of fascis (“bundle”); see also fasces. Doublet of fasciculus.

(botany) A cluster of flowers or leaves, such as the bundles of the thin leaves (or needles) of pines.

(botany) A discrete bundle of vascular tissue.


nutation

en-noun

nutation (countable and uncountable, plural nutations)

1610s, from Latin nūtātiō (“nodding”), from nūtō (“I nod”). Compare mutation.

(botany) The circular motion of the tip of a growing shoot.


Dutch elm disease

Named after the country in which the disease was first identified. (It is not specific to Dutch elms.)

The village is a dignified place of thatch, half-timbering, box hedges and neat farms, set among elms (though not as many as formerly, since Dutch elm disease took its toll) on the level plain of the Pewsey Vale.

1980, AA Book of English Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 67:

The process began 50 years ago when Europe’s elms were ravaged by the beetle-borne fungal malady misnamed ʻDutch elm diseaseʼ (which, in fact, is Asian).

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 296:

(phytopathology) A disease of elm trees caused by ascomycete fungi in the genus Ophiostoma and spread by bark beetles.


mimosa

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-mimosa.wav

From New Latin mimosa, from Latin mimus (“mime, actor”), referring to Mimosa pudica and its habit of shrinking back when touched. The cocktail is named after the bright yellow, fragrant flowers of the mimosa Acacia dealbata.

(botany) A plant belonging to the genus Mimosa usually found in tropical climates, their leaves are usually prickly and sensitive to touch or light, and have small white or pink flowers.


taproot

From tap + root. The oldest use (by Philemon Holland) is spaced as tap root. In the 18th and 19th centuries the standard spelling was tap-root.

The taproots of trees like the false acacia, growing between Park Royal and Alperton, thrust deeply into the ground, while the spreading roots of the silver birch stitch the soil.

1950 July, “Traveller's Joy”, in Railway Magazine, page ii (advertisement):

Above the lower headcut, phreatophytic mesquite and little leaf sumac hug the banks, drawing pendulate water from the silts remaining from former marsh deposits and sending long taproots into channel stores.

2007, Susan L. Woodward, “Modern Vegetation of the Murray Springs Area and the Upper San Pedro Valley”, in Caleb Vance Haynes, Bruce B. Huckell, editor, Murray Springs, page 58:

On the other hand, those who are compelled by a single strong desire are obsessed with a well-defined problem, which touches the taproot of their soul. They are on the attack, on the move.

2024 October 10, David Brooks, “How Harris Can Finish Strong”, in The New York Times:

(botany) A long, tapering root possessed by many plants (such as carrots and dandelions).


trifoliate

/tɹaɪˈfəʊlɪət/

tri- (“three”) + Latin foliātus (“leaved”) Doublet of tréflé.

(chiefly botany) Having or comprising three leaves, or (loosely) trifoliolate (with three leaflets) or having leaves with three parts, as the clover plant.


radial

en-adj

radial (comparative more radial, superlative most radial)

more radial (comparative)
most radial (superlative)

From Medieval Latin radiālis (“radial”), from Latin radius.

(botany) Developing uniformly on all sides.


xylotomy

(botany) The art of preparing sections of wood (as by means of a microtome) for microscopic examination.


wood parenchyma

(botany) the vertical and usually axially arranged parenchyma of the xylem that is believed to function chiefly in carbohydrate storage


velum

Borrowed from Latin vēlum (“a cloth, covering, awning, curtain, veil”). Doublet of veil.

bor

a thin membrane resembling a veil or curtain, such as:

(botany) a thin membrane partially covering the cluster of sporangia near the leaf base in quillworts and their extinct relatives


pericyclic

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pericyclic.wav


xerophyte

/ˈzɪəɹəʊfaɪt/

(botany) Any plant suited for life in a habitat where water is scarce, such as in a desert or chaparral. Such plants may be succulent, have small or reduced leaves, or spines.

xerofyt

botany: a plant suited for life in a habitat where water is scarce


pericycle

(botany) In a plant root, the cylinder of plant tissue between the endodermis and phloem.


phyllotaxis

en-noun

phyllotaxis (usually uncountable, plural phyllotaxes)

Yet his Lordship would find this rate of proportion […] likewise in all plants, in the disposition of their leaves, for which ordering he would make a name, that is, from the Greek, phyllotaxis.

(botany) The arrangement of leaves on a stem, or the mathematical principles governing such arrangement.


endodermis

endodermis (plural endodermises or endodermides)

endodermises (plural)
endodermides (plural)

From endo- (“within”) + dermis (“skin”).

(botany) In a plant stem or root, a cylinder of cells that separates the outer cortex from the central core. The endodermis controls flow of water and minerals within the plant. In most plants, this tissue is restricted to the roots.


epinasty

epinasty (countable and uncountable, plural epinasties)

(botany) The downward curvature of leaves etc due to differential growth rates.

épinastie

botany: downward curvature due to growth

(botany) A nastic movement which bends a plant part (e.g. a petal) outward.


pericarp

/ˈpɛɹɪˌkɑːp/

/ˈpɛɹɪˌkɑɹp/

From French péricarpe, from New Latin pericarpium, from Ancient Greek περικάρπιον (perikárpion, “pod, husk, shell”), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). By surface analysis, peri- + -carp.

der

When, as in the cherry, the different layers of the pericarp are well-defined and largely developed, they received distinctive names ; the outer skin is the epicarp (epi, upon, carpon, a fruit), the middle fleshy part is the mesocarp (mesos, middle) ; and the innermost hard shell is the endocarp (endos, within) ; in other words the pericarp is made up of epicarp, mesocarp, and endocarp. […] In all normal fruits these three layers of the pericarp are present […].

