Library | Glossary

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Name	Definition

Acuminate	tapered to a sharp point with concave sides, as a leaf or sepal.
Acute	tapered to a sharp point with straight sides.
Alternate	arising singly at each node on a stem, as the leaves.
Anther	the pollen-producing organ of the stamen; in
Ascending	growing upward obliquely, as stems or flowers on a stem.

Basal	growing at the base, as leaves at or near the ground.
Beard	a tuft of hairs, as on the palate or staminode.
Blade	the broad part of a leaf or petal.
Bract	a leaf, usually reduced, in the inflorescence, from the axil of which a floral peduncle or pedicel may arise

Calyx	the sepals of a flower collectively, the outermost portion of a flower.
Capsule	a dry specialized seed pod, as in Penstemon.
Caudate	with a sharp tail-like appendage, as on a leaf tip.
Caulescent	with a leafy stem rising above ground.
Cauline	of or pertaining to a leafy stem, bearing flowers in Penstemon.
Channeled	a longitudinal groove, as a leaf folded along the midrib.
Clasping	partly or wholly surrounding a stem, as the base of a leaf.
CM (Centimeter)	10 millimeters, 0.1 decimeter, 0.01 meter (approx. 13/32 inch).
Connate-perfoliate	joined at the base and surrounding a stem, as a pair of leaves.
Connective	the tissue joining two pollen sacs as in the stamens of Penstemon.
Cordate	heart shaped.
Corolla	collectively the petals of a flower; in Penstemon, joined at the base to form a tube and the petal lobes.
Cyme	one peduncle of a branching inflorescence bearing two or more flowers with the terminal flower blooming first; in Penstemon, one side of a verticillaster.

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Deciduous	with leaves falling at the end of the growing season.
Declined	curved or angled downward, i.e., below the horizontal
Decumbent	a stem with a curving or reclining base and erect or ascending tip.
Dehiscent	rupturing at maturity, as anther sacs or capsules.
Dentate	with spreading or outward-pointing teeth on the margin.
Determinate	as an inflorescence in which the terminal flower blooms first, stopping elongation of the peduncle or main stem.
Divergent	spreading widely apart but not completely opposite, as the anther sacs in Penstemon.
dm (decimeter)	0.1 meter, 10 centimeters, approximately 4 inches.

Elliptic	approximately the shape of an oval, as a leaf or sepal.
Elongate	growing in length; considerably longer than wide.
Endemic	growing in a confined area or geographic region.
Entire	continuous, not toothed or cut, as a leaf margin.
Erose	a ragged or irregularly cut margin.
Evergreen	leaves remaining green over winter.
Exotic	introduced; not native to a region.
Expanded	enlarged, as the tip of a staminode.
Explanate	spreading out flat, as dehiscent anther sacs.
Exserted	protruding, as stamens or staminode from a corolla.

Fertile	capable of reproduction, as a stamen bearing pollen.
Filament	the stalk of a stamen supporting the anther.
Fleshy	thick and succulent, pulpy.
Flexuous	curved or bent, as a stem.
Foliage	the leaves collectively.

Genus (pl. Genera)	a group of structurally related species; a classification between family and species.
Glabrous	a smooth surface; without hairs or glands.
Glandular	bearing glands, as on the ends of hairs or on a surface.
Glaucous	a fine waxy powder, usually blue or gray, covering a surface.
Guide Lines	Pigmented veins in the throat or on the palate of a tubular corolla, as in Penstemon.

Herb	a plant or that part of a plant dying back at the end of a growing season.
Herbaceous	green colored, non-woody.

Incised	deeply cut, as the teeth on a leaf margin.
Inclined	angled upward, above horizontal.
Included	enclosed within a structure, as the stamens within the corolla.
Indeterminate	as an inflorescence in which the bottom flowers bloom first, so that the peduncle or main stem can continue to elongate.
Inflorescence	the flowers collectively on a plant; the arrangement of flowers along a flowering stalk including side branches.

Keeled	with a conspicuous longitudinal ridge, as on the top of a corolla.

Lanceolate	Lance shaped.
Limb	the expanded part of a corolla; from the basal tube to the throat in Penstemon.
Linear	long and narrow with nearly parallel sides; like a line.
Lip	the petals of a corolla aggregated into a shelf, as the upper and lower lips in Penstemon.

mm (millimeter)	0.001 meter, approximately 1/25 of an inch.
Mucronate	with a short, sharp point at the tip, as a leaf or sepal.

