lateral or secondary branches of an inflorescence

Main axis of a spike or of a pinnately compound leaf, excluding the petiole.

Portion of the embryo below the cotyledons that will form the roots.

Flowering on the branches, but below the leaves.

seeds are rich in free water and do not tolerate nor survive desiccation.

Portion of the axis of a flower stalk on which the flower is borne.

Refers to inherited traits; with recessive alleles two copies are required to produce the trait.

All flower parts radially symmetrical of similar size and shape.

A slender to much swollen underground stem that grows more or less horizontally.

The immediate microenvironment surrounding the root.

Of river banks or lake shores.

Cells at the root apex that cover and protect the meristematic cells from mechanical injury as the root moves thru the soil.

Microscopic extensions of root epidermal cells that greatly increase the surface area of the root, providing greater capacity for absorption of soil ions and water.

Plant hormones prepared usually as a fine powder or liquid in which the ends of cuttings can be dipped to enhance rooting.

The portion of a grafted or budded plant that provides the root system; may include a length of stem.

rough and wrinkled leaves

reddish-brown discolouration

(of fruit skin) reddish-brown discolouration.

High concentrations of total salts in soil.

Fluid content of the xylem, sieve elements of the phloem and the cell vacuole.

A plant that feeds on dead organic matter.

Fleshy testa.

Sandpapery.

Scratching of seed coverings to allow gas exchange and water uptake to enhance germination.

mechanical, chemical or thermal means of breaking seed dormancy

Part of a plant which will be budded or grafted onto a rootstock.

Hard-leaved.

Clothed in bran-like scales, eg. fruit of sapodilla.

The outer protective layer of a seed that develops from the integument of the ovule, testa.

An active developmental process in which cellular structures and macromolecules are broken down and translocated away from the senescing organ (typically leaves) to actively growing regions that serve as storage sinks.

One of the parts of a calyx or outer set of flower parts; may be separate or united to another sepal.

Having sharp saw-like teeth pinted towards the apex.

Without a stalk.

Phloem cells that conduct sugars and other organic materials from their sites of synthesis to other areas throughout the plant.

One that ripens from a single ovary.

Spike with a thickened fleshy axis eg coconut palm.

Large bract at the base of a spadix, enclosing it (at least initially) as a sheath.

Type of inflorescence having sessile flowers on a long common axis.

A structure within which spores are formed, plural sporangia.

A more or less leaf-like organ on which one or more sporangia are borne.

An unusual vegetative form resulting from a mutation or somatic segregation; may be part or all of a plant.

Short stubby lateral branches that grow from the branches of several fruiting species and produce fruits for 2-4 years, eg apples and peaches.

Sporophyll within the flower; in angiosperms, the floral organ that bears pollen.

Having pollen-bearing stamens only, on flowers or inflorescences or individual plants of a dioecious species; male.

An aborted or rudimentary stamen in which the anther does not develop and remains sterile.

Uncommitted slowly dividing initial cells that produce all the cells in the meristem and thus all the cells in the entire plant.

The production of aborted or incompletely developed seeds following fertilization, with subsequent normal fruit development., eg some varieties of seedless grapes.

Pollen-receptive part of a pistil, often enlarged and sticky, usually at the tip of the style.

One of a pair of lateral appendages at the base of a leaf petiole.

Prostrate or trailing more or less above-ground stem which produces roots and sometimes erect shoots at its nodes.

Microscopic pore in leaf epidermis surrounded by a pair of guard cells. they regulate the gas exchange (water, oxygen and carbon dioxide) of leaves by controlling the dimension of the stomatal pore; mostly on the under side in dicots and conifers but both with monocots.

use of temperature to break seed dormancy

The narrow upper part of ovary that supports the stigma.

A complex of fatty substances present in the wall of cork tissue that waterproofs it and renders it more resistant to decay.

Many stems arising from the base of a tree or shrub and gradually spreading the diameter of the basal area.

An ovary with the flower parts growing from below it.

A detergent, adjuvant or other surface-active agent that enhances penetration and action of applied chemicals.

Pre-detemined line along which a carpel of a dehiscent fruit opens.

Relationship between two organisms where both gain a benefit greater than could be achieved alone, eg nitrogen fixing bacteria in fabaceae and mycorrhizal associations in 80% of dicots.

Having the carpels of the gynoecium united in a compound ovary.

A compound fruit composed of fruitlets enclosed in a receptacle or peduncle, eg figs.

When a single mature bud is inserted into a t-shaped incision in the rootstock; shield budding.

Plant polymers that often bind proteins and function as defences against microbes, insects, and many mammals.

The main single root axis from which lateral roots develop.

Classification of organisms, including identification and nomenclature, historically based on morphological features and development but more recently also using genetic information.

study of congenitally abnormal morphologies

(near) cylindrical cross section

Outer covering of the seed; the seedcoat.

In angiosperms, a part of the anther, paired, fused sporangia that dehisce via a common slit.

Removal of some flowers and/or fruits from plants to increase fruit size and quality, and to balance out yields in plants subject to alternate bearing.

Hard sharp-pointed stem.

covering of dense matted hairs

Changing the cultivar of a tree by grafting selected scion material on the trunk or large scaffold branches.

When used with flowers, the receptacle.

Movement of water and dissolved substances through the vascular system of plants.

Evaporation of water from the surface of leaves and stems.

A hair, bristle, scale or other outgrowth from the epidermis.

Oriented plant growth in response to a directional stimulus from light, gravity or touch.

Underground stem in which carbohydrates are stored.

A wart-like swelling.

Firmness of a cell resulting from its hydrostatic or turgor pressure.

Inflorescence having the flower stalks or pedicels, nearly equal in length, emanating from a common centre or base.

A membrane-bound fluid-filled cavity within a cell.

A taxonomic subdivision of a species based on minor characteristics and often an exclusive geographic range.

Strands of primary phloem and xylem separated by the vascular cambium and often surrounded by a bundle sheath found in shoots but continuous with the vascular cylinder of the root.

Referring to non-reproductive structures or growth.

Arrangement of veins in a leaf.

In some species, the period of cold temperature requirement for flowering.

covered with wart-like outgrowths

(vam) a mycorrhizal association between a fungus and a plant root where the fungal hyphae form vesicles and arbuscules within the plant cell. viviparous : seed germination while the fruit is still on the plant eg ice cream bean.

seeds germinating before being shed from the parent plant

A vigorous shoot arising primarily from latent buds on the trunk of older scaffold branches.

Complex mixtures of hydrophobic lipids that make up the protective cuticle that reduces water loss from exposed plant tissues.

A situation where soil remains saturated, excluding natural soil aeration. soil-borne diseases are favoured under these conditions, often resulting in root decline.

Uses slanted scions and rootstocks of similar diameter in grafting.

A ring of three or more structures (leaves, stems etc) in a circle, not spiralled.

Plant loss of rigidity leading to a flaccid state, due to turgor pressure falling to zero.

Indicates the time in days between the last spray and the first harvest.

Pollination of one plant by another genetically different plant.