The pericarp of sorghums of the factorial titution BBSSrr, BBSsrr, BbsSrr, and BbSsrr may possess some t degree of coloration even though the pericarp color factor R is nt.

1928, Journal of Agricultural Research, page 582:

Many fruits show differentiation of the pericarp into layers – the plum, for example, has a thin outer pericarp forming the skin, a succulent middle pericarp forming the flesh and a stony inner pericarp surrounding the single seed.

1992 August 20, Jim C. Forbes, James C. Forbes, Drennan Watson, Plants in Agriculture, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 180:

One important difference is the pericarp of sorghum is more bran-like and contains starch granules in the cells. However, as with maize, the sorghum pericarp is often referred to as a “hull” and is generally removed during processing.

2009, Stanley P. Cauvain, Linda S. Young, The ICC Handbook of Cereals, Flour, Dough & Product Testing: Methods and Applications, DEStech Publications, Inc, →ISBN, page 207:

(botany) The outermost layer, or skin, of a ripe fruit or ovary.

околопло́дник

outermost layer of a ripe fruit or ovary


guttation

en-noun

guttation (countable and uncountable, plural guttations)

(botany) The exudation of drops of water from the leaves of some vascular plants as a result of root pressure.


carinate

en-adj

carinate (comparative more carinate, superlative most carinate)

more carinate (comparative)
most carinate (superlative)


involute

involute (comparative more involute, superlative most involute)

more involute (comparative)
most involute (superlative)

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Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute[…]

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 7:

(botany) Having the edges rolled with the adaxial side outward.


parietal

parietal (comparative more parietal, superlative most parietal)

more parietal (comparative)
most parietal (superlative)

From Latin parietālis, from pariēs (“wall”).

(botany) Attached to the main wall of the ovary, and not to the axis; said of a placenta.


vegetal

/ˈvɛd͡ʒɨtl̩/

/ˈvɛd͡ʒɪ̈tl̩/

Borrowed from Late Latin vegetālis, from vegetō.

This melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

(obsolete, chiefly botany) Any vegetable organism.


elaborated sap

en-noun

elaborated sap (countable and uncountable, plural elaborated saps)

(botany) The sap of a plant produced in its leaves from the crude sap to feed the plant.


crude sap

crude sap (usually uncountable, plural crude saps)

(botany) The sap of a plant that rises from the roots to the leaves.

sève brute

sap that rises from the roots to the leaves


pyxis

From Latin pyxis (“small box”). Doublet of box, piseog, and pyx.

(botany) A capsule in which the lid separates from the top of the fruit to release the seeds.


parenchyma

parenchyma (countable and uncountable, plural parenchymas or parenchymata)

parenchymas (plural)
parenchymata (plural)

/pəˈɹɛŋ.kɪm.ə/

From Ancient Greek παρέγχῠμα (parénkhŭma, “anything poured in beside”), from πᾰρᾰ- (pără-, “beside”) + ἔγχῠμα (énkhŭma, “instillation, content of a vessel”), given by the Greek anatomist Erasistratus to the peculiar substance of the lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen, as if formed separately by the veins that run into them.

af

(botany) The cellular tissue, typically soft and succulent, found chiefly in the softer parts of leaves, pulp of fruits, bark and pith of stems, etc.


geophyte

(botany) A perennial plant, for example the potato or daffodil, which in spring propagates from an underground organ such as a bulb, tuber, corm or rhizome.


ruga

Borrowed from Latin rūga (“a crease in the face, wrinkle”).

bor

Female: Face subpolished, weakly rugose, rugae somewhat diverging, at sides sparsely and shallowly punctate; […]

1980, Joseph Kenneth Jonathan, The Isotima-complex (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), page 83:

the deadly water-snakes coil’d together like the Rugæ of a single great Brain, the gray and even illumination from the Sky

(anatomy, zootomy, botany, usually in the plural) A fold, crease or wrinkle.


carina

Borrowed from Latin carīna (“keel”). Doublet of careen and carene.

(botany) Part of a papilionaceous flower consisting of two petals, commonly united, which encloses the organs of fructification.


weedy

en-adj

weedy (comparative weedier, superlative weediest)

weedier (comparative)
weediest (superlative)

a weedy species

a weedy vine

[…] and so your soyle being drayned and kept dry, all those wéedy kindes of grasse will soone perish.

1614, Gervase Markham, The Second Booke of the English Husbandman, London: John Browne, Part 2, Chapter 7, pp. 84-85:

(botany) Characteristic of a plant that grows rapidly and spreads invasively, and which grows opportunistically in cracks of sidewalks and disturbed areas.


-nasty

From Ancient Greek ναστός (nastós, “pressed”), from the verb νάσσω (nássō).


culm

Borrowed from Latin culmus. Doublet of calame, calamus, and haulm; further related to caramel, chalumeau and shawm.

[…] because, upon hearing him out, she sank down on the lawn in an impossible posture, examining a grass culm and frowning, he had taken his words back at once; […]

1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, page 150:

(botany) The stem of a plant, especially of grass or sedge.


xenia

From New Latin xenia, from Ancient Greek ξενίᾱ (xeníā, “hospitality”).

(botany) The effect that genes from pollen have on the endosperm.


-androus

(botany) having a specified number of stamens


turgor

en-noun

turgor (countable and uncountable, plural turgors)

Learned borrowing from Latin turgor, from turgēre (“to be swollen”) + -or (forms a third-declension masculine abstract noun from a verb root).

suf

Cuttings in a vase lost their turgor, incapable of drawing up the water and nutrients that once kept them supple.

2024 May 10, Lily Stewart, “A love letter to lilacs and the joys of fleeting pleasure”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(botany) Turgor pressure is the force or pressure within the cell exerted by fluid that presses the cell membrane against the cell wall.


racemose

From Latin racēmōsus (“full of clusters”), from racēmus (“cluster, bunch”).

