Botanical Nerd Word: Capreolate
Capreolate: With tendrils.* Many vining plants have tendrils. These peas use their tendrils to grasp and coil around supports. *Harris, J.G., Harris, M.W. (2001). Plant identification…
Category Archives: Word of the Week
Botanical Nerd Word: Cruciate
Cruciate (cruciform): Cross-shaped, used especially of the flowers of the Brassicaceae family.* The 4-petalled flowers of Brassicaceae (mustard family) plants, such as this dame’s rocket (Hesperis…
Botanical Nerd Word: Calcar
Calcar: A spur or spur-like appendage.* The petals of columbines (Aquilegia spp.), such as this A. canadensis, form spurs out the back of the blooms….
Botanical Nerd Word: Cauliflorous
Cauliflorous: Developing flowers directly on a stem or trunk.* From Latin caulis = stem or stalk. Redbud trees, Cercis canadensis, are cauliflorous plants. They are able to produce…
Botancial Nerd Word: Vernation
Vernation: The pattern of folding and rolling of leaves in a bud.* Different plants use different folding patterns to pack their leaves into the bud. These beech…
Word of the Week: Urceolate
Urceolate (ur-see-o-late): Pitcher-like, hollow and contracted at the mouth like an urn or pitcher.* The tiny, individual flowers in the inflorescence of grape hyacinth (Muscari…
Botanical Nerd Word: Cernuous
Cernuous (sern-you-us): Drooping or nodding.* Trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), coming into bloom now in the woods, have cernuous blooms. *Harris, J.G., Harris, M.W. (2001). Plant…
Botanical Nerd Word: Precocious
Precocious: Developing or appearing very early; with the flowers developing before the leaves.* The Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’ in the Westview Terrace is already…
Word of the Week: Perule
Perule: A leaf-bud scale.* Perules protect the young leaves through the winter. They will soon be falling away as the leaves begin to grow. *Harris,…
Botanical Nerd Word: Geophyte
Geophyte: A plant that survives an unfavourable period by means of underground food-storage organs (e.g. rhizomes, tubers, and bulbs). Buds arise from these to produce new…