Naturalized	introduced into an area and wet established.
Nectar	a sweet substance produced by a flower to attract pollinating insects; a nectary is the structure that produces nectar
Node	the point of attachment of a leaf bract or branch on a stem.

Oblanceolate	reverse lance-shaped, attached at the narrow end and enlarged at the outer end.
Oblong	longer than broad with nearly parallel sides, as a leaf.
Obtuse	broad at the tip, the sides forming an angle greater than 90 degrees.
Opposite	located directly across from each other, as two leaves on a stem or the sacs of a dehiscent anther.
Orifice	the mouth or opening of a corolla tube; the throat.
Ovary	the expanded base of the pistil; the structure that contains developing seeds in plants.
Ovate	broadly elliptic or egg-shaped, as the leaves.

Palate	raised portion(s) of the lower lip of the corolla, tending to constrict the throat.
Panicle	a branched inflorescence that blooms from the bottom upward.
Pedicel	the stalk of a single flower in an inflorescence.
Peduncle	the stalk of a cyme or inflorescence or of a single flower.
Petiole	a leaf stalk or narrow leaf base.
Pistil	the female organ of a flower, typically composed of stigma, style and ovary.
Pollen sacs	in Penstemon, a pair of pollen sacs constitutes an anther.
Prostrate	lying flat on the ground
Pubescent	with hairs of any sort; herein generally hairs without glands.

Raceme	an unbranched inflorescence with each flower on an individual pedicel attached to the main axis, blooming from the bottom upward.
Reclined	bending or angled downward; lying on some support, as the base of a stem lying on the ground.
Recurved	curving or bent backward
Reduced	Becoming smaller.
Remote	spaced well apart; small in size.
Revolute	rolled backward or under, as margins.
Rhizome	a horizontal underground stem or rootstock
Robust	vigorous, often above average in size
Rosette	a cluster of leaves, usually encircling the base of a plant
Rotund	round, plump.

Sacs	pouches, see pollen sacs
Sagittate	in the shape of an arrow or arrowhead
Scarious	thin and white, as the margin of a sepal.
Secund	arranged on one side of a main stem, as an inflorescence.
Sepals	outermost floral leaves; segments of the calyx.
Serrate	like saw teeth; forward-pointing teeth on the margins.
Sessile	directly attached at the base, as a leaf without a petiole.
Shoots	young or short stems or branches. Uses a gun, as pointing at deer in garden.
Shrub	a plant with several stems, woody at the base, not dying back at the base.
Spatulate	spatula-shaped, broad and rounded at the end and tapered to a narrow base, as a leaf.
Species	a plant that possesses one or more unique characteristics; a classification between genus and variety (subspecies).
Spike	an unbranched inflorescence with sessile flowers on the main axis.
Spreading	expanding to nearly horizontal branches, as an inflorescence.
Stamen	the male, pollen-producing organ of a flower, normally composed of a filament and an anther.
Staminode	a modified sterile stamen producing no pollen.
Stem	an axis of a plant bearing nodes, leaves and buds, usually above ground.
Sterile	not fertile, not producing seeds or pollen; stems without flowers.
Stigma	that portion of the pistil on which pollen is deposited, normally the end of the style, often enlarged.
Style	the usually slender stalk connecting the stigma and ovary.
Sub	a prefix meaning "almost" or "not quite," as in subequal and subshrub.
Suture	a line of fusion or separation, as in the dehiscence of an anther or capsule.

Throat	the opening or orifice of a corolla.
Thyrse	a densely compact inflorescence; a panicle with indeterminate main axis and cymose branches.
Toothed	dentate; having lobes or points along a margin.
Truncate	with the end squared off or abruptly rounded as if cut off.
Tubular	with the form of a cylinder.

Umbel	an inflorescence in which 3 or more pedicels arise from a common point on a stem.

Valve	in an anther, one side of the anther wall after dehiscence. variety—a classification in taxonomy below the species level.
Verticillaster	a false whorl; in Penstemon, arising at a node and composed of 2 cymes (a branched cluster of blooms that looks like a whorl).
Villous	with long, soft hairs.

Whorl	a ring of 3 or more leaves or flowers arising from a common node or point.