suffrutescent |
< subshrubby |
habit |
plant |
Becoming subshrubby. See also arboreous, arborescent, bushy, frutescent, fruticose, shrubby, suffruticose, woody-clumping. |
taprooted |
|
architecture |
plant |
Having a taproot. See also diffuse-rooted, fibrous-rooted. |
sclerocaulous |
= hard-stemmed |
texture |
plant |
Having hard, relatively dry, but essentially herbaceous main stems that contain a significant proportion of sclerotic tissue or fibers. |
suffrutex pl. suffrutices |
= subshrub, undershrub |
nominative |
plant |
Of shrub-like form but with only the base woody, bearing herbaceous branches that die back at the end of each growing season. See also bush, frutex (shrub), tree, woody clump. |
bottom-rooted |
|
habit |
plant |
Aquatic and rooted in the substrate beneath the water. |
sarcocaulous |
= fleshy-stemmed |
texture |
plant |
Having main stems that are sarcous (carnose, fleshy). |
vine |
> liana |
nominative |
plant |
Perennial, with elongate, herbaceous or ligneous stems that are flexible at least initially and that clamber, climb or trail. |
floating 1 |
|
habit |
plant |
Buoyant and growing entirely at or near the surface of water, not rooted in any substrate. |
vegetative |
< apomictic, asexual |
reproduction |
plant |
Producing new plants asexually by proliferation or fragmentation of sterile tissue, without formation of embryos (or seeds). The logical antecedent of this term is "reproduction," not the taxon in point or "plants," and syntax should be governed accordingly. Whenever this mode of reproduction is noted, the relevant propagative structures should be identified. |
herb |
|
nominative |
plant |
Annual, biennial, or perennial with no woody (lignified) tissue in any part of the shoot; when persisting over more than one growing season, the parts of the shoot dying back seasonally. |
suffruticose |
< subshrubby |
habit |
plant |
Having the character of a suffrutex (subshrub, undershrub). See also arboreous, arborescent, bushy, frutescent, fruticose, shrubby, suffrutescent, woody-clumping. |
carnivorous |
> insectivorous |
nutrition |
plant |
Capturing animals (usually insects), digesting their tissues by means of exoenzymes secreted by specialized cells or tissues, and assimilating the digested substances as nourishment, especially for nitrogen. |
hard-stemmed |
= sclerocaulous |
texture |
plant |
Having hard, relatively dry, but essentially herbaceous main stems that contain a significant proportion of sclerotic tissue or fibers. |
viny |
> lianous |
habit |
plant |
Having elongate, herbaceous or ligneous stems that are flexible at least initially and that clamber, climb or trail. |
herbaceous 1 |
|
habit |
plant |
Having no significant degree of secondary growth in any part of the shoot, which thus does not develop woody (lignified) tissue. |
sarmentose |
= runnering, stoloniferous |
architecture |
plant |
Producing stolons (runners), by means of which it propagates vegetatively. |
ephemeral |
|
duration |
plant |
Annual with a very short life span; germinating, growing, reproducing, and dying within a brief period of favorable conditions, the entire cycle being completed within a few weeks. |
bulbose |
= bulbous |
architecture |
plant |
Growing from and/or bearing bulbs. |
perennial 1 |
|
duration |
plant |
Normally living more than two years, with no definite limit to its life span. |
microphyllous |
|
architecture |
plant |
Bearing microphylls. |
symbiotic |
|
nutrition |
plant |
Partially dependent for essential nourishment upon other living organisms that derive some reciprocal benefit from the relationship. |
bulbous |
= bulbose |
architecture |
plant |
Growing from and/or bearing bulbs. |
stemless |
= acaulous |
architecture |
plant |
Lacking any evident, elongate, aboveground stem, other than reproductive axes, at maturity, the leaves and/or reproductive axes arising essentially at substrate level from a very short axis with highly congested nodes. |
winter annual |
|
nominative |
plant |
Annual, germinating in autumn, overwintering in a vegetative state (usually as a rosette aboveground), reproducing sexually from early spring through summer, and dying promptly thereafter. See also summer annual. |
perennial 2 |
|
nominative |
plant |
Of perennial duration. |