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Term	Definition
Caducous	Falling off early. Same as fugacious.
Caespitose (cespitose)	Growing in dense clumps or tufts; e.g., the growth form of some species of Poaceae and Cyperaceae. The clumps are also called tussocks.
Callus	A thickened part of an organ; e.g., in some Orchidaceae, the fleshy outgrowth of the labellum, or in the Poaceae, the hardened base of the spikelet or floret just above the point of disarticulation.
Calycine rim	Referring to a calyx in which the calyx-lobes are fused at their bases to form a rim that extends beyond the summit of the ovary.
Calycine ring	The scar or vestigal calyx-lobes left around the circumference of the fruit at the points where the calyx-lobes (sepals) were attached.
Calyculus	Rimlike calyx of Loranthaceae or a lower row of phyllaries of Asteraceae that can be distinguished from the remaining phyllaries.
Calyx (plural = calyces)	The outer circle or first whorl of floral parts; a collective term for the sepals.
Calyx-lobe	Similar to sepal but used to describe the lobe of a calyx with the sepals fused at their bases and with free lobes at the apex; less frequenly to describe species of some families that have inferior ovaries with the lower part of the calyx hypothesized to be fused to the ovary at the base but with free lobes departing from the apex of the ovary.
Calyx-lobes	The outermost whorl of floral parts and nearly equivalent to sepals. See the general glossary for definitions of calyx and sepals.
Calyx-lobes imbricate	Overlapping of the adjacent edges of the calyx-lobes or sepals.
Calyx-lobes not imbricate	The base of the sepals do not overlap.
Cambium	The actively dividing tissue located between the xylem and the phloem which produces xylem to the inside and phloem to the outside of the trunk or the stem..
Campanulate	Broadly bell-shaped with a wide mouth; usually used to describe a corolla or the shape of a fruit.
Campanulate fruit	Broadly bell-shaped fruit with a wide mouth.
Campina	A Portuguese term referring to a vegetation type similar to savanna found on white sand soils in the Brazilian Amazon.
Campinarana	A Brazilian name for a low forest growing on white sand which is the first step in plant succession starting with open, white sand areas caused by disturbance, then to campina, followed by campinarana, and finally to terra firme forest.
Campo rupestre	A Portuguese term referring to a rocky kind of savanna, usually at midelevations in Brazil. Species of several plant families; e.g., Asteraceae, Eriocaulaceae, Melastomataceae, Velloziaceae, Xyridaceae, etc., are characteristic of this vegetation.
Camptódroma	Se refiere a un tipo de disposición de los nervios en las hojas, en la que los nervios secundarios no alcanzan el margen y no forman una serie de prominentes arcos submarginales. Comparar con broquidódroma
Canaliculate	A channel or groove that runs the length of a stucture such as a petiole or midrib. Used mostly to describe petioles and midribs.
Canaliculate	A channel or groove that runs the length of a stucture such as a petiole or midrib. Used to describe petioles and midribs.
Canopy tree	A species of tree in which adult individuals occupy the more or less continuous canopy layer of a forest which, in lowland neotropical rainforests, is less than 20 m in height.
Canopy tree layer	A hypothetical layer in tropical rain forest consisting of trees that form a ± continuous layer commonly at a maximum height of about 25–35 meters in the Neotropics.
Capitate	Shaped like a head; having or growing in a head (capitulum).
Capitulum (plural = capitula)	A dense inflorescence of sessile flowers on a dilated receptacle or in a (sub) globose or head-like form; for example, the inflorescences of Asteraceae, some Cyperaceae, Laminaceae, and Rubiaceae.
Capsule	A dry, dehiscent fruit that develops from a syncarpous ovary; it can open in the middle of the locules (loculicidal), along the septa (septicidal), or around the circumference (circumscissile).
Captiulum (plural = capitula	A dense headlike inflorescence such as that of the Asteraceae and some Cyperaceae, Lamiaceae, and Rubiaceae. Same as head for the Asteraceae.
Carbohydrate	A group of organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and including sugars, starches, cellulose, and gums. Carbohydrates are produced through photosynthesis and serve as a major source of energy for the plants that produce them and the animals that eat those plants.
Carina (carinate)	A keel or ridge (possessing a keel, ridged like the bottom of a boat; same as keeled).
Carnivory (adj. = carnivorous)	A plant which captures animals such as rotifers, mosquito larvae, adult insects, etc. which are decomposed on or within the leaves of the plant and the nutrients released (e.g., nitrogen) are assimilated by the plant. This term also applies to animals eating other animals.
Carpel	The fundamental unit of the gynoecium, often considered to be a folded, specialized leaf.
Carpel	The fundamental unit of the gynoecium, often considered to be a folded, specialized leaf.
Carpellate flower	Referring to unisexual flowers with functional gynoecia but without functional stamens (staminodes may be present). Same as female or carpellate flowers.
Caruncle	An appendage or outgrowth at the point of attachment of the seed to the funicle. Compare with aril.
Caruncle	An outgrowth or appendage at or near the hilum or near the point where the funicle originates of some seeds,
Cat-claw tendril	A tendril with the distal part divided into three equal, conspicuously recurved, spiny parts; e.g., in Macfadyena unguis-cati and Parabignonia steyermarkii (Bignoniaceae).
Catadromous	Referring to a venation pattern in which the first vein in a given segment arises on the side of the leaf segment toward the base.
Catáfilo	Bráctea escuamiforme localizada en las ramas terminales y/o protegiendo los nuevos brotes
Cataphyll	Scale-like bract inserted toward the base of a newly expanded vegetative or reproductive shoot.
Cataphyll	Scale-like bract on the proximal part of a new expanded vegetative or reproductive shoot.
