Selected North Dakota and Minnesota Range Plants (continued)

EB-69, 1998

Glossary – continued

Raceme

A simple, elongated inflorescence with pedicellate flowers

Racemiform

In the form of a raceme

Racemose

Having racemes or racemelike inflorescences

Rachilla

A secondary axis; in grass and sedge, the flower-bearing axis

Rachis

The axis of a compound leaf or an inflorence

Radiate

Spreading from a common center; in Asteraceae, a head with disk florets in center and a whorl of ray florets around the edge

Radiating

Spreading from a common center

Radical

Pertaining to the root; radical leaves are basal leaves that seem to arise from the root-crown

Radicle

That portion of the embryo below the cotyledons

Rame

As used in the Poaceae, the flowering stem of a grass

Ray

Outer floret of Asteraceae, with straplike corolla, no stamens, functionally pistillate; the branch of an umbel

Receptacle

The expanded end of the axis bearing flower parts

Reclinate

Bent or turned downward

Recumbent

Learning or reclining

Recurved

Curved backward or downward

Reduced

Smaller than normal; not functional

Reflexed

Abruptly bent or turned downward

Regular

Uniform or symmetrical in shape; actinomorphic

Remote

Distantly spaced

Reniform

Kidney-shaped

Repand

Slightly uneven or sinuate

Repent

Creeping, prostrate and often rooting

Replum

The partition between two halves of a fruit (Brassicaceae)

Resinous

Producing or containing resin

Reticulate

Like a network

Revolute

Rolled backward, toward the lower side

Rhizoid

A structure of rootlike form and function, but of simple anatomy, lacking xylem and phloem

Rhizomatose

Resembling a rhizome

Rhizomatous

Possesing a rhizome

Rhizome

An underground stem, usually lateral and rooting at the nodes

Rhombic, rhomboid

Shaped like an equilateral, oblique-angled figure

Rib

One of the main longitudinal veins of a leaf or other organ

Rigid

Firm; not flexible

Riparian

Pertaining to or growing along stream-banks

Robust

Healthy; full-sized

Rootstock

Underground stem; rhizome

Roseate

Rosy or pinkish in color

Rosette

A cluster of organs arranged in a compact circle

Rostrate

Having a beak

Rotate

Wheel-shaped

Rotund

Nearly circular

Rough

Not smooth; surface marked by unevenness

Rudiment

Imperfectly developed organ or part, usually non-functional

Rudimentary

Underdeveloped

Rufescent

Becoming reddish-brown

Rufous

Reddish brown

Rugose

Wrinkled

Rugulose

Somewhat wrinkled

Runcinate

Sharply incised or serrate, with teeth pointing backward

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Sac

A pouch or bag-like cavity

Saccate

Bag-shaped

Sagittate

Shaped like an arrowhead, with basal lobes pointing downward

Saline

A nonsodic soil containing sufficient soluble salts to impair its productivity

Salverform

With a slender tube and abruptly spreading limb, as the corolla of a phlox

Samara

An indehiscent, winged fruit

Saprophyte

A plant that derives its food from dead organic matter

Scaberulous

Minutely roughened

Scabrous

Rough; feeling rough to the touch

Scale

Any thin, dry, appressed organ (usually leaf or bract)

Scaly

Having scales

Scandent

Climbing

Scape

A leafless flowering stem arising from the ground

Scapose

Bearing flowers on a scape

Scar

A mark on the stem where a leaf, bud, flower, or fruit was formerly attached

Scalariform

Ladder-like, or with ladder-like markings

Scale

Any small, thin or flat structure

Scarious

Thin, dry, membranaceous, not green (leaf or bract)

Schizocarp

A dry, dehiscent fruit that splits into two halves

Schizogenous

Arising by splitting or separation of tissue, as a schizogenous duct (Compare lysigenous)

Sclerenchyma

A strengthening (but not conducting) tissue composed of thick-walled, lignified cells that are nearly or quite without living contents at maturity

