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BOTANICAL GLOSSARY

Glossary of commonly used botanical terms and their definitions. Use the search bar below to look up a botanical term.

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15 Random Botanical Terms

Entire - Said of margins without teeth or lobes.

Winter annual - An annual species that arises from seed in the summer or fall of one calendar year and completes its life cycle in the spring or summer of the following calendar year. E.g. Texas Bluebonnet, Lupinus texensis.

Superior ovary - An ovary situated above the origin of sepals and petals.

Rosette - An arrangement of leaves radiating from the stem at a nearly common level, frequently at or just above the ground line.

Prostrate - Lying flat on the ground.

Glabrous - Smooth; hairless.

Oblong - Much longer than broad with sides nearly parallel.

Pinnae - (Pinna, sing.) A division of a pinnately compound leaf.

Apex - The topmost or distal portion of a plant or plant part.

Beard - A tuft or line of hairs, as on certain petals.

Oval - Having the general form, shape, or outline of an egg; egg-shaped.

Stamens - The male parts of the flower, carrying the pollen. usually in the center of the blossom and surrounding the pistil, if present. Filaments and anthers collectively.

Sepals - Parts that surround the petals, stamens, and pistil; usually green and leaflike. Sometimes they are the same size, shape, and color as the petals; as in Cooperia pedunculata (rain lily), in which case both sepals and petals are called sepals.

Venation - The arrangement of veins within a leaf.

Grass/Grass-like - Having narrow leaves, usually arising from the base of the plant.