Florida Plant ID
Glossary of Botanical Terms: A–D
A
Alternate Leaf Arrangement: One leaf at a node. See Figure 1 .
Annual: A plant which completes its life cycle in one season. In Florida, annuals are typically referred to as warm-season or cool-season.
Apical: At the tip, as in the end of a shoot or root.
B
Basal: Leaves that grow at the base of the stem.
Berry Type Fruit: A simple, pulpy fruit such as blueberry, grape or tomato. See Figure 2 .
Biennial: A plant that completes its life cycle in two growing seasons.
Bipinnate: Twice pinnate. See Figure 3.
Bloom: A waxy, white covering on leaves or fruit.
Bract: A more or less modified leaf situated near a flower. Ex: The brightly colored “petals” of a poinsettia are actually bracts.
Branchlets: Small branches growing from a larger branch.
Bud: Much-condensed, undeveloped shoot.
Bulb: A short, modified stem; the thickened leaves store reserved food.
Bulbous: Like a bulb; producing a bulb.
C
Catkins: A dense spike or raceme without petals having only male or female reproductive parts.
Caudex: The ligneous (woody) base of a perennial plant.
Columnar: Slender, upright form
Compound Leaf: A leaf composed of two or more leaflets.
Coniferous: Cone-bearing.
Cordate Leaf Shape: Heart-shaped. See Figure 4 .
Corm: A thickened, vertical, solid underground stem.
Cormels: Small corms that arise from a larger corm.
Corolla: Collective name for petals.
Corymb Flower Arrangement: An inflorescence consisting of a central rachis bearing a number of branched pedicels; the lower ones much longer than the upper, resulting in a flat or more or less round-topped cluster. See Figure 5.
Crenate Leaf Margin: Blunt, rounded teeth. See Figure 6 .
Cyme Flower Arrangement: An inflorescence consisting of a central rachis bearing a number of pedicelled flowers. See Figure 7.
D
Deciduous: A plant which sheds its leaves during certain seasons of the year.
Dioecious: Male and female flowers are borne on different plants.
Drupe Fruit Type: A fruit with four major parts: a thin skin, a fleshy body, a hard stone, and an inner seed. Ex: Peach. See Figure 8.