Catkin	A spike with closely congested, often apetalous, unisexual flowers; e.g., staminate inflorescences of species of Betulaceae. Same as ament. Catkins are generally associated with wind pollination.
Cauliflorous inflorescence	Referring to an inflorescence that arises from the main stem of a plant or trunk of a tree.
Cauline	Of or associated with the stem or trunk of a plant, such as a cauline inflorescence or infurctuescence.
Cauline inflorescence	Refers to flowers or fruits that arise below the leaves from the main trunk of a shrub or tree.
Cauline inflorescence	Refers to flowers or fruits that arise below the leaves from the main trunk of a shrub or tree.
Centrifugal stamen initiation	A developmental process in which the stamens first initate near the center of the androecium (i.e., around the style) and then progressively toward the outside of the androecium. In other words, the stamens initiate and develop from the inside to the outstide of the androecium.
Centripetal stamen initiation	A developmental process in which the stamens first initate on the outside of the androecium (i.e., around the edge of the staminal) and progressively develop from the outside to the inside of the androecium.
Cerebriform	Referring to a globoid structure, such as a fruit, that has a convulted and folded surface similar to that of a brain.
Cerrado	A Portuguese term referring to a type of vegetation with scatttered shrubs and relatively small, often contorted trees with thick bark and grasses and sedges dominating the understory.
Cerrado	A Portuguese term referring to a savanna-like vegetation best developed in central Brazil but also found in patches in the Brazilian Amazon and in other South and Central American countries where it is called savanna.
Chalaza	The part of an ovule or seed opposite the micropyle. In this part of the embryo sac the integument(s) are not differentiated from the nucellus..
Chalaza	The part of an ovule or seed opposite the micropyle. In this part of the embryo sac the integument(s) are not differentiated from the nucellus..
Chambered pith	Referring to a pith that has chambers in the stem caused by septations at right angles to the long axis.
Character	A morphological, anatomical, or molecular feature of an organism that helps distinguish a taxon from other taxa.
Character state	The variation in a character of a plant, e.g., flower color is a character and if there are only blue and white flowers in a given species these two colors represent character states.
Chasmogamy (chasmogamous)	Referring to flowers that open before fertilization and usually are cross-pollinated.
Chevron	A V-shaped pattern most commonly associated with leaves.
Chimera	An animal or a plant with genetically and morphologically different tissue on the same plant. The term is derived from Greek mythology and refers to a mythological animal composed of a lion, goat, and a serpent. Sometimes this term is also used to describe a plant derived from grafting, e.g., stems of Brazil nut trees grafted onto the root stock of another Brazil nut tree resulting in parts of the same tree with different genetic makeups. In Lecythidaceae, we use this term to describe the spontaneous occurence of anomalous flowers on a plant with normal flowers and assume that this difference is caused by a mutation.
Chiropterochory (chiropterochorous)	Referring to diaspores that are carried away from the mother plant by bats. Most bat-dispersed seeds dispersed by bats have either berry-like fruits or fruits with the seeds provided with a fleshy associated structure such as an aril. A few other species have the fruits surrounded by a fleshy perianth (e.g., the diaspores of species of Cecropia). Same as bat-dispersed.
Chiropterophily	Pollination by bats. There are two main types of bat pollinaton. In one type the bats are relatively small and capable of hovering in front of flowers, these bats occupy the same nich occupied by hummingbirds during the day and belong to the subfamily Glossophaginae. Most of the flowers pollinated by this group of bats have tubular or bell-shaped flowers but they do visit flowers of the other type as well. In the other type, the bats land on the flowers and consist of many flowers aggregated into heads (e.g., species of Parkia) or are brush-like (e.g., Pseudobombax munguba).
Choripetalous corolla	Haviing petals free from one another. Same as polypetalous; opposite of gamopetalous and sympetalous.
Ciliate (diminutive = ciliolate)	Fringed on margin with straight trichomes finer than those of a fimbriate margin.
Cinereous	Ash-colored or light gray.
Circumaustral	Referring to a plant or animal distributed around the high latitudes of the southern hemisphere.
Circumferentially winged seed	A wing completely surrounding the circumference of the seed.
Circumscissile capsule	Dehiscing via a line around a fruit with the top usually falling off like the lid of a jar.
Circumscissile capsule	Referring to a fruit that opens by an operculum.
Clade	A monophyletic evolutionary line.
Cladode	A flattened, green, photosynthetic stem; e.g., in some Cactaceae.
Clasping	At least partially enclosing the axis; e.g., the base of a leaf that partially surrounds the stem on which it is borne. Same as amplexicaul.
Clavate	Club-shaped; e.g., in the Lecythidaceae many of the stamens of zygomorphic-flowered species are clavate.
Clavuncle	The expanded distal part of the style, including the stigma, in some species of Apocynaceae. Same as style head.
Claw (clawed)	Referring to a structure, such as a petal, that is abruptly constricted toward the base (having a claw). Same as unguiculate.
Cleistogamy (cleistogamous)	Referring to flowers that do not open and usually are self-fertilized.
Clipper pole (= plant pruner)	Clipper poles are used to collect plants from trees, epiphytes, and lianas that are too high to collect from the ground. We prefer aluminum poles because they are lighter than fiber glass and wood poles. In addition, the fiber glass poles tend to split at the bottom of the pole. The clilpper pole cutting head should be as light as possible because it is extremely difficult to manipulate a pole off the vertical if the cutting head is too heavy. In addition, a heavy clipper head tends to bend the poles; thus making them much more difficut to handle. For more information about plant collecting see Tropical Plant Collecting: From the Filed to the Internet. This book can be purchased at: http://tecceditora.com/ or Amazon.com.
Clone	A population of plants produced by asexual reproduction resulting in individual members with the same genetic composition.

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