Botanical Nerd Word: Contorted
Contorted: Twisted or bent.* Pinus strobus ‘Contorta’ is a cultivar of eastern white pine growing in our Nature’s Garden. According to Missouri Botanical Garden’s Plant Finder, it was discovered growing …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Apical Dominance
Apical Dominance: A condition in plants where the stem apex prevents the development of lateral branches near the apex. It is controlled by auxins produced at the apical bud. Close to …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Viviparous
Viviparous: Offspring developing while still attached to the parent plant, as with seeds germinating in fruits still attached to the parent plant (e.g., mangroves, Avicennia, Rhizophora), or buds that form …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Fastigiate
Fastigiate: Having flowers or branches whose extremities form a tapering or cone-like outline.* The pyramidal English oaks (Quercus robar ‘Fastigiata’) growing at the end of the Entry Garden Walk have a …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Bacciferous
Bacciferous: Producing berries.* Any plant that produces true berries is bacciferous, like Callicarpa (Beautyberry). *Bagust, H. (1992). The gardener’s dictionary of horticultural terms. London: Cassell.
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Botanical Nerd Word: Parastichy
Parastichy: Spiral formed by tracing the points of attachment of organs on an axis, such as leaves along a stem or scales along the central axis of a cone.* The Euphorbia …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Fasciated
Fasciated: Compressed into a bundle or band; grown closely together; with the stems malformed and flattened as if several separate stems had been fused together.* One of the Berberis in the …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Umbo
Umbo: A blunt or rounded protuberance, as on the ends of the scales of some pine cones. Some pines have very pronounced umbos that can be quite prickly. *Harris, J.G., …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Lamina
Lamina: The usually flattened, blade-like portion of a leaf, as distinct from the petiole and leaf base. The shape of the lamina and the nature of its margin are important taxonomic …
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Botanical Nerd Word: Pepo
Pepo: Unilocular berry with hard exocarp, characteristic of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae).* The pumpkin is a classic example of a pepo. In fact, the species most often used to make jack-o-lanterns …
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