rachilla 2 var. rhachilla |
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STRUCTURE |
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A second-order axis in an inflorescence, especially the axis bearing the florets in a spikelet; esp. in Cyperaceae, Poaceae (Gramineae). |
culm |
< cane, stem |
STRUCTURE |
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A stem of a sedge (Cyperaceae) or grass (Poaceae), usually hollow. Use of this term or cane instead of stem is a matter of tradition and preference, not of descriptive precision or necessity. |
antheridium pl. antheridia |
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STRUCTURE |
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A male gametangium; a multicellular fertile organ of a mature gametophyte within which male gametes (antherozoids, spermatozoids) are produced and from which they are discharged, in some taxa forcibly, through a pore. Technically present but highly reduced and of no descriptive significance in Magnoliophyta and part of Pinophyta. |
lepis pl. lepides |
= squama; < scale, trichome |
STRUCTURE |
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A relatively thick, planate trichome. See also squamella. |
axis pl. axes |
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STRUCTURE |
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Any unitary and longitudinally continuous structure that bears laterally the subordinate portion(s), if any, of a plant root or shoot or any subdivision thereof and that represents the main line of structural development and/or symmetry distal to its origin, irrespective of the particular ontogenetic growth pattern involved. See also primary axis. |
androecial tube |
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STRUCTURE |
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The tubular portion of an androecium in which the component structures have fused with one another laterally over part or all their lengths. |
casing |
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STRUCTURE |
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The portion (if any) of a floral tube that is adnate to the gynoecium. See also collar, neck. |
tiller |
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STRUCTURE |
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An erect or ascending stem that branches from the base of another at or below the surface of the ground; esp. in Poaceae (Gramineae) and other monocotyledons (Liliidae). |
ovule |
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STRUCTURE |
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A complex reproductive structure borne by a seed-plant sporophyte, consisting of outer, sporophytic tissues that enclose a haploid, gametogenic tissue usually regarded as a highly reduced megagametophyte. Following fertilization, the entire structure matures to become a seed that contains an embryo, the first stage of the next sporophytic generation. Ovules (and seeds) are borne naked on megasporophylls (in Pinophyta) or within an ovary (in Magnoliophyta). |
prophyll(um) pl. prophylls, prophylla |
= bracteole, bractlet; < bract |
STRUCTURE |
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A second- or higher-order bract within, and subtending some portion of, an aggregate branching structure, especially when subtending a flower. |
shoot 2 |
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STRUCTURE |
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A vascularized axis that is differentiated into nodes and internodes and that branches exogenously from the former, together with any non-axial structures borne from it. |
cladophyll |
= cladode, phylloclade |
STRUCTURE |
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A stem segment that functions as a leaf; often more or less compressed. |
sporocarp |
= spore body |
STRUCTURE |
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A multicellular structure that bears and more or less encloses several to (usually) many sporangia, the latter often aggregated into sori within it See also megasporocarp (macrosporocarp, not recommended), microsporocarp. |
beak 2 |
= rostrum |
STRUCTURE |
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The inner, horn-like segment of a coronal lobe; esp. in Asclepiadaceae. |
rachis 1 var. rhachis |
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STRUCTURE |
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A main or first-order axis of a compound leaf blade. |
antherozoid |
= spermatozoid; < sperm |
STRUCTURE |
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A motile male gamete, produced within an antheridium. |
plantlet |
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STRUCTURE |
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A juvenile, complete plant produced asexually by budding, as from the leaf margin in some Kalanchoë (Crassulaceae); this term is usually applied only while such vegetatively produced offspring remain attached to the plant of origin. |
branchlet |
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STRUCTURE |
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A branch of the highest or ultimate order. |
megaphyll |
= leaf, macrophyll (not recommended); > frond, needle |
STRUCTURE |
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A principal, vegetative shoot organ borne laterally from a stem node; its vascular tissues, if any, continuous with those of the stem; undergoing no significant secondary growth; usually more or less bilaterally symmetrical; comprising a distal, usually laminar blade and/or a proximal stalk (petiole) or sheath; usually a primary site of photosynthesis. |
seed |
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STRUCTURE |
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A mature or ripened ovule containing an embryonic sporophyte and a nutritive tissue (endosperm or perisperm) with stored food that sustains the initial growth of the embryo upon germination, except when such food reserve is stored instead in the cotyledon(s) of the embryo itself, these enclosed by one or two integuments (the testa), the whole serving as a propagule. A fertile seed (one containing a viable embryo) normally results from sexual fertilization of an egg by a sperm; however, fertile seeds are sometimes produced asexually by apomictic processes (e.g., parthenogenesis). |
androecium pl. androecia |
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STRUCTURE |
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The stamen(s), staminode(s), if any, and their ontogenetically associated structure(s), if any, of a single flower, taken collectively. |
fibrous root |
< diffuse root |
STRUCTURE |
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A diffuse root that includes a significant component of woody or sclerotic strands and is consequently tough and often wiry. |
subsidiary cell |
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STRUCTURE |
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One of the cytologically distinctive epidermal cells that are sometimes present in a stomate and that surround and are regularly oriented in relation to the guard cells. |
elaiosome |
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STRUCTURE |
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A fleshy outgrowth from the seed coat (testa) that contains a high proportion of oil, usually attracting ants for dispersal. |
main stem |
= primary stem; > bole, trunk |
STRUCTURE |
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The one, or any of the more than one, first-order stem(s), or first-order portion(s) of the collective stem, of a shoot. |