This section is from the book "Handbook Of Hardy Trees, Shrubs, And Herbaceous Plants", by W. Botting Hemsley. Also available from Amazon: Handbook of hardy trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants.
In addition to most of the terms employed in describing the plants in this work, we include the principal specific names, with their significations, for the use of those who have not studied Latin. Compound words have been omitted in cases where the meaning can be ascertained by reference to their component parts. Adjectives and nouns of the same derivation, are not always both given, as one is usually sufficient to explain the other. It is almost unnecessary to observe, that the differences in the termination of the same word distinguish the gender, in agreement with that of the generic names.
a, as a prefix, denotes absence of an organ or organs, e.g. apetalous, acau-lescent, acotyledonous.
Differing from the usual growth or structure.
Needle-shaped.
A dry 1-seeded indehiscent fruit.
Armed with prickles.
Having an elongated tapering point.
Sharp-pointed.
A brotherhood. Stamens are monadelphous, diadelphous, or polyadelphous, according as they are arranged in one, two, or several fascicles.
One organ consolidated or united to another, as an ovary adnate to the calyx-tube.
Produced in Summer.
The disposition of the parts of a flower before expansion.
Several bodies or organs in close juxtaposition.
Winged, as the stem or seed.
White.
The substance found in many seeds with the embryo, sometimes entirely wanting, sometimes constituting the greater bulk of the seed.
Furnished with albumen.
The sap-wood or outer rings of exogenous trees.
One above the other in different lines, as the leaves of many plants, or between other organs, as the stamens in respect to petals, etc.
A catkin. Amentaceous, plants having the flowers in catkins, like the Willow and Hazel.
The male organs, collec-tively.
Covered. Angiospermous, having the seed enclosed in an ovary.
Flowering the first season, and of one year or season's duration.
That part of the male organ containing the pollen or impregnating substance.
Destitute of petals,
Terminating in a short sharp point.
Carpels separate from each other.
A tree, a plant with a distinct stem and branches.
Growing in sandy soil.
Silvery.
Awned or bearded.
Jointed.
Growing in cultivated grounds.
Furnished with harsh hairs.
Deep black.
Becoming black.
Tapering, slender.
Golden yellow.
A stiff or flexible bristle.
Provided with ear-like lobes or processes.
The stem and root of a plant.
The angle formed between the leaf and stem, or between other organs.
Proceeding from the centre or axis.
Produced in the axils of the leaves or other organs.
Sky-blue.
 
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