Sclerotium

In fungi, such as ergot, a hardened compact mass of mycelium which gives rise to the fruiting bodies; replaces the caryopsis in ergot-infested Poeceae

Scorpioid

Inflorescence coiled circinately with flowers in two rows along the outer side

Scorpioid cyme

A sympodial cyme with a zigzag rachis, the successive lateral branches that make up the rachis arising on different sides. The term has often been incorrectly used in place of helicoidcyme

Scurfy

With scalelike particles

Secund

Directed to one side

Segment

A part of a structure which may be separated from the other parts

Seleniferous

Containing selenium

Semi-

A Latin prefix meaning half

Senescent

Ageing or aged

Sepal

One division of the calyx

Sepaloid

Resembling a sepal

Septate

Divided by partitions

Septicidal

Dehiscing along partitions

Septum

A partition

Seriate

Arranged in a series of rows

Sericeous

Silky, with appressed, soft hairs

Serrate

With sharp teeth pointing forward

Serrulate

Finely serrate

Sessile

Without a stalk

Seta (pl. setae)

A bristle

Setaceous

Bristlelike or having bristles

Setose

Covered with bristles; similar to hispid

Sheath

A tubular structure surrounding part or all of an organ; the portion of a grass leaf that surrounds the stem

Shiny

Lustrous; possessing a sheen

Showy

Attractive, such as a large colorful flower; with a striking appearance

Shrub

A low-growing woody plant; bush with one too many trunks

Sigmoid

Doubly curved, like the letter s

Silicle

A short silique, about as long as wide

Silique

An elongate, dry, dehiscent fruit with a septum separating the two valves (Brassicaceae)

Silky

With soft, fine, lustrous, long hair; resembling silk in appearance or texture

Silvery

Lustrous and gray or white; having the luster of silver

Simple

Not compound or not branched

Sinuate, sinuous

With margin strongly wavy

Sinus

The space between two lobes

Soboliferous

Producing basal shoots; clump-forming

Sod-forming

Creating a dense mat with interwoven root systems

Solitary

Alone; one by itself

Spadix

A fleshy or thick spike of minute flowers (Araceae)

Sparingly

Meager; not densely

Sparse

Scattered; opposite of dense

Spathe

A leaflike bract surrounding an inflorescence (Araceae) or smaller bract below flower (Iris)

Spatulate

Spoon-shaped

Species

The smallest groups that are consistently and persistently distinct, and distinguishable by ordinary means

Sperm

A motile or transported gamete that can fuse with an egg to form a zygote; the male gamete

Spicate

Spikelike

Spiciform

Shaped like a spike

Spike

A simple, elongated inflorescence with sessile flowers

Spikelet

A small or secondary spike

Spine

A sharp, rigid, outgrowth, usually from the wood of a stem

Spiniferous, spinose

Having spines

Spinescent

Bearing a spine; terminating in a spine

Spinule

Diminutive of spine, and not necessarily indicating a modified leaf

Spinulose

Provided with spinules, or with a spinule at the tip

Split

Divided lengthwise

Sporanglum

A case or container for spores

Spore

An asexual reproductive body capable of developing a new individual

Sporocarp

An organ containing sporangia

Sporophyll

A leaf that bears sporangia

Sporophyte

The generation that has 2n chromosomes and produces spores as reproductive bodies. In angiosperms the megaspore is retained in the ovule and develops into the embryo-sac, and the microspores develop into the pollen-grains, thus the sporophyte seems to be the whole plant, and the gametophyte a mere stage in reproduction

Sprout

The young shoot of a plant; especially the first from a root or a germinating seed

Spur

A hollow, tubular projection from a petal or sepal, usually containing nectar

Stamen

The pollen-bearing organ of a flowering plant

Staminate

Having stamens but no functional pistil

Staminode

A modified stamen that does not produce pollen

Standard

Upright large petal of Fabaceae flower; erect or arching perianth segment in Iris flower

Stele

The primary vascular structure of a stem or root, together with any other tissues (such as the pith) that may be enclosed

