Glossary
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Letter: P
Showing 36 of 36 terms starting with "P"
- Palatable
- Pleasing to the taste, i.e. to the palate.
- Palea
- The upper bract enclosing the flower of grass. See drawing of parts of a grass plant.
- Palmate
- Radiating from a common point, like fingers on a hand.
- Panicle
- An open, rebranching type of inflorescence. The lower branches are longer than the ones above and the flowers are on stalks (pediceled). See drawing of inflorescence types.
- Papilionaceous
- Corolla with a standard or banner, wings, and keel (Bean Family); "butterfly-like".
- Papillose
- Bearing minute, pimple-like projections.
- Pappus
- In the Asteraceae, the modified calyx, usually consisting of a series of bristles, scales, or teeth.
- Pedicel
- The stem or stalk of an individual flower of an inflorescence or the stalk that supports a spikelet in grasses.
- Peduncle
- The stem or stalk of an inflorescence or a solitary flower.
- Pendent
- Hanging downward, drooping.
- Perennial
- Plant that lives for three or more years, producing leaves and stems each year from rootstock, crown buds, or branches.
- Perfect
- A flower that has both functional stamens and pistils.
- Perfoliate
- The bases of two opposite, sessile leaves are united around the stem so that the stem appears to pass through the leaf.
- Perianth
- The floral envelope, consisting of the calyx and corolla.
- Perigynia
- The inflated, sac-like sheath surrounding the pistil in Carex.
- Petal
- One part of the corolla. Often brightly colored and conspicuous. See drawing of flower parts.
- Petiole
- The stalk of a leaf. See drawing of leaf attachments.
- Petiolule
- The stalk of a leaflet in a compound leaf.
- Phyllaries
- Involucral bracts subtending the flower head in Asteraceae.
- Pilose
- Covered with long, thin, soft, distinct hairs. See pubescence drawings.
- Pinnae
- Primary division of a compound leaf.
- Pinnate
- A compound leaf with the leaflets arranged on both sided of the central axis. Odd pinnately compound leaves have a single leaflet at the end of the central axis. Even pinnately compound leaves have no leaflet terminating the central axis.
- Pinnatifid
- Divided pinnately into segments, but the segments are not distinct leaflets. Not cleft all the way to the rachis.
- Pinnatisect
- Pinnately cleft with sinuses extending nearly to the rachis.
- Pinnule
- Secondary segement of a compound blade.
- Pistil
- The female reproductive (seed-bearing) structure of a flower that receives the pollen. Flowers may have one to several pistils.
- Pistillate
- A flower bearing pistils but no stamens.
- Pleurisy
- Inflammation of the lungs causing a dry cough and painful breathing.
- Pollen
- The dust-like male spores in the anther.
- Pome
- A fleshy fruit of the apple type.
- Poultice
- A soft, moist pulp applied to sores and inflamed areas.
- Prickle
- Small, sharp spinelike outgrowth on the surface of a plant.
- Primocane
- In the genus Rubus, the first-year growth of a biennial stem that bears only leaves.
- Prostrate
- Lying flat on the surface of the ground. See drawing of stem forms.
- Proximal
- Situated near the point of attachment.
- Pubescent
- Covered with short soft hairs.