Displaying 1 - 60 out of 70 Object(s)
| Term | Definition | |
|---|---|---|
| Acaulescent | Stemless or appearing stemless. Opposite of stemmed or caulescent. | |
| Adventitious roots | Roots arising directly from a part of the plant other than the primary root, e.g., the roots that arise from the base of the stem of a corn plant (Zea mays) but adventitious roots can also arise from other parts of a plant. |  |
| Aerial roots | Adventitious roots of lianas and hemiepiphytes in the forest canopy that ultimately anchor in the ground or some other substrate; e.g., some species of Clusia (Clusiaceae) and Philodendron (Araceae). The aerial roots of some species are split and used to make baskets, furniture, hats and as rope to tie together temporary shelters. |  |
| Anomalous secondary growth | A general term referring to types of secondary growth that differ from the more familiar or standard kinds; e.g., that of many lianas. | |
| Arborescent | Treelike. | |
| Basal rosette | Referring to an arrangement of leaves radiating from the base of the stem and usually placed close to the ground. |  |
| Biofilm | A thin layer of living tissue found between a plant body and the substrate. | |
| Bole | The main stem of a tree between the buttresses and the crown. Compare with trunk. |  |
| Branch | A division of the stem, or other axis of growth of a plant. |  |
| Buttress | An outgrowth at the base of a tree trunk thought to support trees when they grown on unstable soil or on steep slopes. | |
| 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. |  |
| Cane | The stem of large grasses (e.g., bamboos) and small palms. | |
| Cat-claw tendril | A tendril with the distal part divided into three equal, conspicuously recurved, spiny parts; e.g., in |
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| Caulescent | With a stem. | |
| Crown | The top of a tree; i.e., all but the trunk. |  |
| Crownshaft | A conspicuous cylinder formed by the tubular leaf sheaths of some palms; e.g., the royal palms ( |
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| Culm | The stem of a grass or sedge. |  |
| Cushion plant | The growth form of a plant, often of high altitudes, in which numerous stems are congested together resulting in a low, pillow or cushion-like growth form. |  |
| DBH | Diameter of a tree trunk measured at breast height (i.e., 1.3 ms above the ground). | |
| Decumbent | Growing horizontally along the ground but with the apex ascending or erect. | |
| Fluted | Same as sulcate. | |
| Flying buttress | Buttress of a tree trunk that is elevated above the ground. Compare with plank buttress and running buttress. |  |
| Geoxylic suffrutices | Shrubs, often found in cerrado habitats, that produce a woody trunk below the ground and only branches above the ground. | |
| Habit | The growth form of a plant; e.g., herb, tree, or shrub. | |
| Herb | A nonwoody plant. Large as well as small plants may be herbaceous; the largest native herb in the Neotropics is |
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| Herbaceous | With annual, nonwoody stems as opposed to perennial, woody stems. | |
| Humifuse | Referring to a growth form in which the plant is spread out over the ground. | |
| Leptocaul (leptocaulous) | A type of growth form in which the tree is branched many times and the stems and leaves are not unusually large. Most trees on the Osa have this type of growth form. |  |
| Liana | A woody climbing plant. Same as woody climber; compare with vine. |  |
| Macrophyte | A plant large enough to be seen with the naked eye; often used to distinguish between vascular and nonvascular aquatic plants. | |
| Monopodial | Referring to plants with indeterminate growth along one axis. Monopodial stems and branches appear straight. |  |
| Monopodial growth | Referring to plants with indeterminate growth along one axis; i.e., the stem grows from the apex and the growth appears straight. | |
| Myristicaceous branching | A growth form found in the plant family Myristicaceae in which the main trunk is orthotropous and with spiral phyllotaxy, and the branches are plagiotropous with distichous phyllotaxy. | |
| Pachycaul | A type of growth form in which the tree is unbranched (monocaulis) or sparsely branched, the stems are thick, and the leaves very large. | |
| Pachycaulous | Referring to a growth form in which the branching is sparse and the higher-order branches and stems are not markedly diminished in thickness. Compare with leptocaulous. |  |
| Percurrent growth | In the Viscaceae, the longitudinal pattern of shoot growth through continued activity of the apical meristem. | |
| Perennate | Referring to an organ; e.g., an inflorescence, persisting for more than one flowering period. | |
| Plagiotropous | Referring to a growth habit in which the growing apex is oriented horizontally. Compare with orthotropous. | |
| Plank buttress | A flattened, board-like buttress. |  |
| Pneumatophore | An erect, aerial breathing root found in species of wet habitats such as mangrove swamps. |  |
| Prop roots | Aerial, densely packed, adventitious roots that are circular in transverse section. Prop roots do not allow light to be seen through them whereas stilt roots do. |  |
| Prostrate | Creeping flat along the ground, usually referring to stems growing along the ground that produce roots at their nodes. Same as repent. |  |
| Pseudomonopodial | Referring to a plant having a primary stem with sympodial growth and secondary stems with monopodial growth. | |
| Repent | Creeping flat along the ground, usually referring to stems growing along the ground that produce roots at their nodes. Same as prostrate. |  |
| Rosette | An arrangement of leaves radiating from the base of the stem and usually placed close to the ground. | |
| Rosulate | Referring to a cluster of leaves arranged in a rosette. | |
| Running buttress | A thick, rounded buttress that extends along the ground several meters or more from the trunk. Compare with flying buttress and plank buttress. |  |
| Sapling | A young tree. A tree ceases to be a sapling after it has flowered for the first time; however sometimes trees attain large sizes before they flower and a tree over several centimeters is usually not considered to be a sapling. | |
| Sarmentose | Referring to a plant that produces long, slender runners. | |
| Scandent | Climbing. | |
| Scape (scapose) | A leafless, often bracteate peduncle that arises from near the base of the plant; e.g., in Xyris (Xyridaceae) and many terrestrial Orchidaceae. |  |
| Shingle leaves | Broadly overlapping, simple, juvenile leaves that are markedly different from adult leaves of the same species; e.g., in certain species of Araceae and Marcgravia spp. (Marcgraviaceae). |  |
| Short shoot | A condensed branchlet bearing leaves at the apex. The shoots are usually covered aggregated scars. |  |
| Shrub | A woody plant that is branched at the base or unbranched but less than 2 meters tall. The difference between unbranched shrubs and treelets is sometimes unclear. Compare with treelet and tree. |  |
| Stilt roots | Aerial, woody, adventitious roots that are circular in transverse section. Stilt roots are not densely aggregated so light can be seen between the individual stilt roots; e.g., in |
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| Strangler | A plant that grows upon another plant in such a way that its roots surround the host and eventually cause it to die; e.g., in some species of Ficus (Moraceae). A strangler can become a free-standing tree after the host plant dies. |  |
| Subshrub | A plant that is intermediate between a herb and a shrub and slightly woody only at the base; a perennial plant woody only at the base. Same as suffrutex. | |
| Succulent | Fleshy and juicy, many species of Cactaceae and some species of Euphorbiaceae are succulent. |  |
| Suffrutescent | Adjectival form of suffrutex. | |
| Suffrutex (plural = suffrutices) | A plant that is intermediate between a herb and a shrub and slightly woody only at the base; a perennial plant woody only at the base. Same as subshrub. |