(botany) Having flowers arranged along a single central axis, as in a raceme, spike, or catkin.

klaseagtig

botany: having flowers arranged along a single central axis


cilium

(botany) Hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of an organ.


raceme

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Borrowed from Latin racēmus (“cluster, bunch”). Doublet of raisin.

(botany) An indeterminate inflorescence in which the flowers are arranged along a single central axis.


anthocyanin

/ˌænθəˈsaɪənɪn/

(botany, organic chemistry) Any of many water-soluble red to violet plant pigments related to the flavonoids (more noticeable in autumn after the chlorophyll decomposes)

antocianina

any of many water-soluble red to violet plant pigments


raphide

(botany) A crystal of calcium oxalate, shaped like a needle, which forms as a metabolic byproduct in some plant cells.


heteroblastic

(botany) Growing several forms or type of leaves along a shoot depending on age or shoot length.


homoblastic

(botany) Having leaves whose shape changes very little with the plant's or shoot's age.


acyclic

en-adj

acyclic (comparative more acyclic, superlative most acyclic)

more acyclic (comparative)
most acyclic (superlative)

(botany) Of a flower, having its parts inserted spirally on the receptacle.


assurgent

assurgent (comparative more assurgent, superlative most assurgent)

more assurgent (comparative)
most assurgent (superlative)

From Latin assurgens, present participle of assurgo (“rise up”).


leprous

leprous (comparative more leprous, superlative most leprous)

more leprous (comparative)
most leprous (superlative)

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From Middle English leprous (“having leprosy or a skin disease with symptoms like leprosy; (alchemy) of metals or minerals: impure; a leper”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman leprous, lepros [and other forms], Middle French lepros, lepreux, and Old French leprous, lepros (“having leprosy; a leper”) (modern French lépreux), and from their etymon Late Latin leprosus (“having leprosy; (alchemy) of metals: impure; a leper”), from Latin lepra (“leprosy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Lepra is derived from Ancient Greek λέπρᾱ (léprā, “leprosy”), from λεπῐ́ς (lepĭ́s, “flake, scale; epithelial debris”) (perhaps from λέπω (lépō, “to peel, strip off a husk or rind”) + -ῐς (-ĭs, suffix forming feminine nouns)) + -ᾱ (-ā, suffix forming action nouns from verbs).

nb...

leperous, leperus, lepourous, lepres, lepris, lepros, leprose, leprouse, leprows, leprus, lepruse, leprys

leperous, leperus, leprus, lepuros, lieprous, lieprus

lepric

particularly with regard to the disease itself

(botany, archaic) Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking”)


reniform

/ˈɹɛnəˌfɔɹm/

Learned borrowing from Latin rēnis (the genitive singular of rēn (“kidney”); see further at that entry) + English -form (suffix meaning ‘having the form or shape of’), modelled after New Latin rēnifōrmis (“of seeds: kidney-shaped”).

reniforme

synonym of kidney-shaped — see also kidney-shaped

(chiefly biology, mineralogy) Synonym of kidney-shaped (“having an approximately circular or elongated ovoid shape with an inward curve or indentation on one side”)

(botany) Of a leaf: kidney-shaped, with the petiole attached at the notch.

munuaismainen

of a leaf: kidney-shaped, with the petiole attached at the notch


midrib

(botany) The strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet.

gihoy

(botany) The continuation of the petiole of a pinnately compound leaf around which the leaflets attach.


inga

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese ingá, borrowed from Old Tupi ingá, from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *iŋa.

etymon

Here are the mimosas, the ingas, the acacias, the maples, the beautiful ailantus, and the fine fruit tree, the mango.

1838, The British cyclopaedia, page 605:

Fruit trees such as ingas are underutilized in reforestation efforts.

1989, “Lost crops of the Incas”, in U.S, National Research Council, page 279:

(botany) Any of the genus Inga of small tropical trees and shrubs.


deliquescent

en-adj

deliquescent (comparative more deliquescent, superlative most deliquescent)

more deliquescent (comparative)
most deliquescent (superlative)

Latin deliquescens, present participle of deliquesco; de + liquesco (“I melt”): compare French déliquescent.

1850, Asa Gray, The Botanical Text-Book, New York: Putnam, 3rd edition, rewritten and enlarged, Chapter 4, p. 102,
In other cases, the main stem is arrested, sooner or later, either by flowering, by the failure of the terminal bud, or the more vigorous development of some of the lateral buds, and thus the trunk is lost in the branches, or is deliquescent, as in most of our deciduous-leaved trees.

(botany) Branching so that the stem is lost in branches, as in most deciduous trees.


stopper

Red Stopper. Leaves ovate-oblong, contracted at the apex into long points, coriaceous. Eugenia Garber

1890, Charles Sprague Sargent, The Silva of North America: A Description of the Trees which Grow Naturally in North America Exclusive of Mexico:

(botany) Any of several trees of the genus Eugenia, found in Florida and the West Indies.


fauces

Borrowing from Latin faucēs (“the upper part of a throat”).

bor

(botany) The throat of a calyx, corolla, etc.


-gyny

From Ancient Greek γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, female”).

derived

(botany) a situation with respect to female plant organs

(botany) having a specified number or type of female plant organs


gazania

(botany) Any flowering plant of the genus Gazania, native to southern Africa.


polleniferous

en-adj

polleniferous (comparative more polleniferous, superlative most polleniferous)

more polleniferous (comparative)
most polleniferous (superlative)

(botany) Synonym of polliniferous (“producing pollen”)


polliniferous

From pollen + -i- + -ferous, or directly from New Latin pollinifer, polliniferus.


phyllomania

(botany) The over-production of leaves by a plant (usually a tree), at the expense of flowers, seeds, etc.


polycotyledon

(botany) A plant that has many, or more than two, cotyledons in the seed.


polycarpellary

The orange is a polycarpellary fruit.

