GLOSSARY
Acuminate. Gradually tapering to a pointed apex.
Acute. Having the shape of an acute angle.
Aggregate. A cluster of ripened ovaries traceable to separate pistils of the same flower and inserted on a common receptacle.
Anther. The pollen-bearing portion of the stamen.
Anthesis. Time of flowering.
Apetalous. Without petals.
Apex. The tip of leaf, twig, or other plant part.
Apical. Pertaining to apex.
Ascending. Growing obliquely or indirectly upward from point of attachment.
Axil. Upper angle between a leaf or other plant part and the stem to which it is attached.
Bisexual. Having both sex organs on the same plant; a hermaphrodite.
Blade. The flat expanded portion of a leaf or parts of a compound leaf.
Catkin. A flexible, usually pendulous, scaly spike bearing unisexual flowers.
Ciliate. Having a margin fringed with hair.
Compound Leaf. A leaf with two or more separate leaflets.
Cordate. Heart-shaped with the point at the terminal end.
Crenate. Having a margin with rounded to blunt teeth.
Cuneate. Wedge-shaped.
Deciduous. Not persistent; said of leaves falling in autumn or of floral parts falling after anthesis.
Dehiscent. Opening by bursting or splitting.
Dentate. A margin with sharp teeth pointing outward.
Dimorphous. Occurring in two forms.
Dioecious. Unisexual, with staminate and pistillate flowers on separate plants.
Drupe. A simple one-seeded fleshy fruit, the outer wall fleshy, the inner wall bony.
Entire. Margins without teeth or lobes.
Evergreen. Having green leaves throughout the year.
Falcate. Sickle- or scythe-shaped.
Follicle. A dry, single-carpel fruit, opening along one side for seed dispersal.
Fluted. Regularly marked by alternating ridges and grooves.
Fruit. The seed-bearing product of a plant.
Glabrous. Smooth, devoid of hair or surface glands.
Glandular. Furnished with glands, or glandlike.
Glaucous. Covered with a white waxy or powdery bloom.
Globose. Spherical, globular.
Husk. Fleshy covering of nut in hickories.
Imbricate. Overlapping.
Leaflet. A single division of a compound leaf.
Membranous. Thin, more or less flexible, translucent.
Midrib. The central rib or central vein of a leaf or similar structure.
Monoecious. Having unisexual flowers, with both sexes borne on the same plant.
Nut. A hard-shelled, indehiscent, usually one-celled, one-seeded fruit.
Oblique. Slanted; of unequal-sided or non-symmetrical leaves or leaf bases.
Obovate. Inverted ovate.
Obpyriform. Inverted pear-shaped.
Obtuse. Blunt.
Odd Pinnate. Pinnately compound with a terminal leaflet.
Ovate. Having the lengthwise outline of an egg, broadest at the base.
Ovoid. Egg-shaped in 3-dimensions.
Ovule. An embryonic seed in the ovary of a flower.
Palmate. With veins or lobes radiating from a common center.
Panicle. A compound or branched raceme.
Paniculate. Borne in a panicle.
Parted. Divided by sinuses which extend nearly to the midrib.
Perfect. Having stamens and pistils in the same flower.
Persistent. Remaining attached.
Petiolate. Having petioles, not sessile.
Petiole. The stalk of a leaf.
Petiolulate. Having petiolules.
Petiolule. The stalk of a leaflet in a compound leaf.
Pinnate. Descriptive of compound leaves with the leaflets arranged on opposite sides along a common rachis. Also used to describe leaf venation.
Pistil. The seed-bearing organ of the flower.
Pistillate. Provided with pistils; usually descriptive of unisexual flowers.
Polygamous. Bearing perfect and unisexual flowers on the same plant.
Polymorphic. Having two or more forms.
Pubescent. Covered with fine, soft, short hairs.
Pyriform. Pear-shaped.
Raceme. An inflorescence consisting of a central rachis bearing a number of flowers with stalks of nearly equal length.
Rachis. The axis of a compound leaf or inflorescence.
Receptacle. The portion of the floral axis upon which the flowers are borne.
Reticulate. Forming a network.
Rhombic. Somewhat diamond-shaped.
Rib. A prominent vein.
Samara. An indehiscent winged fruit.
Scurfy. Covered with small scales.
Seed. A ripened ovule.
Serrate. With sharp teeth pointing forward.
Sessile. Without a stalk of any kind.
Simple. Of one piece; not compound.
Sinuate. Deeply or strongly undulate or wavy.
Sinus. A recess, cleft, or gap between two lobes.
Spatulate. Spatula-shaped.
Spike. An inflorescence consisting of a central rachis bearing a number of stalkless flowers.
Stamen. Pollen-bearing organ of the flower.
Staminate. Bearing stamens.
Stellate. Star-shaped.
Stipule. A leafy appendage attached to the twig at the base of a petiole; usually in pairs, one on each side, often shedding early.
Striate. With fine grooves, ridges, or lines of color.
Suture. Line of dehiscence.
Subglobose. Globe shaped, but slightly flattened.
Subsessile. Almost stalkless.
Tomentose. Coated with short, matted woolly hair.
Truncate. Having a blunt tip or end, appearing as if abruptly cut off transversely.
Undulate. Wavy.
Unisexual. Having stamens and pistils in separate flowers.
Valvate. Opening by valves as in a capsule or some leaf buds; meeting at the edges without overlapping.
Whorl. Circular arrangement of appendages at a node.
Woolly. Clothed with long, matted hairs.