Native Plants

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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.

Sessile - Lacking a stalk of any kind: a flower without a pedicel or a leaf without a petiole.

Mucronate - Leaf apex with short spiny tip.

Ovary - The basal part of the pistil, bearing the ovules, which later develop into seeds. See also Inferior ovary; Superior ovary.

Vein - A rib of tissue, usually in a leaf.

Incomplete flower - A flower lacking one or more of the following: stamens, pistils, petals, sepals.

Sori - Cluster of sporangia in ferns and fungi.

Scape - A naked flower stem rising from the ground.

FAC - Facultative - Hydrophyte. Occurs in wetlands and non-wetlands.

Perfoliate - A leaf with the base united around the stem.

Glabrous - Smooth; hairless.

Cordate - Heart-shaped, with the point at the apex.

Native - A plant that lives or grows naturally in a particular region without direct or indirect human intervention.

Asymmetric - Lacking symmetry, e.g., the two halves of a leaf blade not alike.

Crenate - Having rounded teeth along the margin.

Solitary - Borne singly; alone.