(botany) Composed of several or numerous carpels.


polyadelphous

From poly- + Ancient Greek ἀδελφός (adelphós) + -ous.

(botany) Having stamens combined in more than two groups.


auriculated

(botany, rare) Having lobes or appendages like the ear; shaped like the ear; auriculate.


polycarpic

polycarpic plant

polycarpic growth

(botany) Bearing fruit repeatedly, or year after year.

yl-vessagh

bearing fruit repeatedly, or year after year

(botany) Having several carpels in one flower.


plumule

From Latin plūmula, diminutive of plūma (“feather”); compare French plumule.

(botany) The first bud, or growing point, of a plant embryo, situated above the cotyledons.


auriculate

auriculate (comparative more auriculate, superlative most auriculate)

more auriculate (comparative)
most auriculate (superlative)

(botany, of leaves) Having two lobes, often curved, often near the base.


veronica

meadows full of wildflowers that seemed to Kit enormous, violets as big as your hand, yellow lilies and blue veronica you could shelter from the rain under

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 871:

There are also (placed there by man or nature?) quite a lot of skinny fuchsias and dense veronicas, all in flower, and some kind of rather attractive grey-leaved sage.

1978, Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea, Vintage, published 1999, page 11:

(botany) A flower of the genus Veronica, usually having blue petals.


plumbago

en-noun

plumbago (countable and uncountable, plural plumbagos or plumbagoes)

Borrowed from Latin plumbāgō (“type of lead ore”), from plumbum (“lead”).

(botany) A plant of the genus Plumbago; leadwort.


heterothallic

(botany, of some algae and fungi) Producing male and female reproductive structures in different plants


homogamy

(botany) Fertilization of a flower by pollen from the same plant.


orchidaceous

en-adj

orchidaceous (comparative more orchidaceous, superlative most orchidaceous)

more orchidaceous (comparative)
most orchidaceous (superlative)

From Orchidaceae; equivalent to orchid + -aceous.

In keeping with the orchidaceous theme of the wedding, the decorator draped the walls with lavenders and pinks.


polyembryonate

(botany) Consisting of, or having, several embryos; polyembryonic.


polygynian

(botany) Having many styles; belonging to the order Polygynia.


polyembryonic

Polyembryony is common in mango cultivars that originated and are grown in the moist tropics. In Knight et al. (Chapter 3, this volume), there is a survey of the major polyembryonic and monoembryonic mango cultivars.

2009, Richard E. Litz, The Mango: Botany, Production and Uses, →ISBN, page 369:

However, the phenomenon of sporadic polyembryony might be underreported for many sexual species because, to my knowledge, no one has searched methodically- using suitable genetic markers- for polyembryonic (clonemate) progeny in nature.

2013, John Avise, Evolutionary Perspectives on Pregnancy, →ISBN, page 157:


polyembryony

By its nature, that is whether it develops with or without fertilization, simple polyembryony can be sexual or asexual.

2012, B. M. Johri, Embryology of Angiosperms, →ISBN, page 447:

Polyembryony was first reported by Leeuwenhoek in citrus as early as 1719 and the different cases of polyembryony were studied by Braun in 1859.

2014, Kishan Gopal Ramawat, Jean-Michel Mérillon, K. R. Shivanna, Reproductive Biology of Plants, →ISBN, page 356:

(botany) The production of two or more embryos in one seed, due either to the existence and fertilization of more than one embryonic sac or to the origination of embryos outside of the embryonic sac.


polygynous

/pəˈlɪd͡ʒɪnəs/


serotinous

/sɪˈɹɒtɪnəs/

/səˈɹɑtɪnəs/

Borrowed from Latin sērōtinus (“late (in ripening, etc.); relating to the evening”) (see further at serotine) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives denoting pertinence or relation to something).

bor

(botany) Of conifer cones: requiring the heat of a wildfire to open, in order to disperse its seed.


crosier

From Middle English ; originally referring to the staff bearer, from a merger of Old French words crocier (“bearer of a cross”) and croisier (“one who bears or has to do with a cross”), ultimately from Latin crux (“cross”).

(botany) A young fern frond, before it has unrolled; fiddlehead


pervious

en-adj

pervious (comparative more pervious, superlative most pervious)

more pervious (comparative)
most pervious (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin pervius (“having a passage through; passable, penetrable, traversable”) + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Pervius is derived from per- (prefix denoting doing something all the way through or entirely) + via (“road, street; method, way; (figurative) course, route”) + -us (suffix forming adjectives)

bor

The noſtrils are very large, and pervious: the vvhole plumage is duſky, daſhed vvith purple and green: legs of a dirty fleſh-color: clavvs black.

1785, Thomas Pennant, “Class II. Birds. Div[ision] I. Land Birds. Order I. Rapacious. I. Vulture, Gen. Birds I.”, in Arctic Zoology, volume II, London: […] Henry Hughs, →OCLC, page 191:

(botany, zoology) Of a body structure (especially the nostril of a bird): having a hole, perforate; also, wide open.


pinus

I have been invited to see the garden of Baron Zanoli, situated on the high road from Monza to Milan, in which I am told there are fine exotic trees and shrubs, and especially a rich collection of pinuses.

1839, J. C. Loudon, The Gardener's Magazine, page 420:

As the generality of pinuses grow by nature into magnificent and gigantic forest-trees, they should, I think, be planted in our parks as well as in our flower-gardens, shrubberies, and lawns.

