- Achene, a single seed like wheat.
- Acuminate, abruptly sharp.
- Acute, same as sharp.
- Adnate, connivent or growing together.
- Alternate, situated on two sides, but not opposite.
- Ament, catkin or spike of the oak, willow, &c.
- Ancipital, having two sharp sides like a sword.
- Angular, forming angles.
- Annual, lasting only one year.
- Anomalous, out of order or irregular.
- Axillary, situated at the corner between the stem and leaves.
- Biennial, lasting two years.
- Bifid, divided in two, trifid when in three, &c.
- Binate, twin leaves or flowers.
- Bract, a floral leaf, bracteole a small one.
- Bulb, scaly thick root like Onions, Tulips, &c.
- Campanulate, shaped like a bell.
- Capsul, a dry fruit opening by valves or holes.
- Cells, the internal divisions of the fruit, one celled or unilocular, two celled or bilocular, three celled or trilocular, &c.
- Ciliate, having hairs on the edges.
- Cluster, or thyrsus, a bunch of flowers or fruit, like Lilac.
- Cordate, shaped like a heart.
- Corymb, umbel with scattered shafts.
- Cuspidate or mucronate, having a bristle at the end.
- Cylindric, long and round like a cylinder.
- Deciduous, falling off.
- Decomposed, cut up in many successive segments.
- Deltoid, triangular like a Delta.
- Dichotomie, forked several times.
- Diclinous, with staminate and pistillate flowers.
- Dioical, having staminate and pistiiate flowers on different individuals.
- Disk, the flat part of a leaf or petal, &c.
- Discolor, leaves having two colors.
- Distichal, in two flat rows.
- Drupe, a stone fruit like Peach or Plumb.
- Elliptic, oblong with rounded ends as an ellipsis.
- Exsert, protruding out of the flowers, &c.
- Fascicle, a small bundle of leaves or flowers, called then fasciculate.
- Filiform, shaped like a thread.
- Fistulose, a hollow stem, &c.
- Flexuose, bent in many ways, or crooked.
- Floret or Floscule, a small flower in compound flowers.
- Foliole or leaflet, a small leaf of compound leaves.
- Fronde, leaves bearing the fructification, or stems shaped like leaves.
- Fusiform, shaped like a spindle.
- Glabrous, same as smooth.
- Gladiate, sword shaped.
- Glandular, having glands.
- Glume, the perigone of grasses.
- Hastate, halbert shaped.
- Imbricate, slanting over each other, like tiles or shingles.
- Inferior, below something.
- Inflorescence, mode in which the flowers grow.
- Involucre, bracteoles surrounding or annexed to several flowers.
- Labiate, flowers with one or two lips uni or bilabiate.
- Lanceolate, shaped like a lance.
- Legume, the pods of Peas, Beans, &c.
- Ligulate, like a small tongue.
- Lobe, a rounded segment, lobed with lobes.
- Lyrate, shaped like a lyre.
- Monoical, having staminate and pistilate flowers on the same plant.
- Muricate, covered with short prickles.
- Nerves,
prominent fibres in the leaves, &c.
- Neutral, flowers without Stamina nor pistils and sterile.
- Oblique or Obliqual, having a slanting position, oblique leaves like those of the Elm, have two unequal sides.
- Obtuse, not sharp, blunted or rounded.
- Opposite, situated one over the other.
- Orbicular, perfectly round.
- Oval, shaped like an egg.
- Panicle, a loose bunch of flowers, much divided.
- Pappus, the downy or bristly calix of florets.
- Parted, cut into segments, 2—3—4—5 parted, &c.
- Pedicel, a small peduncle, or a branch of it.
- Peduncle, the foot stalk of flowers and fruits.
- Perianthe, the involucre or calix of compound flowers.
- Petal, parts or leaves of the Corolla, monopetal or peripetal having only segments; 2—3—4—5 petal, having as many leaves or petals; polypetal having many petals.
- Perennial, lasting several years.
- Persistent, not falling off.
- Petiole, support of the leaf: petiolate having a petiole.
- Phoranthe, the central part of compound flowers bearing the florets.
- Pinnate, leaves having many folioles.
- Pinnatifid, having many deep lateral segments.
- Pinnule, the segments of pinnatifid parts.
- Polygamous, having complete flowers, as well as some either staminate or pistillate.
- Pome, fruit similar to an apple.
- Raceme, a spike with pedicels to the flowers.
- Radiate, having rays or ligulate flowers around the florets.
- Radical, growing from the root.
- Ramose, branching, divided into branches.
- Receptacle, the place where the seeds are attached.
- Reniform, shaped like a kidney.
- Refuse, blunt and notched.
- Rugose, wrinkled or roughened by nerves, &c.
- Runcinate, cut up into sharp segments like a barbed arrow.
- Sagittate, shaped like a forked arrow.
- Scape, stem, surrounded by radical leaves.
- Segment, a part not quite divided.
- Sepals, the folioles of the Calix or Perigone.
- Sessile, having no support.
- Serrate, toothed like a saw.
- Silique, the pods of Turnip, Cabbage, &c.
- Sinuate, having sinuses.
- Solitary, standing by itself.
- Spadix, a thick support of many crowded flowers.
- Spatha, Involucre surrounding a Spadix, or involving flowers.
- Spur, a hollow appendage to some flowers.
- Stipule, appendage to some leaves.
- Subulate, shaped like an awl.
- Superior, standing above something.
- Terminal, standing at the end.
- Ternate, three by three.
- Tomentose, covered with woolly hairs like cloth.
- Trioical, bearing complete, staminate and pistilate flowers in three different individuals.
- Tuberous, thick roots like Potatoes and Turnips.
- Tubular, forming a tube.
- Umbel, cluster of flowers forming a kind of umbrella, as in Carrot and Fennel.
- Undulate, having waved margins.
- Veins, fibres of leaves not prominent like nerves.
- Verticillate, forming whorls.
Medical Flora, or Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America, 1828, was written by C. S. Rafinesque.
