Botanical Nerd Word: Twining
Twining: Coiling or spiraling around a support (usually another stem) for climbing.* Many plants climb by twining. For example, dog-strangling vine. This one is twining up a railing in Wilket …
Read MoreAuthor: Weston Family Library
Botanical Nerd Word: Receptacle
Receptacle: In flowers and fruits, tissue to which all the floral whorls are attached.* A strawberry is not a berry at all. It is actually a swollen receptacle. Each of …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Hastate
Hastate: Arrowhead-shaped with basal lobes pointing outward from the midvein.* Blue vervain (Verbena hastata), as the species name implies, has hastate leaves. The image above shows the plant flowering on …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Sarmentose
Sarmentose: Having long, thin runners (stolons).* Strawberries produce long runners, with new plantlets rooting along the ground. The image on the right shows the long runners producing plantlets. See also …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Ligule
Ligule: The membranous appendage arising from the inner surface of the leaf at the junction with the leaf sheath in many grasses and some sedges.* In grasses, the ligule is …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Rhizome
Rhizome: An underground, usually horizontal stem, such as that of ginger.* Irises grow from horizontal rhizomes that look much like pieces of ginger. Though they look a lot like ginger, …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Cyathium
Cyathium: The inflorescence in the genus Euphorbia, consisting of a cup-like involucre containing a single pistil and male flowers with a single stamen.* *Harris, J.G., Harris, M.W. (2001). Plant identification …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Coriaceous
Coriaceous: Having a leathery texture.* For example, the leaves of rhododendrons. *Allaby, M. (2006). A dictionary of plant sciences (Revised ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Sessile
Sessile: Lacking a stalk; e.g., a leaf without a petiole.* Trillium luteum has a sessile flower. It sits directly on top of the leaves (bracts) without a peduncle. *Pell, S.K., …
Read More
Botanical Nerd Word: Bifid
Bifid: Deeply two-cleft or two-lobed, usually from the tip.* The petals of this snow-in-summer (Cerastium) are bifid. Each one has a deep cleft at the tip. *Harris, J.G., Harris, M.W. …
Read More