asymmetric(al) 2 |
|
architecture |
flower |
Having the perianth members in whorls that are irregular and/or unequal in number of members. |
obscure |
|
manifestation |
|
Hardly evident. |
tetradal |
|
arrangement |
pollen |
Shed in groups of four, each an intact tetrad with original configuration unchanged; geometric arrangement of the grains may be tetrahedral, tetragonal, or linear, depending upon mode of pollen mother cell division. |
palate |
|
STRUCTURE |
|
The lower, prominent labium (lip) of a personate (gaping, ringent) corolla. |
enzymatic |
|
exudation |
|
Secreting a digestive exoenzyme; in carnivorous plants. |
barbed 2 |
|
solid shape |
|
Having one or more relatively short, stiff, acutely inserted or bent, antrorse or retrorse, terminal and/or lateral hook-like appendages; esp. awns or setae. |
tortuous |
|
course |
|
Strongly irregular with sharp bends and/or curves. |
extravaginal |
|
position |
|
Distal to or outside the leaf sheath. |
pappus scale |
|
STRUCTURE |
|
A pappus element that is more or less planate and relatively thin and broad; may terminate in one or more awn- or bristle-like appendages. |
unequal |
|
size |
equivalent structures |
Distinctly differing in extent. See also equal, subequal. |
capsule |
|
nominative |
fruit |
Dry, longitudinally or poricidally dehiscent, and derived from a compound ovary with one or more locules; containing one or more seeds. See also pyxis. |
vestiture |
|
STRUCTURE / SUBSTANCE |
|
See vesture. |
gametophyte |
|
PLANT |
|
The main, ultimate, gamete-bearing stage in the haploid (n chromosomes) phase of a taxon's life cycle. Two morphologically and genetically distinct and alternate stages together constitute the complete life cycle in sexually reproducing taxa, the other phase (sporophytic) being diploid (2n chromosomes). Any taxon whose life cycle is confined to one or the other phase is limited to asexual means of reproduction, since sexual reproduction and consequent genetic recombination are impossible without alternation between haploid and diploid states via meiosis and fertilization. The term gametophytic applies to any part of the haploid phase, including all unicellular to multicellular entities belonging to it, whereas gametophyte is reserved for the principal and directly gamete-producing stage of that phase. In all vascular plant taxa the sporophyte is the dominant and most conspicuous phase of the life cycle. The gametophytes of "lower" vascular plants (ferns and "fern-allies") are physically independent of the sporophytes and, though inconspicuous, merit description in their own rights. Those of gymnosperms and angiosperms are minute and physically dependent upon (contained within) sporophytic structures and are not usually included in morphological descriptions. In the flowering plants at least, the haploid phase is (presumably evolutionarily) reduced to such a degree that the existence of gametophytes per se is debatable. |
pome |
|
nominative |
fruit |
Indehiscent with accessory floral tube tissue adnate to the pericarp; derived from a single, inferior, compound ovary; the exterior thick and fleshy, the interior consisting of several locules bounded by cartilaginous tissue; in Rosaceae. |
vascular |
|
position |
|
Upon or otherwise directly associated with the vasculature. |
colporate |
|
architecture |
pollen grain |
Having one or more elongate, relatively narrow and shallow depressions (colpi), each containing a pore. |
glome |
|
nominative |
inflorescence |
A rounded cluster of sessile or subsessile flowers that are inserted very close together and oriented divergently, the whole more or less hemispheric and sessile or subsessile. |
runcinate |
|
plane shape |
|
Basically obovate with a series of retrorse, acute lobes on either side, these diminishing in size toward the base. |
root 1 |
|
STRUCTURE |
|
Collectively, all those portions of a plant body that are anatomically distinct from the shoot, the component axes not differentiated into nodes and internodes, and branching endogenously. |
intruded |
|
placentation |
|
Upon partial septa excrescent from the wall of a compound, unilocular ovary. |
adherent |
|
fusion |
dissimilar structure(s) |
Superficially joined with or to one or more other dissimilar structures, the connection(s) with no significant histological continuity. See also coherent. |
infrafoliar |
|
insertion |
|
Upon the stem directly below a leaf insertion. |
laminar 2 |
|
solid shape |
|
Relatively very thin with parallel opposite broad faces, the whole plane or variously curved. Structures to which this term, along with any other three-dimensional ones, is applicable are often also described as though only two-dimensional, using terms that are implicitly understood to refer only to the outline of the broad faces. |
limb 1 |
|
STRUCTURE |
|
A relatively broad portion of a syntepalous (gamotepalous) perianth, synsepalous (gamosepalous) calyx, or sympetalous (gamopetalous) corolla distal to a narrower tube, spreading outward or ascending from the tube, comprising the distinct or connate distal portions of the tepals, sepals, or petals; except in bisexual or staminate disc florets of Asteraceae (Compositae). |
legume |
|
nominative |
fruit |
Dry, septicidal, one-loculed and derived from a single, superior, simple ovary; dehiscing along two sutures, one abaxial, one adaxial; in Fabaceae (Leguminosae). See also loment. |