Glossary

Terms

This glossary will expand as more plants and plant families are added to the site. In the future, illustrations will be added and the terms will be linked, when relevant, from Plant Detail pages and the Selectors menu.

Achene fruit: a small, dry, one-seeded fruit that doesn’t open when mature

Alternate: leaves arranged one per node on a stem; includes when only one leaf on a stem

Ament: see Catkin

Anther: pollen-bearing structure at the end of the stalk (filament) of the stamen

Awn: slender bristle-shaped appendage at the tip, especially on grasses

Axil: inside angle where leaf and stem connect

Basal: Leaves at or near the base of the plant

Berry: fleshy fruit with 2 or more seeds that doesn’t open when mature

Bilateral petal symmetry: flower can only be divided evenly in one way e.g. Lady’s Slipper Orchid

Bract: small or modified leaf, usually at the base of a flower or flower arrangement. Bracts can be more visible than petals on many flowers e.g. Bunchberry

Calcareous: calcium rich

Calyx: collective term for all sepals; outer circle of flower parts

Capsule: dry fruit that usually opens when mature. Seeds are within 2 or more chambers that open by valves or teeth

Carpel: simple pistil or one member of a compound pistil

Catkin: hanging inflorescence of flowers, falling as a whole after fruiting; ament. Stalks none to minute. Usually unisexual and without petals.

Ciliate: fine hairs on edges, often refers to leaf edges

Cleistogamous: flowers that remain closed and self-pollinate (for violets these are fall flowers)

Conservation ranks: S ranks (definitions supplied by the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre (ACCDC))

• S1 Critically Imperiled: Critically imperiled in the province because of extreme rarity (often 5 or fewer occurrences) or because of some factor(s) such as very steep declines making it especially vulnerable to extirpation from the province.
• S2 Imperiled: Imperiled in the province because of rarity due to very restricted range, very few populations (often 20 or fewer), steep declines, or other factors making it very vulnerable to extirpation from the province.
• S3 Vulnerable: Vulnerable in the province due to a restricted range, relatively few populations (often 80 or fewer), recent and widespread declines, or other factors making it vulnerable to extirpation.
• S4 Apparently Secure: Uncommon but not rare; some cause for long-term concern due to declines or other factors.
• S5 Secure: Common, widespread, and abundant in the province.
• SNA Not Applicable – A conservation status rank is not applicable because the species is not a suitable target for conservation activities.

Corolla: collective term for all the petals of a flower, usually the conspicuous colored flower whorl; inner perianth composed of free or united petals

Crenate: edges (margins) with rounded teeth

Crenulate: edges (margins) with fine rounded teeth; wavy with small scallops

Cucullate: hooded or resembling a hood

Cyme: flattish topped flower arrangement with stalked flower rising from one point of a common stalk; the inner flowers bloom first

Dehiscent: opens on its own when mature

Dicot: group of flowering plants with two seed leaves

Dimorphic: ferns with both fertile and sterile fronds

Elliptical: broadest in the middle and tapering equally towards both ends

Extirpated: a species that no longer exists in the wild in New Brunswick, but exists elsewhere

Filament: stalk of the stamen, anther sits a top the filament

Follicle: a dehiscent, unicarpellate fruit that splits along a single suture on one side of the mature carpel

Frond: leaf of ferns

Glabrous: smooth, without hairs

Glaucous: covered with fine, usually white, powder or waxy coating

Glume: scaly bracts at the base of a grass or sedge spikelet (usually in pairs)

Halophytic plants: salt tolerant plants

Hastate: referring to arrow-shaped leaves, with lobes flaring outwards e.g. Rumex acetosella

Hood: appendage around stamen (e.g. Asclepias)

Hydathode: structures on leaf tips that help expel water when the soil contains high amounts of moisture (e.g. Alchemilla mollis)

Imperfect flower: has only male or female parts. Perfect flower has both male and female parts.