1853, George Greenwood, The tree-lifter, page 265:

(botany) Any member of the genus Pinus; a pine.


guttate

en-verb

guttate (third-person singular simple present guttates, present participle guttating, simple past and past participle guttated)

guttates (present singular third-person)
guttating (participle present)
guttated (participle past)
guttated (past)

Recovery from this extreme wilt began only in the early evening, but by dawn all plants were fully turgid and guttating.

1999, Australian Journal of Plant Physiology:

(botany) To exude drops of xylem sap on the edges of leaves.


calico

en-noun

calico (countable and uncountable, plural calicos or calicoes)

From Calicut, from where the cloth was originally exported, from Malayalam കോഴിക്കോട് (kōḻikkōṭŭ, “Kozhikode”), from കോഴി (kōḻi, “palace”) + കോട് (kōṭŭ, “fortified palace”).

af

Tobacco mosaic virus
Tobacco mosaic virus#Translingual

(uncountable, botany) The plant disease caused by Tobacco mosaic virus.


reclining

(botany) Bending away from the perpendicular; recumbent.


false fruit

(botany) A fruit which includes tissue not derived from the ovary but some adjacent tissue.

falsk frukt

A fruit with tissue not derived from ovary


accessory fruit

en-noun

accessory fruit (plural accessory fruits)

(botany) A fruit which includes tissue not derived from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue, as for instance, a strawberry.


funicular

en-adj

funicular (comparative more funicular, superlative most funicular)

more funicular (comparative)
most funicular (superlative)

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From Latin fūniculus (“cord”), diminutive from fūnis (“cord”) + -culus.

(botany) Having a fleshy covering of the seed formed from the funiculus, the attachment point of the seed.


canaliculate

canaliculate (comparative more canaliculate, superlative most canaliculate)

more canaliculate (comparative)
most canaliculate (superlative)

The leafstalks of most palms are canaliculate.


spatulate

spatulate (comparative more spatulate, superlative most spatulate)

more spatulate (comparative)
most spatulate (superlative)

(botany) Of a leaf: having a broad, flat end and tapering into a narrower base.


cuticula

From Latin cutīcula (“skin, cuticle”). Doublet of cuticle.

(zoology, botany) A tough protective covering outside the epidermis of many invertebrates and plants; cuticle.


decumbent

From the present participle of Latin dēcumbō.

(botany) Of a plant, which lies on the ground with tips turned upwards.


self pollination

(botany) the transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of a plant of the same species


patently

en-adv

patently (comparative more patently, superlative most patently)

more patently (comparative)
most patently (superlative)

abaxial surface patently pilose-puberulous

(botany) Outspread, or spreading at right angles to the axis.


ascendant

en-adj

ascendant (comparative more ascendant, superlative most ascendant)

more ascendant (comparative)
most ascendant (superlative)

PIE word
 *h₂éd
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English ascendent (“ascending, rising; increasing in quantity; (astronomy) rising above the horizon”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French ascendant, from Latin ascendentem, the accusative singular of ascendēns (“ascending, rising”), the present participle of ascendō, adscendō (“to climb up, go up, move upwards; to rise; to spring up”), from ad- (prefix meaning ‘(up) to’) + scandō (“to ascend, climb, mount; to clamber”) (from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to climb, scale; to dart; to jump; to scan (poetry)”)). The English word is analysable as ascend (verb) + -ant (suffix forming adjectives from verbs with the sense of ‘doing [the verbal actions]’).
The noun is probably derived from the adjective, though it is attested earlier than the latter.

suffix

suffix forming adjectives from verbs with the sense of ‘doing 􂀿the verbal actions􂁀’

Artere ſouſclaviere. The aſcendant branch of the great Arterie.

1611, Randle Cotgrave, compiler, “Sousclavier”, in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, signature Eeee iij, recto:

(botany, physiology) Of a part of an organism: synonym of ascending (“leading or sloping upwards”)


chlorophyllous

(botany) having chlorophyll and, hence, able to engage in photosynthesis


achlorophyllous

(botany) not having chlorophyll and, hence, unable to engage in photosynthesis


bine

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

1900, Thomas Hardy, The Darkling Thrush:

(botany) A climbing plant which climbs by its shoots growing in a helix around a support (distinct from a vine, which climbs using tendrils or suckers).


nymphaea

From Latin nymphaea, from Ancient Greek νυμφαῖα (numphaîa), feminine singular form of νυμφαῖος (numphaîos, “sacred to the nymphs”), from νύμφη (númphē, “nymph”).

Guianerius, cap. 8, tract. 15, would have them used twice a day, and when they come forth of the baths, their backbones to be anointed with oil of almonds, violets, nymphæa, fresh capon-grease, etc.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:

(botany) Originally, the European white water lily; later also, a species of the genus Nymphaea.


dasyphyllous

From New Latin dasyphyllus (from Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús, “hairy, shaggy; dense”) + φύλλον (phúllon, “leaf”)) + -ous.

der

dasyphyllous (Gr. dasus, hairy, rough; phullon, a leaf), woolly-leaved; syn. codio-, erio-phyllous.

[1899, R. L. Heinig, “dasyphyllous”, in Glossary of the Botanic Terms Used in Describing Flowering Plants, Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, →OCLC, page 26:

Therefore, the forest stands formed by the tree species that endure excessive moisture (the alder, dasyphyllous birch, and poplar) are dominant in the composition of forests.

2013 March, V. V. Furyaev, V. I. Zabolotskiy, S. D. Samsonenko, V. A. Chernykh, “Space-time Impact of Fire Events on Swamp-forest Ecosystems of the West Siberian Plain”, in Contemporary Problems of Ecology, volume 6, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 156–161:

However, compared to Masson pine needles, the waxy of camphor leaves showed thinner and more dasyphyllous.

