Scarious

thin, dry, semi-transparent, or not green.

Schizocarp

a fruit splitting up into several one-seeded divisions.

Sclerophyllous

term applied to xerophytic bush-land.

Scorpioid

when a cyme is curved like a crozier.

Scrub

a formation of stunted growth.

Secund

turned to one side.

Seed

the fertilized and ripened ovule.

Seedling

the embryo after germination.

Sepal

a division of the calyx.

Serrate

with segments like the teeth of a saw. Sessile, without stalk or pedicel.

Setaceous

bristle-like.

Shade-plants

plants that dislike too much light.

Shoot

the portions of a plant differentiated into stem and leaves, etc. Silicule, a short pod in Cruciferae.

Siliqua

a long pod in Cruciferae.

Sinuose

undulating.

Sling-fruit

one which, owing to the contraction of certain tissues, hurls the seeds when mature from the fruit.

Sobole

a thin underground creeping stem with roots and buds at intervals.

Spadix

a succulent fleshy spike with close sessile flowers.

Spathe

a large bract enclosing a spadix.

Spathulate

spoon-shaped.

Species

individuals possessing in common several characters suggesting a derivation from a common ancestor.

Spike

a simple elongate axis bearing sessile flowers.

Spikelet

the few flowers enclosed by glumes in Grasses.

Spine

a sharp woody process or thorn.

Spur

a hollow expansion of the basal part of a sepal or petal, connected with the nectary.

Stamen

the male part of the flower, consisting of filament and anther.

Staminode

a sterile stamen.

Standard

the upper (posterior) petal in Leguminosae.

Stigma

the pollen-receiving part of the pistil.

Stipule

leaf-like appendages at the base of the petioles, usually paired.

Stole

a loose procumbent stem, with buds that root at intervals.

Stoma

a ventilating pore in the epidermis, with surrounding guard-cells.

Style

the prolonged end of the ovary, bearing the stigma.

Sub-dominant

forming a less-marked feature of a botanical association or formation.

Subsoil

the layer below the humus and soil which is derived from the underlying rock formations.

Subulate

awl-shaped, tapered to a fine point.

Sucker

an underground shoot producing a stem at the end.

Sun plants

plants that seek the light.

Switch plants

with reduced leaves, with green shoots serving as leaves.

Symbiosis

when two plants are intimately associated for mutual benefit.

Syncarpous

an ovary or fruit with the carpels joined.

Tendril

a thread-like organ used for climbing.

Tentacle

a sensitive hair, as in Drosera.

Terete

round, in transverse section.

Ternate

in threes, as of leaflets.

Thalamus

the receptacle of a flower.

Tomentose

with densely-matted woolly hair.

Torulose

knotted.

Torus

the receptacle.

Transpiration

the giving off of aqueous vapour from leaves, etc. Trifid, divided into three parts nearly half-way. Trigonous, with three angles and three convex faces.

Truncate

blunted.

Trunk

main stem.

Tuber

a subterranean fleshy shoot.

Tubercle

a small wart-like excrescence.

Tumid

swollen.

Turfophilous

growing on humus or peat.

Turgidity

a state of tension in a cell due to osmotic pressure of the cell-sap and elastic tension of the cell-wall.

Tussock formations

badly drained pastures, made up of tussocks which exclude other plants.

Umbel

when clusters of stalked flowers radiate from a centre.

Umbilicate

peltate, hollow from the stalk upward.

Undershrubs

the lesser shrubs that lurk under scrub, etc. Unilateral, turned on one side.

Valvate

opening by means of valves, of capsules.

Venation

the arrangement of the veins.

Ventricose

swollen below.

Vernation

the arrangement of the leaves in a bud.

Verticillate

in whorls.

Villose

with long soft hair.

Viscous

sticky.

Whorl

with parts arranged in a circle.

Wood

the xylem or hard lignified part of a stem.

Xerophilous

fond of dry conditions.

Xerophytes

plants used to dry conditions.

Zoochorous

dispersed by animals.