S
- saccate
- pouched.
- sagittate
- shaped like the head of an arrow; narrow and pointed but gradually enlarged at base into two straight lobes directed downwards; may refer only to the base of a leaf with such lobes; cf. hastate.
- samara
- a dry, indehiscent fruit with its wall expanded into a wing.
- samphire
- (in Australia) any plant of the tribe Salicorniae (chenopodiaceae), e.g. Sarcocornia, Halosarcia, Sclerostegia; or a community dominated by one or more of these species.
- saprophyte
- (adjective saprophytic) an organism deriving its nourishment from decaying organic matter and usually lacking chlorophyll; compare parasite, epiphyte.
- scabrid (scabrous)
- rough to the touch with short hard emergences or hairs.
- scale
- 1. a reduced or rudimentary leaf, for example around a dormant bud.
- 2. a flattened epidermal outgrowth, such as those commonly found on the leaves and rhizomes of ferns.
- scandent
- climbing, by whatever means. See also: scandent in Wiktionary.
- scape
- (adjective scapose) a stem-like flowering stalk of a plant with radical leaves.
- scapose
- having the floral axis more or less erect with a few leaves or devoid of leaves; consisting of a scape.
- scarious
- dry and membranous.
- schizocarp
- a dry fruit formed from more than one carpel but breaking apart into individual carpels (mericarps) when ripe.
- scion
- the aerial part of a graft combination, induced by various means to unite with a compatible understock/roostock.
- sclereid
- a cell with a thick, often lignified, cell wall that is shorter than a fiber cell and dies soon after the thickening of its cell wall.
- sclerenchyma
- a strengthening or support tissue composed of sclereids or of a mixture of sclereids and fibers.
- sclerophyll
- (adjective sclerophyllous) a plant with hard, stiff leaves; leaves stiffened with thick-walled cells.
- scorpioid
- of a cymose inflorescence, when it branches alternately on one side and then the other; cf. helicoid.
- scrubland
- dense vegetation dominated by shrubs.
- section (sectio)
- the category of supplementary taxa intermediate in rank between subgenus and series. It is a singular noun always written with a capital initial letter, in combination with the generic name.
- secund
- with all the parts grouped on one side or turned to one side (applied especially to inflorescences).
- sedge
- a plant belonging to the family Cyperaceae.
- seed
- a ripened ovule, consisting of a protective coat enclosing an embryo and food reserves; a propagating organ formed in the sexual reproductive cycle of gymnosperms and angiosperms (together, the seed plants).
- segment
- part or subdivision of an organ, for example a petal is a segment of the corolla. A term sometimes used when the sepals and petals are indistinguishable.
- self-pollination
- also called selfing, the acceptance by stigmas of pollen from the same flower or from flowers on the same plant, which means they are self-compatible.
- sensitive
- a descriptive term for stigmas that, in response to touch, close the two lobes of the stigma together, ending the receptivity of the stigma, at least for the time that the lobes are closed together. Mimulus is perhaps the best-known example.
- sensu
- in the sense of.
- sensu lato
- of a plant name, in its broadest sense.
- sensu stricto
- of a plant name, in its narrowest sense.
- sepal
- in a flower, one of the segments or divisions of the outer whorl of non-fertile parts surrounding the fertile organs, usually green; compare petal.
- septicidal
- of a fruit, when it dehisces along the partitions between loculi; cf loculicidal.
- septum
- (plural septa) a partition, for example the membranous wall separating the two valves of the pod of Brassicaceae.
- sericeous
- silky with dense appressed hairs.
- series
- the category of supplementary taxa intermediate in rank between section and species. It is a plural adjective; for instance Primula subgenus Primula sect. Primula series Acaules.
- serrate
- toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward; like the cutting edge of a saw.
- serrulate
- finely serrate.
- sessile
- without a stalk, e.g. of a stigma, when the style is absent.
- seta
- (adjectives setose, setaceous) a bristle or stiff hair (in Bryophytes, the stalk of the sporophyte); a terminal seta is an appendage to the tip of an organ, e.g. the primary rachis of a bipinnate leaf in Acacia.
- sheath
- a tubular or rolled part of an organ, e.g. the lower part of the leaf in most grasses.
- shoot
- usually the aerial part of a plant; a stem including its dependent parts, leaves flowers etc.
- shrub
- a woody perennial plant without a single main trunk, branching freely, and smaller than a tree.
- sigmoid
- shaped like the letter 'S'.
- silicula
- a stout siliqua (not more than twice as long as wide).
- siliqua
- a dry, dehiscent fruit (more than twice as long as wide) formed from a superior ovary of two carpels, with two parietal placentas and divided into two loculi by a 'false' septum.
- silky
- densely covered with fine soft straight appressed hairs, with a lustrous sheen and satiny to the touch.
- silviculture
- the science of forestry and the cultivation of woodlands for commercial purposes and wildlife conservation.
- simple
- undivided, for instance a leaf not divided into leaflets (note, however, that a simple leaf may be entire, toothed or lobed) or an unbranched hair or inflorescence.
- sinuate
- with deep, wave-like depressions along the margins, but more or less flat; compare undulate.
- sinus
- a notch or depression between two lobes or teeth in the margin of an organ.
- solitary
- single, of flowers that grow one plant per year, one in each axil, or widely separated on the plant; not grouped in an inflorescence.
- spadix
- a spicate inflorescence with a stout, often succulent axis.
- spathe
- a large bract ensheathing an inflorescence.
- spathulate (spatulate)
- spoon-shaped; broad at the tip with a narrowed projection extending to the base.
- species
- a group, or populations of individuals, sharing common features and/or ancestry, generally the smallest group that can be readily and consistently recognized; often, a group of individuals capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. The basic unit of classification, the category of taxa of the lowest principal rank in the nomenclatural hierarchy.