2018 August, Jun Zhou, Zhangwei Wang, Xiaoshan Zhang, “Deposition and Fate of Mercury in Litterfall, Litter, and Soil in Coniferous and Broad‐Leaved Forests”, in Biogeosciences, volume 123, number 8, →DOI, pages 2590–2603:


nyctinasty

(botany) The movement of leaves or petals in response to darkness; the closing of a flower at night.

感受性

the movement of leaves or petals in response to darkness


nitrophilous

(botany, of a plant) Thriving in a habitat rich in nitrogen


centrifugal

From New Latin centrifugālis, coined by Christiaan Huygens from Latin centrum (“center”) + fugiō (“to flee”) + -al.

(botany) Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base, as a flower cluster.

(botany) Having the radicle turned toward the sides of the fruit, as some embryos.


placentation

en-noun

placentation (countable and uncountable, plural placentations)

Parietal placentation occurs in the Brassicaceae family.

(botany) The manner in which the seeds are attached to the placenta within the ovary locules.


zoochore

(botany) A plant whose seeds, spores, or fruit are dispersed by animals.


caulescent

en-adj

caulescent (comparative more caulescent, superlative most caulescent)

more caulescent (comparative)
most caulescent (superlative)

(botany) having a well-developed stem above ground; with a trunk


auxin

en-noun

auxin (countable and uncountable, plural auxins)

From Ancient Greek αὐξάνειν (auxánein, “to grow”).

der

In Arabidopsis roots, cold stress may reduce shootward auxin transport and alter the intracellular auxin gradient.

2015 July 2, Yang Y-W, Chen H-C, Jen W-F, Liu L-Y, Chang M-C, “Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Shoots and Roots of TNG67 and TCN1 Rice Seedlings under Cold Stress and Following Subsequent Recovery: Insights into Metabolic Pathways, Phytohormones, and Transcription Factors”, in PLOS ONE, volume 10, number 7, →DOI:

SE onset depends on a complex network of interactions among plant growth regulators, mainly auxins and cytokinins, during the proembryogenic early stages, and ethylene and gibberellic and abscisic acids later in the development of somatic embryos.

2015 August 18, Clelia De-la-Peña et al., “The role of chromatin modifications in somatic embryogenesis in plants”, in Frontiers in Plant Science, volume 6, →DOI:

(botany, biochemistry) A class of plant growth substance (often called phytohormones or plant hormones) which play an essential role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant life cycle.


convolute

en-adj

convolute (comparative more convolute, superlative most convolute)

more convolute (comparative)
most convolute (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin convolūtum, past participle of convolvere (“to roll together”).

(botany, of a leaf) Coiled such that one edge is inside, and one outside the coil, giving a spiral effect in cross section.


lignify

en-verb

lignify (third-person singular simple present lignifies, present participle lignifying, simple past and past participle lignified)

lignifies (present singular third-person)
lignifying (participle present)
lignified (participle past)
lignified (past)

(intransitive, botany) To develop woody tissue as a result of incrustation of lignin during secondary growth.


protandry

(botany) The condition of flowers whose male parts mature before the female ones.


protogyny

(botany) The condition of flowers whose female parts mature before the male ones.


crampon

(botany) An aerial rootlet for support in climbing, as of ivy.


buttress

From Old French ars bouterez (noun, literally “supporting arcs”), from bouterez (adj), oblique plural of bouteret (rare in the singular), from Frankish *botan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push”). Ultimately cognate with beat.


chlorosis

en-noun

chlorosis (countable and uncountable, plural chloroses)

From international scientific vocabulary, from New Latin; by surface analysis, chlor- + -osis, where chlor- in this instance refers to pale yellow-green colorations and not to chlorine.

Chlorosis (medicine)
Chlorosis (plant disorder)

jaundice

also involves pale and yellowish complexions

en:yellowing of plants from chlorophyll disturbances

(botany, phytopathology, uncountable) A yellowing of plant tissue due to loss or absence of chlorophyll.


aphyllous

19th century, from New Latin aphyllus, from Ancient Greek ἄφυλλος (áphullos, “leafless”) (ἀ- (a-) + φύλλον (phúllon)).


globose

en-adj

globose (comparative more globose, superlative most globose)

more globose (comparative)
most globose (superlative)

From Latin globosus (“round as a ball, spherical, globular”).

uder

(anatomy or botany) Having a globular form.


whorl

(botany) A circle of three or more leaves, flowers, or other organs, about the same part or joint of a stem.

венче

circle of three or more leaves, flowers, or other organs.


dehiscent

en-adj

dehiscent (comparative more dehiscent, superlative most dehiscent)

more dehiscent (comparative)
most dehiscent (superlative)

From Latin dehiscentem, present participle of dehiscō (“I divide, split open, gape”), from hiscō (“I yawn, gape”).

(botany) Which dehisces or presents dehiscence


decussate

decussate (comparative more decussate, superlative most decussate)

more decussate (comparative)
most decussate (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin decussātus from decussāre (“to divide crosswise, arrange crosswise or mark with a cross”), from decussis (“a 10 asses coin”), from decem (“ten”) + as (“a Roman coin”). Based on the cross marking on the decussis coin.

Juniperites, ju-ne-per-i′tis, s[ubstantive]. A genus of fossil plants, in which the branches are ranged irregularly; leaves short, obtuse, inserted by a broad base, opposite, decussate, and arranged in four rows.

1849, John Craig, “Juniperites”, in A New Universal Etymological, Technological, and Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language, Embracing All the Terms Used in Art, Science, and Literature, volumes II (Jac–Zyt), London: Published (for the proprietors,) by Henry George Collins, 22 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 15:

(botany) Having opposite leaves arranged alternately at right angles.


pachysandra

From the New Latin genus name, equivalent to English pachy-, from Ancient Greek παχύς (pakhús) [Term?].