Stellate

Star-shaped

Sterile

Without functional pistils and thus not producing fruit, may or may not bear stamens

Sticky

Covered with an adhesive-like substance

Stiff

Not easily bent; rigid

Stigma

The receptive part of the pistil that receives the pollen

Stipe

The stalk of a pistil or gland; the petiole of a fern frond

Stipitate

Borne on a stipe

Stipulate

Provided with stipules

Stipule

An appendage at the base of a petiole, usually in pairs

Stolon

A horizontal stem that roots at the tip or at the nodes; runner

Stoloniferous

Bearing stolons

Stoma, stomate

A special kind of intercellular space in epidermal tissue, bounded by a pair of guard-cells which, under certain conditions, close off the space by changing shape

Stout

Sturdy, strong, rigid

Stramineous

Straw-colored

Striate

Marked with slender, longitudinal grooves or lines; appearing striped

Strict

Narrow, with close, upright branches

Strigillose, strigulose

Minutely strigose

Strigose

Having sharp, stiff, straight and appressed hairs that are often swollen at base

Strumose

Covered with cushion-like swellings

Stylar

Of or pertaining to a style

Style

The usually elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma

Sub-

A Latin prefix meaning "beneath' but sometimes signifying "slightly"

Subshrub

A predominately herbaceous plant with woody basal branches; a suffruticose plant

Subtend

To underlie; located below

Subulate

Awl-shaped, tapering toward the apex

Succulent

Fleshy, juicy

Suffruiticose

Plants woody at the base and herbaceous above

Suffrutescent

Slightly shrubby

Sulcate

Furrowed or grooved lengthwise

Sulcus

A groove or furrow

Superior

An ovary free from the perianth, which is inserted below it

Supra-

A Latin prefix meaning above

Suppressed

Failing to develop

Swollen

Enlarged

Symbiosis

A close physical association between two different kinds of organisms, typically with benefit to both

Sympatric

Occupying the same geographic region (Compare allopatric)

Symmetrical

Regular in number and size of parts

Sympetalous

With the petals at least partially united; gamopetalous

Syn-, sym-

Greek prefix, meaning united

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Tapering

Gradually narrowing toward one end

Taproot

The primary descending root

Taxon (pl. taxa)

Any taxonomic entity, of whatever rank

Taxonomy

A study aimed at producing a system of classification of organisms that best reflects the totality of their similarities and differences; a classification produced by such a study

Teeth

Pointed lobes or divisions

Tendril

A slender, twisting organ by which a plant clings to a support

Tepal

A segment of a perianth not clearly differentiated into sepals and petals

Terete

Circular in transverse section

Terminal

Borne at or belonging to the extremity

Ternate

In 3s

Tetradynamous

Having 4 long and 2 shorter stames

Tetraploid

With four chromosome-complements in each cell

Thalloid

Resembling or consisting of a thallus

Thorn

A stiff, woody, modified stem with a sharp point; more loosely, any structure that resembles a true thorn. (Compare prickle, spine)

Throat

The orifice of a sympetalous corolla or gamosepalous calyx, or the somewhat expanded part between the proper tube and the limb; in grasses, the upper margins of the sheath

Thyrse

A compact, usually compound panicle

Thyrsoid

Resembling a thyrse

Tiller

A shoot from an adventitious bud at the base of a plant

Tomentose

Densely pubescent with short, wooly hairs

Tomentulose

Slightly or finely tomentose

Tooth

A pointed projection or division

Tomentum

A covering of dense, wooly hairs

Torus

Receptacle; ring subtending another organ

Tracheid

The most characteristic cell type in xylem, long, slender, and tapering at the ends, with a lignified secondary wall and a definite lumen, but without living contents at maturity

Translucent

Semitransparent; transmitting light rays only partially

Transverse

At right angles to the long axis; crosswise; in cross-section

Tri-

A Latin prefix meaning "three"

