Native Plants
Botanical Glossary
Glossary of commonly used botanical terms and their definitions.
| term | definition | image |
| Grass/Grass-like | Having narrow leaves, usually arising from the base of the plant. | |
| Halophyte | A plant which tolerates a salty environment. | |
| Hastate | A triangle with two sides abruptly concave; in the form of two pointed lobes pointing outwards. | |
| Head | A compact cluster of flowers attached to essentially the same point on the peduncle. | head.jpg |
| Herb | A plant species lacking woody tissue when mature. | |
| Herbaceous | Herblike; not woody. | |
| Hermaphrodite | Bisexual, having both male and female parts in the same flower. | |
| Hermaphroditic | Having the properties of a hermaphrodite, with both male and female structures located within the same flower. | |
| Imperfect flower | A flower bearing either stamens or pistils, but not both. | |
| Incomplete flower | A flower lacking one or more of the following: stamens, pistils, petals, sepals. | |
| Inferior ovary | An ovary situated below the origin of sepals and petals. In many species the ovary is below the point of attachment of all the other parts of the flower, i.e., embedded in the flower stem. It usually shows as a swelling below the flower and may be seen only by cutting through this swelling. | |
| Inflorescence | A group of flowers and associated plant parts. | |
| Infructescence | A group of fruits and associated parts arising from an inflorescence. An inflorescence with mature or maturing fruit. | |
| Internode | The part of the stem between leaves or branches. | stem.jpg |
| Involucel | A bract or bracts subtending an individual flower in a compound inflorescence. | |
| Involucre | A whorl of distinct or united leaves or bracts beneath a flower or cluster of flowers commonly found especially on species in Asteraceae but also in Apiaceae, Dipsacaceae and Polygonaceae. Also a bract or bract pair subtending the inflorescence of some members of Betulaceae, especially Carpinus and Corylus. | |
| Irregular flower | A flower unequal in the size, form, or union of its similar parts; zygomorphic or bilaterally symmetrical. Example: Fabaceae (Legume Family). | |
| IUCN | International Union for Conservation of Nature. | |
| Laciniate | Fringed or having edges irregularly and finely slashed. | |
| Lanceolate | Having the shape of a spear-head or lance. | |
| Leafless | Without leaves. | |
| Leaflet | A division or part of a compound leaf. | |
| Legume | Any of a large group of plants in the pea family (Fabaceae). | |
| Lenticel | A corky pore in young bark. | stem.jpg |
| Lobe | Part or segment of a flower or leaf; a deep indentation that does not break the continuity of the structure. | |
| term | definition | image |