(botany) A genus, Pachysandra, of four or five species of evergreen shrubs or subshrubs, belonging to the boxwood family, Buxaceae, used ornamentally as groundcover.


hygroscopic

hygroscopic (comparative more hygroscopic, superlative most hygroscopic)

more hygroscopic (comparative)
most hygroscopic (superlative)

The tissues of Ralfsia are dense and the cells are extremely hygroscopic. The plants may become almost crisp dry in the sun, yet remain alive and continue growth with the first splash of the incoming tide.

1966, E. Yale Dawson, Seashore Plants of Southern Califonria, 3rd printing, Berkley: University of California Press, published 1975, →ISBN, →LCCN, pages 23–24:

All fertilizers tested are drillable at relative humidities below 50 per cent, but no fertilizer remains drillable when exposed to a humidity above its hygroscopic point.

1930, Experiment Station Record - Volume 63, page 582:

(physical chemistry, botany) Readily taking up and retaining water, especially from the atmosphere.


cornstalk

Holonym: cornfield

Comeronyms: corncob, cornhusk, ear, kernel

As we all know, witches ride through the air on a broom, but sometimes their means of locomotion was a bulrush, a branch of thorn, mullein stalks, cornstalk, or ragweed, called fairies' horse in Ireland.

1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 267:

(botany) The tough, fibrous stalk of a corn (maize) plant, often ground for silage after harvest.

tarmu

the tough, fibrous stalk of a corn (maize) plant

(botany) A single specimen of a corn plant once past the seedling stage and which may, at maturity, bear multiple ears of corn.


subsection

(taxonomy, botany) A taxonomic rank below section and above species.


prickle

(botany) On various plants, such as roses and Vachellia, sharp, hard extensions of the cortex and epidermis, informally called "thorns" in colloquial speech.


internode

(botany) A section of stem between two stem nodes.


honey plant

HOYA CORIACEA. Thick leaved Hoya. […] Those of our readers unacquainted with the genus will, perhaps, understand us better by saying, that this is a kind of honey plant, familiar to most persons, with its waxy white flowers, and often grown in windows. The Hoya coriacea appears to be a thicker foliaged plant, stronger in its stem, and perhaps less inclined to become a twiner or creeper than the common honey plant.

1839 May, “Notices of New Plants”, in Robert Marnock, editor, The Floricultural Magazine, and Miscellany of Gardening, volume III, number XXXVI, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., […]; Sheffield, South Yorkshire: G. Ridge, page 286:

Hoya carnosa (Thick-leaved).—Foliage large, flowers in large drooping corymbs; they are of a pinkish-white colour, and contain, or rather yield, drops of pure sweet honey; hence this fine old plant is known as the Honey plant.

1855 June 5, T. Appleby, “Plants for Baskets”, in George W. Johnson, Robert Hogg, editors, The Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman’s Companion: A Journal of Horticulture, Rural and Domestic Economy, Botany, and Natural History, volume XIV, number CCCXLIX, London: Published for the proprietors, […], →OCLC, page 161, column 2:

The flowers [of the Hoya carnosa] are produced in umbels on short stems sometimes as many as a dozen on a stem; in the centre of each flower there is, as it were, a drop of thick liquid distilled, which if tasted has the luscious flavor of honey; hence the plant in England and Scotland goes under the name of Honey Plant; but quite the reverse in this country, where it is called Wax Plant.

1875 August, Roderick Campbell, “Hoya”, in Thomas Meehan, editor, The Gardener’s Monthly: Devoted to Horticulture, Arboriculture & Rural Affairs, volume XVII (Old Series; volume VIII (New Series)), number 8, Philadelphia, Pa.: Charles H. Marot, publisher, […], page 234, column 1:

Hoya carnosa (honey-plant). Although this is a hot-house plant it can be grown in the window of the sitting-room, and I have grown and flowered it exceedingly well in an ordinary greenhouse; […]

1876, Samuel Wood, “Division III. The Flower Garden.”, in A Plain Guide to Good Gardening: Or How to Grow Vegetables, Fruits, and Flowers: […], 2nd edition, London: Crosby Lockwood & Co., […], →OCLC, book I (Kitchen, Fruit, and Flower Gardens), section 6 (Window Gardening), page 130:

Hoya imperialis […] Honey plant.

2006, “House Plants”, in Dennis R. Pittenger, editor, Retail Garden Center Manual (University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Publication; 3492), Oakland, Calif.: University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources Communication Services, →ISBN, table 4.3 (Plants for Specific Indoor Gardening Uses), page 66:

(botany) The name of a number of not closely related plants.

A plant of the genus Hoya, especially the porcelainflower or waxplant (Hoya carnosa) from the tendency for excess nectar to drip from its flowers.

Honey-plant [Melissa officinalis L[innaeus] [i.e., Carl Linnaeus] (family Lamiaceae)] contains a very low concentration of essential oil in leaves (0.02–0.2 vol%).

2003, Stjepan Pepeljnjak, Ivan Kosalec, Zdenka Kalodera, Danica Kuštrak, “Natural Antimycotics from Croatian Plants”, in Mahendra Rai, Donatella Mares, editors, Plant-derived Antimycotics: Current Trends and Future Prospects, Binghamton, N.Y.: Food Products Press, The Haworth Press, →ISBN, page 66:

Honey plant [Honey-plant] – Melissa officinalis L., […]

2015, “H”, in Elaine Nowick, compiler, Historical Common Names of Great Plains Plants, with Scientific Names Index, volume 1 (Common Names), Lincoln, Neb.: Zea Books, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries, →ISBN, page 195:

Melissa officinalis
Melissa officinalis#Translingual

A plant of the genus Melissa, especially lemon balm (Melissa officinalis).

