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Glossary for glossary (A)
>One comment, since I read the whole thing while I was cleaning it up:
>some of the definitions are hard to understand because they use
>terminology that has not yet been presented - for instance, what is a
>"perfect" flower?
>
Very good point. I will try and include definitions for all words used
(unless previously presented) in the future. Hope the following helps.
CARPEL: one unit of the female part of the flower, consisting of
ovule-bearing ovary, receptive stigma and often a stalk like style between
them.
DEHISCENCE: opening, usually regularly, to shed contents when ripe.
INDEHISCENT: not opening to release its contents, except finally by decay.
INFLORESCENCE: a general term for a collection of flowering parts, or for
the arrangement of the flowers.
NODE: a place on the stem marked by the attachment of one or more leaves.
PERFECT FLOWER: flowers with both male and female elements present and
functional.
PERICARP: the wall of the ripened ovary, i.e. of the fruit
POLLEN: the microspores of a flowering plant.
SPORANGIUM: a sac or other structure containing spores.
STAMEN: a pollen-bearing organ, composed of an anther with pollen-sacs and
its supporting stalk or filament, hence staminate, of male flowers with
stamens but without functional carpels.
OVULE: the structure which contains the egg or female sex cell and which,
after fertilisation, develops into the seed.
SPORES: a simple, asexual, usually 1-celled reproductive body, as in ferns.
STIGMA: a part of the carpel that is receptive to pollen, usually found at
or near the tip of the style; hence stigmatic.
STYLE: the more or less elongated part of the carpel between the ovary and
the stigma; hence stylar
OVARY: the part of the gynoecium that encloses the ovule(s)
GYNOECIUM: the female part of the flower made up of one or more carpels.
Derek