- specific epithet
- follows the name of the genus, and is the second word of a botanical binomial. The generic name and specific epithet together constitute the name of a species; i.e. the specific epithet is not the species name.
- spica
- (adjective spicate) a spike.
- spike
- (adjective spicate) an unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence in which the flowers are without stalks; cf. raceme.
- spikelet
- a unit of the inflorescence especially in grasses, sedges and some other monocotyledons, consisting of one to many flowers and associated bracts (glumes).
- spine
- (adjective spinose) a stiff, sharp structure, formed by the modification of a plant organ that contains vascular tissue; e.g. a lateral branch or a stipule; includes thorns.
- spinescent
- ending in a spine; modified to form a spine.
- spiral
- of arrangement, when plant parts are arranged in a succession of curves like the thread of a screw, or coiled in a cylindrical or conical manner.
- sporangium (sporangia)
- a structure in which spores are formed.
- spore
- in non-flowering plants only a simple propagule, produced either sexually or asexually, and consisting of one or a few cells.
- sporocarp
- a fruiting body containing spores.
- sporophyte
- a plant, or phase of a life cycle, that bears the spores; cf. gametophyte.
- sport
- a naturally occurring variant of a species, not usually present in a population or group of plants; a plant that has spontaneously mutated so that it differs from its parent plant.
- spreading
- extending horizontally, for example branches; standing out at right angles to axis, for example leaves or hairs.
- spur
- 1. a short shoot.
- 2. a conical or tubular outgrowth from the base of a perianth segment, often containing nectar.
- stalk
- the supporting structure of an organ, usually narrower in diameter than the organ.
- stamen
- (adjective staminate) male organ of a flower, consisting (usually) of a stalk (filament) and a pollen-bearing portion (anther).
- staminode
- a sterile stamen, often rudimentary, sometimes petal-like.
- standard
- the large posterior petal of pea-flowers.
- standard specimen
- a representative specimen of a cultivar (or other taxon), one that demonstrates how the name of that taxon should be used.
- stellate
- star-shaped, for example a type of hair.
- stem
- the plant axis, either aerial or subterranean, which bears nodes, leaves, branches and flowers.
- stem-clasping
- see amplexicaul.
- sterile
- infertile, for example a stamen that does not bear pollen, or a flower that does not bear seed.
- stigma
- the pollen-receptive surface of a carpel or group of fused carpels, usually sticky; usually a point or small head at the summit of the style.
- stipe
- in ferns, the stalk of a frond; generally a small stalk.
- stipella
- (stipel; plural stipellae) one of two small secondary stipules at the base of leaflets in some species.
- stipitate
- stalked; borne on a stipe; of an ovary, borne on a gynophore.
- stipulate
- bearing stipules.
- stipule
- small appendage at the bases of leaves in many dicotyledons.
- stolon
- slender, prostrate or trailing stem, producing roots and sometimes erect shoots at its nodes. See also rhizome.
- stoloniferous
- having stolons.
- stoma
- (plural stomata) a pore; small hole in the surface of a leaf (or other aerial organ) allowing the exchange of gases between tissues and the atmosphere.
- striate
- striped with parallel, longitudinal lines or ridges.
- strigose
- covered with appressed, rigid, bristle-like, straight hairs; the appressed equivalent of hispid.
- strobilus
- (plural strobili) a cone-like structure consisting of sporophylls borne close together on an axis, for instance in some club-mosses, and other conifers.
- style
- an elongated part of a carpel, or group of fused carpels, between the ovary and the stigma.
- stylodium
- an elongate stigma that resembles a style, a false style, e.g. commonly found in Poaceae and Asteraceae.
- stylulus
- the elongated apex of a free carpel which functions like the style of a syncarpous ovary, allowing pollen tubes from its stigma to enter the locule of only that carpel.
- subgenus
- the category of supplementary taxa intermediate between genus and section. It is a singular noun, always has a capital initial letter and is used in combination with the generic name; e.g. Primula subgenus Primula.
- subshrub
- undershrub; small shrub which may have partially herbaceous stems, but generally a woody plant less than 1 m high.
- subspecies
- a grouping within a species, usually used for geographically isolated and morphologically distinct entities. Its taxonomic rank occurs between species and variety.
- subtend
- to stand beneath or close to, as in a bract at the base of a flower.
- subquadrangular
- not quite square; see also quadrangular in wiktionary.
- subulate
- narrow and tapering gradually to a fine point.
- succulent
- juicy, fleshy; a plant with a fleshy habit.
- sucker
- a shoot of more or less subterranean origin; an erect shoot originating from a bud on a root or a rhizome, sometimes at some distance from the stem of the plant.
- sulcate
- furrowed; grooved.
- superficial
- on the surface.
- superior
- of an ovary, borne above the level of attachment of the other floral parts, or above the base of a floral tube (that is, one that is free from the ovary and bears the perianth and stamens); compare inferior, half-inferior.
- suspended
- of an ovule, when attached slightly below the summit of the ovary; compare pendulous.
- suture
- a junction or seam of union. (see fissure, commissure)
- sward
- extensive, more or less even cover of a surface, for example a lawn grass; compare tussock.
- sympatric
- with more or less similar or overlapping ranges of distribution.
- sycon
- a hollow infructescence containing multiple fruit, such as that of a fig.
- syconium
- Same as sycon (Greek for fruit of fig) or syconus.
- syn- (sym-)
- with, together.
- sympetalous
- with united (connate or fused) petals.
- synangium
- a fused aggregate of sporangia.
- syncarpous
- of a gynoecium, made up of united carpels.
- synonym
- outdated name or 'alternative' name for the same taxon.
Read more about this topic: Glossary Of Botanical Terms