Native Plants
Botanical Glossary
Glossary of commonly used botanical terms and their definitions.
| term | definition | image |
| Palmately compound | Leaflets radiating from one point, resembling a hand with the fingers spread. Leaves may also be palmately lobed or have palmate venation. | |
| Panicle | A branched raceme; a raceme of racemes. | |
| Pappus | The calyx modifications found on many species of Asteraceae (Sunflower Family), commonly appearing as hairs, bristles, or scales, and usually persisting on the fruit. | |
| Parallel | A leaf whose veins run in parallel from the stem. | parallel.jpg |
| Parallel venation | Main veins running from base to apex of leaf. | |
| Part Shade | Part shade is classified as a garden receiving 4-6 hours of sun with dappled shade from trees or as approximately 4 hours of sun with shade either in the morning or afternoon. Part shade and part sun are used interchangeably by the horticulture industry. | |
| Pedicel | The stalk of a single flower in a cluster of flowers. | |
| Peduncle | The stalk of a solitary flower or of a cluster of flowers. | |
| Peltate | Leaf shape that is round or rounded with the petiole attachment on the abaxial leaf surface and not on a leaf edge. | |
| Pendulous | Suspended, hanging. | |
| Perennial | A plant or plant species with a normal life cycle exceeding two years. | |
| Perfect | A flower with both male and female reproductive organs; bisexual, hermaphroditic or monoclinous. | |
| Perfoliate | A leaf with the base united around the stem. | |
| Perianth | Collective term for petals and sepals (corolla and calyx). | |
| Petal | Unit of the corolla. | |
| Petiole | A leaf stem. | |
| Petiolule | The stalk of the leaflet of a compound leaf. | |
| Phyllary | A term sometimes used for individual bracts below the head of flowers in Asteraceae (Sunflower Family), so designated to avoid confusion with bracts on the flower stem. | |
| Pinnae | (Pinna, sing.) A division of a pinnately compound leaf. | |
| Pinnate | Arranged along an axis. Leaves may be pinnately compound (see below) and/or pinnately lobed; they may also have pinnate venation, with veins extending from the midrib. | pinnate.jpg |
| Pinnately Compound | Leaves with leaflets opposite each other on each side of the midrib. They may be oddly pinnate, ending with a leaflet at the tip, or evenly pinnate, with no leaflet at the end. These leaflets may be twice compound (Bipinnate), like the leaves on sensitive briars (Mimosa spp.). | pinnate.jpg |
| Pistil | The seed-producing or female organ, consisting of ovary, style, and stigma; usually located in the center of the flower. | |
| Pistillate flower | A flower with pistils, but no stamens. | |
| Pith | The spongy tissue in the center of a stem. | |
| Pod | A dry fruit that splits after ripening, a term applied to fruits in the Legume Family. | pod.jpg |
| term | definition | image |