Displaying 1 - 60 out of 114 Object(s)
| Term | Definition | |
|---|---|---|
| Aerial tuber | A tuber that arises from an aerial root in contrast to a true tuber which arises from underground roots or stems. |  |
| Alternation of generations | Referring to the alternation of the haploid (n) and diploid (2n) generations of plants. In the lower plants (e.g., the bryophytes), the gametophyte generation is the dominant phase and the sporophyte generation depends on it for photosynthate. In contrast, in the higher plants (e.g., the flowering plants) the sporophyte generation is the dominant phase and the gametophyte depends on it for photosynthate. |  |
| Androdioecy (androdioecious) | Referring to the sexual condition of a species that bears only staminate flowers on some plants but staminate and pistillate flowers or bisexual flowers on other plants. |  |
| Andromonoecy (andromonoecious) | Referring to the sexual condition of a species that bears staminate and bisexual flowers on the same plant; in the Mimosaceae, referring to the presence of staminate and pistillate flowers in the same cluster. |  |
| Anemophily (anemophilous) | Pollination by the wind, i.e., the movement of pollen by the from the stamens of a flower to the stigma of another flower. This includes movement for the anther to the stigma of the same flower, from the anther to the stigma of another flower on the same plant, or from the anther of a flower on one plant to the stigma of a flower on another plant. Same as wind pollination. |  |
| Aneomochory (nemochorous) | Referring to a fruit or seed adapted for dispersal by wind. |  |
| Annual | Plant with a life cycle of one year or less from seed to maturity and death. Compare with biennial and perennial. |  |
| Ant dispersal | Referring to the process in which ants carry away diaspores from parent plants thereby effecting dispersal of those plants. The ants are usually attracted to fleshy structures associated with seeds such as elaiosomes. |  |
| Antheridium (plural = antheridia) | Referring to a multicellular haploid structure in which sperm is produced in mosses, hepatics, ferns, and relatively few vascular plants. |  |
| Apomixis (adj. = apomitic) | In the broad sense, any form of asexual reproduction, and, in the narrow sense, seed production without fertilization. This term is more commonly used for the production of seed without fertilization. |  |
| Archegonium (plural = archegonia) | Referring to a multicellular haploid structure in which the egg is produced in mosses, hepatics, ferns, and relatively few vascular plants. | |
| Asexual reproduction | Referring to the production of new plants not involving the fusion of sperm and eggs, e.g., vegetation reproduction by buds or runners. | |
| Autogamy (autogamous) | Referring to fertilization resulting from the union of a sperm and an egg from the same plant. |  |
| Ballistic dispersal | A type of dispersal in which seeds are ejected from the fruits upon dehiscence. Same as autochorous. |  |
| Bat dispersal | 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 chiropterochory. |  |
| Bat-pollination | Same as chiropterophily. |  |
| Biennial | A plant that completes its life cycle in two seasons. Compare with annual and perennial. |  |
| Big bang phenology | A flowering strategy in which a plant produces very large numbers of flowers for a very short period of time. See multiple bang and steady state phenology. |  |
| Bulbil | A small bulblike structure that functions in asexual reproduction, usually formed in axils or sinuses of leaves. |  |
| Buzz pollination | A type of pollination in which bees vibrate their indirect flight muscles to cause the release of pollen, usually from poricidal anthers; e.g., in many species of Solanum (Solanaceae). |  |
| 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). | |
| Cleistogamy (cleistogamous) | Referring to flowers that do not open and usually are self-fertilized. |  |
| Clone | A population of plants produced by asexual reproduction resulting in individual members with the same genetic composition. | |
| Cornucopia phenology | A flowering strategy in which a many flowers are produced each day over a relatively long time. |  |
| Cross-pollination | Pollination of flowers with pollen from a flower of the same species but from another plant. |  |
| Diaspore | Referring to the dispersal unit of a plant (e.g., the inflorescence, part of an inflorescence, the fruit, part of a fruit, or a seed). | |
| Dichogamy (dichogamous) | Referring to a flower in which pollen is released and stigmas are receptive at different times. |  |
| Dicliny (diclinous) | Referring to species with separate staminate and pistillate flowers. Dioecious and monoecious plants are examples of diclinous plants. Compare with monocliny. |  |
| Dioecy (dioecious) | Describing a sexual condition of a species that bears only functionally staminate flowers on some plants and only functionally pistillate flowers on other plants. Compare with monoecious. |  |
| Diplochory | Seed dispersal in two different ways, e.g., a seed is eaten by a monkey and then is moved further by ants carrying it away from the monkey's dung. |  |
| Diploid | Having two sets of chromosomes; e.g., a plant with a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 24 has two sets of 12 each (one from the paternal and the other from the maternal parent). |  |
| Dispersal (disperse) | The transport of fruits, parts of fruits, or seeds away from a parent plant by agents such as water, wind, bats, other mammals, ants, scarab beetles, etc. The act of dispersing a diasporte. |  |
| Distyly (distylous) | A type of heterostyly in which flowers with both long and short styles occur in different individuals of the same species. |  |
