Glossary of Botanical Terms - V

V

valvate

of sepals and petals in bud, which meet edge to edge but do not overlap.

valve

a portion of an organ that fragments or splits open, for example the teeth-like portions of a pericarp in a split (dehisced) capsule.

var

see varietas.

variant

a plant or group of plants showing some measure of difference from the characteristics associated with a particular taxon.

varietas (variety in common usage, abbreviated as var.)

(Latin) in the Linnean hierarchy a rank below that of species, between the ranks of subspecies and form.

variegated

irregularly marked with blotches or patches of another colour.

Vasculum

Container used by botanists for collecting field specimines.

vein

a strand of vascular tissue; nerve.

veinlet

a small vein; the ultimate (visible) division of a vein.

velvety

densely covered with fine, short, soft, erect hairs.

venation

the arrangement of veins in a leaf.

ventral

the front; in particular, towards the axis in a lateral organ or towards substratum in prostrate plant; compare dorsal.

vernation

the arrangement of unexpanded leaves in a bud; the order of unfolding of leaves from a bud.

verrucose

with warts.

versatile

of anthers, swinging freely about the point of attachment to the filament.

verticillate

arranged in one or more whorls.

vescicular

of hairs, bladder-like; vesciculous, bearing such hairs.

vessel

a capillary tube formed from a series of open-ended cells in the water-conducting tissue of a plant.

vestigial

reduced in form and function from the normal or ancestral condition.

villous

Abounding in or covered with long, soft, straight hairs; shaggy with soft hairs.

vine

1. Vitis.

2. Scandent plants climbing by means of trailing or twining stem or runner.

3. Such a stem or runner

viscid

sticky; coated with a thick, syrupy secretion.

viviparous

1. seeds or fruits which germinate before being shed from the parent plant.

2. the development of plantlets on non-floral organs e.g. leaves.