Botanical Nerd Word: Papilionaceous
Papilionaceous: Butterfly-like, as the irregular corolla of a pea, with a banner petal, two wing petals, and two fused keel petals.* Baptisia is a member…
Author Archives: Weston Family Library
Botanical Nerd Word: Deracinate
Deracinate: To pluck or tear up by the roots; to uproot, eradicate, exterminate.* Don’t just pull those weeds, deracinate them! *OED Online, Oxford University Press.
Botanical Nerd Word: Flexuose
Flexuose: Bending back and forth at angles in opposite directions, zigzagging.* The stems of Japanese knotweed, a highly invasive plant, have a characteristic zigzag shape. *Pell,…
Botanical Nerd Word: Flush
Flush: Emergence of leaves or flowers on woody plants.* As the flowers begin to fade on the redbuds (Cercis canadensis), the trees put out their flush…
Botanical Nerd Word: Peltate
Peltate: Having a centrally attached stalk or petiole like an umbrella.* The leaf stalk of mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) is attached in the middle of the leaf, rather…
Botanical Nerd Word: Achlamydeous
Achlamydeous: Having neither sepals nor petals.* Willows (Salix spp.) produce a type of flower called a catkin. They have no petals or sepals. *A technical glossary…
Botanical Nerd Word: Runcinate
Runcinate: Pinnatifid with the lobes pointed and sloping toward the petiole; e.g., the leaves of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)* Pinnatifid leaves have lobes that are divided halfway…
Botanical Nerd Word: Hypogeal germination
Hypogeal germination: Seed germination in which the cotyledons remain below the soil surface.* The cotyledons (seed leaves) of peas stay below ground. The first thing to…
Botanical Nerd Word: Epigeal germination
Epigeal germination: Seed germination in which the cotyledons (seed leaves) are raised above the soil surface.* These arugula seedlings raise their heart-shaped cotyledons above the soil…
Botanical Nerd Word: Cotyledon
Cotyledon: A primary leaf of the embryo; a seed leaf.* This cauliflower seedling has two cotyledons. Cotyledons are not true leaves, they are part of the…