Achene Or Akene

A small, dry, indehiscent, 1-seeded fruit.

Anther

That part of the stamen which contains the pollen, usually consisting of 2 cells which, when the pollen is ripe, open by a slit.

Axil

The upper angle at the junction of stem and branch.

Bloom

A soft, whitish, powdery appearance on fruit, leaves, etc.

Bract

A small leaf at the base of or upon the flower-stalk.

Calyx

The outer flower-leaves, usually green.

Capsule

The dry, dehiscent fruit of a compound pistil, as in poppy.

Chaff

Bracts or scales which become dry and thin. Used especially of a scale accompanying the small flowers of the Composite family.

Claw

The long, narrow base of a petal, as in pinks.

Cleistogamous

Closed pollination. Applied to inconspicuous blossoms which are self-pollinated before the bud opens, as in stemless violets. Such plants bear other more showy blossoms, which arc-often fruitful.

Corolla

The flower-leaves standing next within and above the calyx.

Corymb

A cluster of flowers, flat or convex at top, blossoming first at the circumference, last at the center.

Crenate

With roundish teeth.

Cyme

A cluster of flowers, flat or convex at top, the central ones blossoming first; those around the margin last.

Cymose

With the general inflorescence of the cyme.

Dehiscent

Splitting open of capsules into regular valves, for the discharge of seeds. Dehiscent fruits contain more than one seed.

Disk Or Disc

The central part of Composites, as distinguished from ray-flowers.

Drupe

A stone-fruit, as the cherry and plum.

Filament

The stamen-stalk bearing the anther. It is not an essential part of the flower.

Floret

Diminutive of flower. Applied to the small flowers of Composites.

Glabrous

Smooth, without hairs or bristles.

Inflorescence

Flowering; having reference to method, and, where there are several flowers, their relation to one another on the stem.

Involucel

When an umbel of flowers is compound, the bracts underneath the secondary umbels are called involucels.

Involucre

Leaves, sometimes petal-like, as in flowering dogwood, surrounding a single flower or a group of small flowers. Generally bract-like and green, as in the parsley family.

Keel

Applied to the two united petals in the front part of such Sowers as those of the pea and bean.

Leaflet

When a leaf is cut down to the midrib it is a compound leaf, and each division is a leaflet. Such a compound leaf is that of the common locust.

Legume

The fruit of the pea and bean family, usually opening along both sutures or seams.

Lip

The upper petal of orchids. Also applied to each division of 2-divided flowers, as mints or figworts.

Lyrate

Lyre-shaped. Leaves cut, with a large central, terminal lobe and smaller ones along the side, as in some mustards.

Midrib

The central, large vein of a leaf.

Ovate

Egg-shaped. Broader above, tapering below.

Palmate

Leaves spreading from the tip of a common stalk.

Panicle

A compound flower-cluster, irregularly branching. Grasses and lilies of the valley are examples.

Papilionaceous (Corolla)

The peculiarly shaped flowers of the Pulse family, having standard, wings, and keel.

Pappus

The calyx of Composites; the down of thistles and dandelions.

Pedicel

The stalk of each flower of a cluster of flowers.

Peduncle

The naked stalk of a flower. When flowers are clustered, their common stalk is the common peduncle.

Perianth

The floral envelope (sepals and petals) taken collectively.

Petal

A division of the corolla.

Petiole

The foot-stalk of a leaf.

Pinnate leaves are compound leaves in which the leaflets are arranged on a common stalk, which answers to the midrib of a simple leaf.

Pistil

The central, seed-bearing flower organ, including ovary, style, and stigma, the style not being an essential part.

Placenta

That part of the ovary which bears ovules or seeds.

Raceme

Numerous flowers on separate pedicels upon an elongated axis. Beneath each flower is, usually, a small bract.

Rachis

The principal axis or stem in an elongated spike or cluster of flowers.

Receptacle

The tip of the flower-stalk, upon which the floral parts are regularly arranged.

Rootstock

A prostrate or underground stem, usually erect at apex, rooting at nodes or joints.

Samara

A winged, indehiscent fruit, as of the maple.

Scape

A flower-stalk arising from the root, without true leaves.

Sepal

Division of the calyx.

Serrate

Like the edge of a saw, teeth pointing forward.

Serrulate

Finely toothed.

Sessile

Sitting. Of a leaf or flower destitute of stalk.

Spadix

A spike of flowers with a fleshy, long axis.

Spathe

A large leaf-like bract, infolding a flower cluster or single flower.

Spike

A form of inflorescence in which small flowers, sessile or nearly so, are crowded upon an elongated axis.

Stamen

The pollen-bearing organ of the flower, standing next outside the pistil, consisting of anther and filament, the latter not always present.

Standard

The posterior, large petal of the flower of the Pulse family, infolding the others in bud.

Stem

The leaf-bearing part of a plant; erect, prostrate, or subterranean.

Stipules

The appendages which sometimes grow on the opposite sides of a leaf, at the base of its petiole. Sometimes they sheathe the stem, as in buckwheat. Sometimes, as in clover leaves, they • tend along the leaf-stalk. Often they arc like small leaves or bracts.

Umbel

The kind of inflorescence which includes several flowers springing from the same point.

Umbellet

Smaller, secondary umbels.

Wings

The side-petals of the papilionaceous corollas.