glittering |
= splendent |
reflectance |
|
Interruptedly glossy (laevigate, lustrous, polished, shining, shiny, and thus sparkling when viewed from changing angles. |
caesious |
< ceraceous, cereous, pruinose, waxen, waxy |
coating |
|
Greenish pruinose; covered with a thin, opaque, greenish deposit (bloom) of macroscopically indistinguishable waxy particles that rubs off easily. See also glaucescent, glaucous. |
hooded |
= cucullate |
architecture |
|
Bearing, incorporating, or surmounted by a hood-shaped structure. |
pubescence |
|
CHARACTER |
|
Collective aspect of trichomes borne on the surface. Many of the terms traditionally used for describing pubescence have been defined and used in so many differing and often contradictory ways that they have become hopelessly ambiguous. This is attributable mainly to overdefinition within this portion of the traditional lexicon — that is, to highly arbitrary and widely variant restriction of a term's scope to some one detailed combination of trichome character states (shape, size, orientation, etc.). By derivation these are essentially general terms, really suited only for denoting overall aspect. The diversity actually encountered in nature defies comprehensive and unambiguous resolution into any limited suite of precisely specified, mutually exclusive, complex character states that can be associated with these terms, which are best used only in their general senses. Sometimes, such description will be sufficient in itself; more often, additionally or alternatively, the various attributes of the individual trichomes should be described. This is the only strategy that allows for full description of any possible condition, including the presence of more than one type of trichome. The various terms used for describing pubescence have never been semantically consistent; in some cases they refer to the trichomes themselves, while in others they apply to the bearing surface or structure; e.g., sericeous (the trichomes themselves are collectively silky) versus barbate (the structure is bearded). See also coating, indumentum (vesture). |
cryptic |
|
coloration |
|
Similar to its natural background, from which it is not readily distinguished. |
kidney-shaped 1 |
= reniform |
plane shape |
|
Broadly elongate and arcuate, each end bluntly rounded; like the generalized outline of the broad face of a human kidney. |
…cleft |
? …fid, …lobate, …lobed, …parted, …partite, …segmented |
plane shape |
|
Having the number of lobes, divisions or segments indicated by the prefix; as in three-cleft. |
acrocaulous |
|
position |
|
At or very near the stem tip. |
membranaceous |
= membranous |
texture |
|
Extremely thin, pliable, and fairly tough; like animal membrane. See also chartaceous (papery, papyraceous), pergamentaceous (parchment-like). |
marginal |
|
insertion |
|
Upon or otherwise directly associated with the margins. |
sack-shaped |
= bag-shaped, pouch-shaped, saccate |
solid shape |
|
Irregularly obovoid with an exterior aspect intermediate between inflated and flaccid; like a closed pouch or bag. |
breast-shaped |
= mammiform |
solid shape |
|
Rounded conic, like the breast of a mammal. |
small-dotted |
= puncticulate |
coloration |
|
Finely dotted (punctate). |
truncate 1 |
= abrupt |
apex |
|
Having a distal boundary that is generally straight or plane and approximately perpendicular to the central axis. |
sporangiophore |
< stalk |
STRUCTURE |
|
A stalk that bears one or more sporangia. |
fruit |
|
STRUCTURE |
|
Any unitary seed-bearing structure of a flowering plant, consisting of the matured or ripened pistil(s) of one or more flowers along with any other floral or vegetative tissue(s) persisting adnate to them; characteristic of and unique to Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae). |
channeled |
= canaliculate |
solid shape |
|
Having a longitudinal, transversely rounded depression; esp. a petiole or petiolule. |
beaded |
= moniliform |
solid shape |
|
Elongate, relatively slender, transversely round, and more or less regularly constricted over its length, the whole straight or variously curved; like a necklace of beads. |
longitudinal 1 |
|
dehiscence |
|
Parallel to the central axis. |
involucre 2 |
|
STRUCTURE |
|
One or more closely proximate whorls, or a compact spiral, of bracts (phyllaries) surrounding (proximal to) the compound receptacle (torus) and florets of a capitulum (head); in Asteraceae (Compositae). |
sulcate |
= colpate, fossulate, furrowed, grooved, valleculate |
architecture |
|
Having one or more elongate, relatively narrow and shallow depressions (sulci). |
ovoid |
= egg-shaped |
solid shape |
|
Transversely circular, broadest near a bluntly rounded base, and convexly attenuate to a narrower rounded apex; like a fowl egg. See also obovoid. |
birettaform |
|
solid shape |
|
Approximately square in cross section and shallowly convex at the top; like a biretta (Roman Catholic cleric's hat). |
pinna pl. pinnae |
< leaflet |
STRUCTURE |
|
One of the first-order divisions or leaflets of a pinnate frond; in Polypodiophyta. See also pinnule. |
shiny |
= glossy, laevigate, lustrous, polished, shining |
reflectance |
|
Uniformly reflecting a high proportion of incident light at all angles. |