English name: Honey Plant […] Species and varieties: Ammi majus L. […]

2004, Azhar Ali Farooqi, B. S. Sreeramu, “Medicinal Crops [Honey Plant]”, in Cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, revised edition, Hyderabad, Telangana, India: Universities Press (India), →ISBN, page 156:

Ammi majus Linnaeus […] in English: bishop's flower, bishop's weed, bullwort, crow's foot, devil's carrot, false Queen Anne's lace, greater ammi, herb william, honey plant, lace flower, large bulwort, mayweed, Queen Anne's lace, toothpick ammi

2012, Umberto Quattrocchi, “Ammi L. Apiaceae (Umbelliferae)”, in CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: […], Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 244, column 2:

false Queen Anne's lace
false Queen Anne's lace

Bishop's weed or false Queen Anne's lace (Ammi majus).

isosudenporkkana

Ammi majus — see also false Queen Anne's lace


sweating

en-noun

sweating (countable and uncountable, plural sweatings)

From Middle English sweting, swetynge, equivalent to sweat + -ing (gerund ending).


papilla

Borrowed from Latin papilla (“a nipple, teat”).

(botany) A small fleshy projection on a plant.


stigmatic

en-adj

stigmatic (comparative more stigmatic, superlative most stigmatic)

more stigmatic (comparative)
most stigmatic (superlative)

(botany, anatomy) Having a stigma or stigmata.


dehiscence

en-noun

dehiscence (countable and uncountable, plural dehiscences)

From New Latin dehiscentia (in Linnaeus), from Latin dehiscentem, present participle of dehiscō. By surface analysis, dehisce + -ence.

(botany) Opening of an organ by its own means (such as an anther or a seed pod) to release its contents.

dehiszentzia

(botany) opening of an organ by its own means


lignum

(botany) Dead wood, typically in the context of a substrate for lichens.


loculus

(botany) One of the compartments of a several-celled ovary; loculament.


receptive

en-adj

receptive (comparative more receptive, superlative most receptive)

more receptive (comparative)
most receptive (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-receptive.wav

From Late Middle English receptive, receptyue (“capable of receiving something; acting as a receptacle”), borrowed from Medieval Latin receptivus (“capable of receiving something”), from Latin receptus (“retaken, having been retaken; received, having been received”) + -īvus (suffix added to the perfect passive participial stems of verbs, forming a deverbal adjective meaning ‘doing; related to doing’). Receptus is the perfect passive participle of recipiō (“to regain possession, take back; to recapture; to receive; to accept, undertake”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards; again’) + capiō (“to capture, catch, take; to take hold, take possession; to take on; to contain, hold; to occupy; to possess; to receive, take in; to comprehend, understand; to captivate, charm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-, *keh₂p- (“to hold; to seize”)).

der

(botany) Of a female flower or gynoecium: ready for reproduction; fertile.


mirabilis

From the genus name, from Latin mīrābilis. Doublet of mirable.

(botany) Any of the plant genus Mirabilis; a four-o'clock.


pseudogamy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pseudogamy.wav

(botany) any reproductive process that requires pollination but does not involve male inheritance.

(botany) a type of agamospermy in which the endosperm is fertilized but the embryo is not.


dry rot

(phytopathology) A fungal infection which affects plants, in particular potatoes.


coriaceous

en-adj

coriaceous (comparative more coriaceous, superlative most coriaceous)

more coriaceous (comparative)
most coriaceous (superlative)

From Latin corium (“skin, leather”) + -aceous.

1997, JinShuang Ma, "New Species of Euonymus (Celastraceae) from East and South Asia", Harvard Papers in Botany 10: 93-111, Abstract.
This species is similar to E. vagans Wallich in the texture of the leaves, which are more thickly coriaceous and have fewer crenulations on margin; the large globose capsules are white spotted.


root rot

en-noun

root rot (countable and uncountable, plural root rots)

(phytopathology) Any of several plant fungal diseases caused by having overwet roots.


cincinnus

From Latin cincinnus (“a lock of hair”).

(botany) A type of monochasium on which the successive axes arise alternately in respect to the preceding one; a scorpioid cyme.


immersed

en-adj

immersed (comparative more immersed, superlative most immersed)

more immersed (comparative)
most immersed (superlative)

Sori in the axils of lamina branches, partly immersed; involucre bell- or trumpet-shaped, or obconical, usually 2-lipped; receptacle generally exserted.

(botany) Lowered or sunken relative to a reference surface.


striga

(botany) A sharp bristle or hair-like scale.


black spot

In areas where black spot is only a problem after heavy rain or later in the season, restrict spraying to these times, or if yellowing or spotted foliage is detected.

2006, Mary Moody, Mary Moody's Roses, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 20:

(phytopathology) A fungal disease among plants, particularly roses, that results in black spots on the leaves.


anamorphosis

en-noun

anamorphosis (countable and uncountable, plural anamorphoses)

From Ancient Greek ἀναμόρφωσις (anamórphōsis).

der

(mycology, lichenology) An abnormal form of some lichens or fungi that gives the appearance of a different species.


sulphur tree

(botany) Alternative spelling of sulfur tree


sulfur tree

(botany) Any tree whose branches are covered with yellow club moss spores


lycopod

From lyco- + -pod. Calque of English wolf's-foot.

(botany) Any member of the Lycopodiophyta.


fenestrated

en-adj

fenestrated (comparative more fenestrated, superlative most fenestrated)

more fenestrated (comparative)
most fenestrated (superlative)

Latin fenestro, from the noun fenestra (“window”).

(botany) Having perforations through the leaves or fistulate/hollow/tubular stems/trunks.