Indehiscent: does not split open when mature

Indusium: thin epidermal extension covering the sorus or spore bearing structure of ferns

Inflorescence: flower arrangement

Introduced plants: plant not present in New Brunswick prior to the arrival of European settlers

Invasive: plant that presents a threat to the existing ecosystem

Lance: broader towards one end, tapering to the other; typically 3 or more times longer than wide

Lobed: deep indents on edges of leaves or petals

Monocot: group of flowering plants with one seed leaf and parallel-veined leaves. e.g. Orchids

Native plants: plant was present in New Brunswick prior to the arrival of European settlers

Node: point where a bud or leaf connects/connected to a stem

Non-woody plants: plants that grow new stems each year; Herbaceous

Nut: fruit with a single ovary chamber (locule) and a single seed surrounded by a thick, hard pericarp, often supported by a whorl of bracts

Opposite: leaves arranged directly across each other, 2 or more per node on a stem; includes a whorled circle of leaves around the stem

Oval leaf: broadest in the middle and tapering towards both ends (includes elliptical leaves that taper equally towards both ends)

Ovary: where seeds are produced after fertilization. A style connects each pollen-receiving stigma to the ovary.

Palmate: spreading from a central point such as leaflets from a leaf stalk

Panicle: loose irregular arrangement of stalked flowers; each branch has multiple stalked flowers; a panicle is made up of multiple racemes

Parasitic plant: obtains nutrients through a root association with a fungal host

Pedicel: stalk of a single flower

Peduncle: primary flower stalk bearing a single flower or a flower cluster

Perianth: outer part of a flower consisting of sepal and/or petals collectively

Petal: one of the highly modified leaves of a flower, usually colored

Petiole: leaf stalk

Pistil: central female reproductive organ of a flower, composed of ovary, style, and stigma. A flower may have more than one pistil. Each pistil may have one or more styles with each stigma atop a style

Pith: spongy tissue in the centre of a stem; color and form can be an identifying feature in the twigs of woody plants

Pod: any dry fruit that opens when mature e.g. Pea family

Raceme: flower arrangement where each flower is on an individual stalk along a central stem; a panicle includes multiple racemes

Rachis: axis of a compound leaf or inflorescence

Radial petal symmetry: flower can be divided evenly multiple ways e.g. Daisies

Reniform: kidney-shaped

Rhizome: underground stem that roots from its bottom side and produces further stems, branches, and leaves from its top side

Saprophytic: plants that do not make their own food, but feed on decaying organic matter

Sepal: lowermost or outermost perianth segments, one of the parts of the calyx or outer set of floral leaves. Collectively called the calyx.

Serrate: leaf edge (margin) with sharply pointed teeth

Sessile: without a stem, leaf stalk (petiole), or flower stalk (pedicel, peduncle)

Sillicle: long two-valved capsular fruit with a thin longitudinal internal septum bearing seeds e.g. Brassica family

Sinus: space between two lobes or teeth on a leaf

Solitary flower: a single flower that is not part of a grouped flower arrangement (inflorescence)

Spike: flower arrangement with stalkless (or nearly so) flowers arranged on an elongated stem

Spinulose: with small sharp spines

Spore: one-celled reproductive structure in ferns and fern allies

Sporangium: the spore case or container of a fern

Spur: hollow sac-like projection of a sepal or petal that often carries nectar e.g. Columbine (Aquilegia)

Stamen: the pollen-producing male reproductive organ of a flower, typically consists of an anther and a stalk called a filament that the anther sits atop

Stigma: part of the pistil that receives pollen, usually has a sticky or papillose surface

Stipe: the portion of a fern stalk below the leaves

Stipule: bract-like or leafy appendage at the base of a leaf

Stomata: pores that allow gases to pass in and out of leaves. Appear on conifer needles as white dots.

Style: stalk of the pistil that connects the ovary and the stigma

Umbel: flattish topped flower arrangement with stalked flowers rising from one point of a common stalk; the outer flowers open first

Whorled: arranged in a circle around an axis; whorled leaves have an opposite leaf arrangement

Woody plants: plants that have stems that live for several years and buds that survive above ground in winter