Triangular

Having three angles and three sides

Trichrome

A hair or bristle growing from epidermis

Tridentate

Three-toothed, such as Artemisia tridentata leaves

Trifid

3-cleft

Trifoliate

Having three leaflets, such as Medicago polymorpha

Trifurcate

Forked into 3 parts

Trigonous

3-angled, with plane faces between

Trimorphic

Of three forms

Trinerved

Three-nerved, ordinarily with all three nerves arising directly from the base

Triquetrous

3-angled with concave faces between, angles projecting forward

Truncate

Ending abruptly, as if cut off nearly straight across

Trunk

The main stem of a tree or shrub

Tuber

A thick, short branch, usually subterranean, with numerous buds

Tubercle

A small tuber or tuberlike body

Tuberculate

Covered with knobby projections

Tuberiferous

Bearing tubers

Tuberous

Thickened like a tuber

Tubular

Having the shape of a tube, such as the corolla of some flowers

Tuft

Cluster; bunch

Tumid

Swollen

Turbinate

Top-shaped; inversely conical

Turgid

Swollen by pressure from within

Turion

A scaly, swollen offshoot of arhizome

Twig

A small branch of a tree or shrub

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Umbel

A flat-topped or rounded inflorescence in which pedicels or peduncles arise from a common point (Apiaceae)

Umbellate

Resembling an umbel

Umbellet

One of the ultimate umbellate clusters of a compound umbel

Umbelliform

In the shape of an umbel

Umbo

A conical projection on the surface

Umbonate

Bearing an umbo in the center

Uncinate

Hooked obtusely at the tip

Uncinulate

Minutely uncinate

Undulate

Unevenly wavy on the surface or margin

Uni-

A prefix meaning one

Unilateral

Arranged on or directed toward one side

Unilocular

With a single locule

Unisexual

Describing flowers or plants with only stamens or only pistils

United

Fused together

Urceolate

Urn-shaped

Utricle

A bladderlike, 1-seeded, indehiscent fruit

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Valvate

Opening by valves; meeting at the edge, but not overlapping

Valve

A separable part; one of the units into which a capsule splits

Vascular pertaining to conduction.

Vascular plants are those which have xylem and phloem; a vascular bundle is a strand of xylem and phloem and associated tissues

Vein

A thread of fibrovascular tissue in a leaf

Velutinous

Velvety

Venation

The pattern of veins

Ventral

Referring to the front or inner surface of an organ; the upper surface of a leaf

Ventricose

Inflated or swelling out on one side only, or unequally, as the corolla of many species of Penstemon

Vernal

Appearing in the spring

Vernation

The arrangement of leaves in a bud

Versatile

Anther attached in center and able to move freely on filament

Verticel

A whorl or level of branching

Verticillaster

A false whorl, composed of a pair of nearly sessile cymes in the axils of opposite leaves or bracts, as in many Lamiaceae

Verticillate

Arranged in verticels

Vesture, vestiture

Any covering on a surface making it other than glabrous

Villose, villous

Having long, soft hairs, not matted

Villosulous

Minutely villose

Virgate

Wand-like; slender, straight, and erect

Viscid

Sticky

Viscidulous

Somewhat sticky

Viviparous

Sprouting or germinating on the parent plant, as the bulbils in the inflorescence of some plants

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Wavy

With small, regular lobes on the margin; undulating surface or margin

Weak

Frail; not stout nor rigid; partial or incomplete

Weed

A plant that aggressively colonizes disturbed habitats or places where it is not wanted

Whorl

Arranged

Wing

A thin, membranaceous extension of an organ; the lateral petal of a Fabaceae flower

Wiry

Being thin and resilient

Withered

Appearing shriveled and shrunken

Wooly

Having curly, soft hairs, usually matted; lanate

Wrinkle

With small ridges and/or furrows on a surface

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Xero-

Greek prefix, meaning dry

Xeromorphic

Having the form or appearance of a xerophyte, usually with some obvious adaptation to reduce transpiration or survive desiccation

Xerophyte

A plant adapted to a dry habitat

Zig-zag

A series of short, sharp bends

Zygomorphic

Irregular; divisible into equal halves in only one place

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EB-69, 1998