| Empheral | A temperate zone plant that sends out leaves and photosynthesizes in the spring before the leaves of the trees appear. During this time the plant produces and stores enough carbohydrate to allow it to flower the following spring. Not long after flowering, the plant wilts and remains inconspicuous until the next spring. |  |
| Fern life cycle | Referring to the alternation of generations between the gameophyte (haploid) and sporophyte (diploid) stages of a fern. The most conspicuous stage of the life cycle is the sporophyte generation whereas the gametophyte generation is small and inconspicuous. | |
| Fertilization | In botany, the union between a sperm cell released by a pollen grain and an egg cell in an ovule of a flower. This union results in the development of the embryo within a seed. |  |
| Flowering plant life cycle | Referring to the alternation of generations between the gameophyte (haploid) and sporophyte (diploid) stages of a floweirng plant. The most conspicuous stage of the life cycle is the sporophyte generation whereas the gametophyte generation is small and inconspicuous. Flowering plants are heterosporous because they have two different kinds of spores, the pollen grain and the embryo sac which contains a egg. |  |
| Gamete | A haploid (n) reproductive cell, two of which fuse to form a diploid (2n) zygote. | |
| Gametophyte | The gamete-producing haploid phase (n) of a plant's life cycle. | |
| Geitonogamy (geitonogamous) | Referring to the fertilization of the ovules of a flower by pollen from another flower of the same plant. Compare with xenogamous. | |
| Gemma (gemmiferous; plural = gemmae) | A specialized vegetative bud that often separates from the parent plant to produce a new plant. The gemmae in bryophytes are grouped together in a cup from which they are splashed out of and dispersed by rain drops. A plant that bears gemmae is said to be gemmiferous. |  |
| Gemmae cups | A small receptacle or cup on upper surface of bryophytes in which gemmae are produced from which they are splashed out of and dispersed by rain drops. |  |
| Gynodioecy (gynodioecious) | Referring to a sexual condition of a species that bears pistillate flowers on some plants and bisexual flowers or staminate flowers as well as pistillate flowers on other plants. |  |
| Gynomonoecy (gynomonoecious) | Referring to a sexual condition of a species that bears pistillate flowers and bisexual flowers on same plants. |  |
| Hapaxanthy (hapaxanthic or hapaxanthous) | Referring to plants that die after a single episode of flowering and fruiting; e.g., many bambusoid Poaceae, some palms, and and some |
 |
| Haploid | Having one set of chromosomes. See diploid. | |
| Herkogamy (herkogamous) | In bisexual flowers, the placement of the male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers in different positions within the same plant; for example, a heterostylous species is also a herkogamous species. Approach herkogamy is when the sigma protrodes beyond the stamens and reverse herkogamy is when the anthers protrude beyond the stigma. In the first case, the pollinator touches the stigma before it reaches the anthers and in the second place the pollinator touches the anthers before it reaches the stigma. |  |
| Hermaphrodite | See bisexual; in the Mimosaceae, referring to the presence of both staminate and pistillate flowers in the same inflorescence. |  |
| Heterospory (heterosporous) | Producing two different kinds of spores; e.g., those giving rise to the microgametophytes and megagametophytes of Selaginella, Isoetes, and the flowering plants and the | |
| Heterostyly (heterostylous) | A condition in which the style and stamen lengths vary among individuals of the same species; e.g., in Coussarea racemosa (Rubiaceae), with flowers with long styles and short stamens and flowers with short styles and long stamens in different trees of the same population. The long-styled flowers are called pin flowers and the short-styled flowers are called thrum flowers. | |
| Homoecy (homoecious) | Referring to a species that bears only bisexual flowers on each plant. |  |
| Homospory (homosporous) | Producing a single kind of spore; e.g., as in bryophytes, Lycopodium, and most but not all species of ferns. |  |
| Hybrid (hybridization) | The result of a cross between genetically dissimilar individuals, most commonly referring to crosses between two different species. |  |
| Icthyochory (icthyochorous) | Referring to the process by which diaspores are moved from one place to the other (dispersed) by fish. Same as fish seed dispersal. |  |
| Incross | In flowering plants, the production of viable seed by the movement of pollen from one flower to another flower of the same plant.. | |
| Iteropary (iteroparic or iteroparous) | Referring to plants that flower repeatedly; i.e., those that do not die after a single flowering. Same as polycarpic and pleionanthic; opposite of hapaxanthic and monocarpic. |  |
| Lycopod | Referring to a vascular plant group that does not produce seeds. Lycopodium, Isoetes, and Selaginella are in this group but belong to different orders. Lycopodium is homosporous and the other two genera are heterosporous. | |
| Modified steady state phenology | A flowering strategy in which a few flowers are produced each day over long periods of time but for shorter periods than in steady state species. |  |
| Monocarpy (monocarpic or monocarpous) | Referring to plants that die after a single episode of flowering and fruiting; e.g., many bambusoid Poaceae and Tachigali (Fabaceae). Same as hapaxanthic and semelparic and opposite of iteroparic, pleionanthic, or polycarpic. | |
| Monocliny (monoclinous) | A species with functionally bisexual flowers; there is only one kind of monoclinous species. Same as homoecioius. Compare with dicliny. | |