Word of the Week

Cryptobiosis: A condition in which an organism (or an egg, seed, etc.) is in a dormant and resistant state without visible signs of life, remaining so until environmental or seasonal conditions …

Hesperidium: The berry of a citrus plant (Rutaceae), i.e. a fruit whose fleshy parts are divided into segments, the whole being surrounded by a separable skin.* Fruits in the citrus …

Dray (or drey): A squirrel’s nest.* Now that the leaves have fallen, it’s easy to see just how many squirrels are living around the garden. They build their nests out …

Diaspore: the smallest unit of seed dispersal in plants. Diaspores can be seeds, fruitlets of compound or schizocarpic fruits, entire fruits or seedlings (e.g. in mangroves).*   *Kesseler, R. & Stuppy, …

Anemoballism: (Greek: anemos = wind + ballistes = to throw): form of dispersal in which the diaspores [seeds] are subject to indirect effects of wind, i.e. the wind does not transport …

Coma: 1) A tuft of hairs, especially on the tip of a seed; 2) the tuft of bracts on a pineapple; 3) the head of a tree* The seeds of …

Pome: A fruit in which the seeds are protected by a tough carpel wall and the entire fruit is embedded in a fleshy receptacle. In an apple, the carpel wall …

Vagile: (From Latin vagus wandering, straying). Of an organism or group of organisms: having the ability to disperse or be dispersed in an environment.* The seeds of this plant, Anemone …

Etiolated: Of a plant or plant part: in a state of etiolation; esp. weakened and abnormally pale as a result of being grown in darkness or reduced light.* This scented …

Syconium: A multiple fruit developed from numerous flowers imbedded in a fleshy receptacle, as in the fig.* The fruits on the Ficus carica (hardy fig) are just beginning to ripen in …