Grasses: Bromus to Paspalum, Second Edition

Glossary

GLOSSARY Acuminate. Gradually tapering to an elongated point. Acute. Sharp, ending in a point. Annual. Living for a single year. Anther. The terminal part of a stamen which bears the pollen. Antrorse. POinting upward. Apiculate. Ending abruptly in a small, sharp tip. Appressed. Lying flat against the surface. Aristate. Bearing an awn. Attenuate. Long-tapering. Auriculate. Bearing an earlike process. Awn. A bristle usually terminating a structure. Axis. The central support to which lateral parts are attached. Bidentate. Having two teeth. Bifid. Two-cleft. Callus. A hard swollen area at the outside base of a lemma or palea. ble. Canescent. Grayish-hairy. Capillary. Threadlike. Carinate. Bearing a keel. Cartilaginous. Firm but flexiCaryopsis . A type of oneseeded , dry, indehiscent fruit with seed coat attached to the mature ovary wall. Caudex. (pI., caudices). The woody base of a perennial plant. Cauline. Belonging to a stem. Cespitose. Growing in a tuft. Chartaceous. Papery. Ciliate. Bearing marginal hairs. Compressed. Flattened. Conduplicate. Folded together lengthwise. Connate. United, when referring to like parts. Connivent. Coming in contact ; converging. Convex. Rounded on the outer surface; opposite of concave . Coriaceous. Leathery. Culm. The stem which terminates in an inflorescence. Cuspidate. Terminating in a very short point. Decumbent. Lying flat, but with the top ascending. Diffuse. Loosely spreading. Digitate. Radiating from a common point, like the fingers from a hand. Dioecious. With staminate flowers on one plant, pistillate flowers on another. Disarticulate. To come apart; to become disjointed. Divergent. Spreading apart. Ellipsoid. Referring to a solid object which, in side view, is broadest at the middle, gradually tapering equally to both ends. Elliptic. Broadest at the mid- 390 / G LOS S A R Y dIe, gradually tapering equally to both ends. Emarginate. Deeply notched at the tip. Erose. With an irregularly notched margin. Fascicle. A cluster; a bundle. Fibrous. Bearing fibers; i.e., slender projections of equal diameters . Filifonn. Threadlike. Flexuous. Zigzag. Floret. A small flower. Geniculate. Bent. Glabrate. Becoming smooth. Glabrous. Smooth; without hairs, scales, or glands. Glaucous'. With a whitish covering which can be rubbed off. Glume. A sterile scale subtending a spikelet. Grain. The fruit of most grasses. Hirsute. With stiff hairs. Hirtellous. With minute stiff hairs. Hispid. With rigid hairs. Hispidulous. With minute rigid hairs. Hyaline. Transparent. Indurate. Hardened. Inflorescence. A cluster of flowers. Internode. The area between two consecutive nodes. Involute. Rolled inward. Keel. A central ridge. Lanceolate. Lance-shaped; broadest near base, gradually tapering to the narrow apex. Lanceoloid. Referring to a solid object which is broadest near base, gradually tapering to the narrow apex. Lemma. A scale subtending the floret. Ligule. The structure on the inner surface of the leaf at the junction of the blade and the sheath. Linear. Elongated and uniform in width throughout. Lodicule. A small rudimentary structure at the base of a grass flower. Monoecious. With stamens and pistils in separate flowers on the same plant. Mucronate. Bearing a short, terminal point. Nerve. Vein. Node. That place on the stem from which leaves and branchlets arise. Oblong. With nearly unifonn width throughout, but broader than linear. Oblongoid. Referring to a solid object which, in side view, is nearly unifonn in width throughout. Obovate. Broadly rounded at apex, becoming narrowed below; broader than oblanceolate. Obsolete. Not apparent. Obtuse. Rounded; blunt. Orbicular. Round. Ovary. The lowe~ swollen part of the pistil which produces the ovules. Ovoid. Referring to a solid object which, in side view, is broadly rounded at base, becoming narrowed above. Ovule. The egg-producing structure found within the ovary; an immature seed. Palea. The scale opposite the lemma which encloses the flower. Panicle. A type of inflorescence composed of several racemes . Papillose. Bearing pimplelike processes. Pedicel. The individual stalk of a spikelet. Pedicellate. Bearing a pedicel . Peduncle. The stalk of an inflorescence . Perennial. Living more than one year. Perfect. Bearing both stamens and pistils. Perianth. That part of the flower composed of the calyx or corolla or both. Pericarp. The ripened ovary wall. Pilose. Bearing soft long hairs. Pistil. Female reproductive organ. Plicate. Folded. Prostrate. Lying flat. Puberulent. Minutely pubescent . Raceme. A type of inflorescence where pedicellate flowers are arranged along an elongated axis. Racemose. Bearing racemes. Rachilla. The axis bearing the flowers. Emarginate-Stipitate / 391 Rank. Referring to the number of planes in which structures are borne. ReHexed. Turned downward. Retrorse. Pointing downward. Retuse. Shallowy notched at a rounded apex. Rhizomatous. Bearing rhizomes . Rugose. Wrinkled. Rugulose. With small wrinkles . Scaberulous. Slightly rough to the...