Glossary

Leaves

Margin - the edge of the leaf

Entire - the leaf margin is even, without indentations.

Toothed - the margin has a regular pattern of indentations.

Lobed - The leaf is separated into sections, called lobes, by deep indentations

Divided - The leaf is divided into what may look like separate leaves, but are actually leaflets that make up one divided leaf.

Flowers

Anther:

The pollen-bearing body of the stamen, usually relatively compact, and supported at the end of the narrow filament. Under a lens, anthers exhibit a wide variety of forms and means of attachment. These characteristics are often important in technical keys for flower identification.

Bract:

A leaf-like element below a flower or on an inflorescence. Bracts are typically shaped differently than other leaves on the plant. They are usually green, but occasionally are brightly colored and petal-like.

Calyx:

The outer perianth of a flower. The calyx surrounds the corolla, and is typically divided into lobes called sepals. These are frequently green, and reduced relative to the petals, but they can also be large, and brightly colored, resembling petals. In many flowers, the sepals enclose and protect the flower bud prior to opening.

Corolla:

The inner perianth of a flower. The corolla typically surrounds the reproductive parts of the flower. It may be continuous as in a petunia, lobed, or divided into distinct petals. In some cases, especially in cultivated varieties, the corolla may be doubled or even further multiplied, producing multiple layers of petals. In other cases, it may be lacking entirely.

Filament:

The usually narrow and often threadlike part of the stamen which supports the pollen-bearing anther.

Involucre:

A circle or cup of bracts that surrounds and supports the multiple florets of the head in the composite flowers of the family asteraceae. The shape and arrangement of the involucral bracts is important in describing the members of this family.

Ovary:

The part of the pistil that encloses the unfertilized seeds or ovules, and that typically develops into a dry or fleshy fruit once pollination takes place. The ovary is generally central to the flower, and supports the other principle parts. Whether they are attached at the top (ovary inferior) or the bottom (ovary superior) is an important anatomical characteristic for classification. Not all "fruits" are mature ovaries; some form from supporting parts of the flower, for example, strawberries develop from the receptacle - the enlarged top of the flower stalk.

inflorescence - the flowering part of a plant

There are two kinds of inflorescence: determinant and indeterminate. The terms sound philosophical, but they actually describe two ways that an inflorescence can grow. A determinant inflorescence ends with a flower that blooms first. Any additional flowers will form on side branches below the terminal flower.

An indeterminate inflorescence can keep growing, producing flowers along the way. The first flowers may be in bloom while those near the extending tip are still budding.

Pedicel - a stalk that supports a flower

Peduncle - a stalk that supports a flower or an entire inflorescence

Perianth - surrounds a flower's reproductive parts. It has two parts each called a perianth. The outer perianth is called a calyx and it can be divided into sepals. The the inner perianth is called the corolla and it can be divided into petals. Perianths come in a lot of different sizes and shapes.

Petal - the lobes of the corolla

Sepal - a lobe of the calyx. They can be green and look like small leaves, or colorful and look more like petals.

Pistil

The seed-bearing or "female" reproductive part of a flower. The pistil is composed of the ovary, the style, and the stigma. The ovary contains the developing seeds, and is connected to the pollen-receiving stigma by the style. Flowers often contain a single pistil, but may contain several. Staminate or "male" flowers contain only stamens and lack pistils entirely.

Receptacle:

The generally enlarged top of the footstalk, which supports the other parts of the flower. Some "fruits" are enlarged receptacles rather than ovaries.

Stamen:

The pollen-bearing or "male" reproductive part of a flower. The pollen is borne on a more or less compact body termed the anther, which is supported by the filament. A flower may have hundreds of stamens, or only a few. Pistillate or "female" flowers have pistils but no stamens.

Stigma:

The upper part of the pistil which receives the pollen. The stigma is often sticky, or covered with fine hairs or grooves, or other anatomical features that help the pollen to adhere. It may be cleft into several parts.

Style:

The usually elongated part of the pistil that connects the ovary to the stigma.

Raceme - a group of flowers, each attached to the stem by a pedicle and each about the same distance from the stema flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem. The flowers at the base of the central stem develop first.

Spike - a clusters of flowers along a stem with each flower growing directly from the stem (without a pedicle)

Corymb - a clusters of flowers connected to the stem by pedicles where the pedicles are different lengths and the flowers are all at roughly the same height, as opposed to being the same distance from the stalk as in a raceme.a flower cluster whose lower stalks are proportionally longer so that the flowers form a flat or slightly convex head. The florets might seem to be resting on a flat surface, but they're actually on pedicles projecting from the main axis. The pedicles string lower on the axis are longer so that all of the florets are at the same height.

Umbel:

In this inflorescence the primary axis remains comparatively short, and it bears at its tip a group of flowers which possess pedicels or stalks of more or less equal lengths so that the flowers are seen to spread out from a common point. In this inflorescence a whorl of bracts forming an involucre is always present, and each individual flower develops from the axil of a bract.

Generally the umbel is branched and is known as umbel of umbels (compound umbel), and the branches bear flowers, e.g., in coriander (Coriandrum sativum), fennel, carrot, etc. Sometimes, the umbel is un-branched and known as simple umbel, e.g., Brahmi (Centella asiatica). This inflorescence (umbel) is characteristic of Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) family.