Quick Glossary
Adapted from the Garden
Web and The American
Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language.
Awn
A bristle-shaped appendage, especially on grass seeds or grains.
Bract
A more or less modified leaf just below a flower or the flowering part of a plant.
Calyx
The outer part of the flower, usually green and formed of several divisions
called sepals, that protects the bud.
Disturbed site
An area of natural vegetation that has been unearthed.
Lobe
A segment, usually shallow and often rounded, that divides the edge of a leaf.
Node
The place on a stem which normally bears a leaf or group of leaves.
Nutlet
One of several small, nut-like parts of a compound fruit; a diminutive nut.
Rosette
A cluster of leaves which grows in a circular overlapping pattern--somewhat
like the petals of a rose.
Spikelet
A small spike or branch-like part, usually referring to the spike supporting
the arrangement of blossoms on grasses.
Taproot
The main root of a plant growing directly down from the center of the plant,
serving the functions of structural support and food storage.
Viable
Describes a seed that is capable of germinating or starting to grow.