Glossary
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A -
- Prefix meaning without.
- Abaxial
- Located on the side away from the axis.
- Achene
- A dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit with a relatively thin wall in which
the seed coat is not fused to the ovary wall.
- Acuminate
- Gradually tapering to a sharp point; point is drawn out.
- Acute
- Sharply pointed, but less tapering than acuminate; angle 90o
or less.
- Adaxial
- Located on the side nearest the axis.
- Adhere
- To stick to.
- Adherent
- Sticking or clinging.
- Adnate
- Fusion of unlike parts (e.g., fusion of palea to the caryopsis in Bromus).
- Adventitious roots
- Roots developing from basal culms, nodes, or some structure other than
the seed.
- Adventive
- A term used to denote an exotic species that has become established from
chance or accidental seeding.
- Aggregate
- Clustered or forming a group with objects in close proximity.
- Alternate
- Located singly at each node. An arrangement of parts, e.g. leaves, placed
at different heights along an axis.
- Annual
- Completing life cycle from seed to maturity to death within one year or
one season.
- Anther
- Pollen bearing portion of the stamen.
- Antrorse
- Directed upward or forward toward the apex; the opposite of retrorse.
- Apex
- Uppermost tip of a structure.
- Apices
- Plural of apex.
- Apical
- Located at the tip.
- Apiculate
- Ending in a short, flexible point.
- Appendage
- A secondary part or a projecting part.
- Appressed
- Lying against an organ in the direction of the apex.
- Aristate
- Provided with a short awn or bristle from the apex, edge or back of an
organ.
- Aromatic
- Having an odor, fragrant or otherwise; bearing volatile essential oils.
- Articulate
- Jointed; a node for natural separation.
- Ascending
- Sloping or rising obliquely upward.
- Asexual
- Without sex; sexless; not involving gametes.
- Asymmetrical
- Not having planes which divide the structure into mirror-image halves.
- Attenuate
- Gradually narrowing to a pointed apex or base; sharper than acute.
- Auricle
- A finger-like appendage or flange of tissue at the junction of the blade
and sheath in some grasses. Holds the open sheath to the culm.
- Autumnal
- Growth form for late summer and fall (e.g. Dichanthelium).
- Awn
- The extension of the vein (nerve) of spikelet bracts beyond the leaf-like
tissue.
- Axil
- The upper angle between an organ (branch) and its axis.
- Axillary
- Occurring in an axil.
- Axis
- The central stem(s) of an inflorescence, particularly of a panicle.