Glossary
Showing 50 of 248 terms
- Grazing Value
- The worth of a plant to livestock, as determined by its palatability, nutritive quality, volume of forage produced, longevity, and area of primary distribution. Good grazing value applies to a plant that is in top volume production, is highly palatable (not necessarily in all seasons), and nutritious. Fair grazing value means that the plant is less desirable in palatability, quality, or volume of production. Poor grazing value indicates that the plant rates the lowest in one or more basic requirements in most areas where found. An abundance of such plants indicates a range in poor condition.
- Head
- A dense cluster of stalkless (sessile) or nearly stalkless flowers that arise from a common point.
- Herb
- A plant whose above-ground stem does not survive the winter. A non-woody plant.
- Herbaceous
- Having the character of a herb.
- Hirsute
- Covered with long straight, rather coarse hairs. See pubescence drawings.
- Hirtellous
- Finely hirsute.
- Hispid
- Covered with rigid or bristly hairs. Feels rough to the touch. See pubescence drawings.
- Hypanthium
- Compound structure made up of the basal portions of the calyx, corolla, and stamens.
- Imbricate
- Overlapping.
- Increaser
- A plant that increases in abundance under grazing.
- Indusium
- Membranous outgrowth of the blade which covers the cluster of spore-bearing structures (sorus) of a fern.
- Inflorescence
- The whole flowering portion of a plant. See inflorescence types drawings.
- Infusion
- A tea made by pouring boiling water over a substance. Steeping.
- Internodes
- The part of the stem between two successive nodes or joints.
- Introduced
- Plants brought into North America and not part of the original vegetation.
- Invaders
- Plants which come into areas after the climax vegetation has been diminished by overgrazing, drought, fire, or other disturbances. Ranges in which these species are abundant are in poor condition.
- Involucre
- A whorl of bracts under a flower or flower cluster.
- Involute
- Rolled inward from the edges, toward the upper surface.
- Keel
- The sharp fold at the back of a sheath, blade, glume, or lemma in the Family Poaceae or the united lower petals of the flowers in the Family Fabaceae. Similar to the keel of a boat.
- Lanate
- Woolly.
- Lanceolate
- Lance-shaped, several times longer than wide and tapering at both ends. Widest about a third above the base. See drawing of leaf shapes.
- Leaf
- A flat, thin outgrowth of a stem that is usually green in color. It serves as the principal area for the manufacture of food for the plant (photosynthesis).
- Legume
- A plant of the Fabaceae Family. A simple dry fruit, usually opening along two sides, and containing one row of seeds.
- Lemma
- The lower bract enclosing the flower of grass. See drawing of parts of a grass plant.
- Lenticel
- A corky spot on bark that serves as an air pore.
- Lepidote
- Bearing small, scale-like trichomes.
- Ligule
- (a) A thin, non-green membranous outgrowth or row of hairs often found on the upper and inner side of the leaf blade where it joins the sheath. Occurs in many grasses and some sedges. See drawing of parts of a grass plant. (b) A flattened, strap-shaped part of the ray corolla in the Asteraceae Family.
- Linear
- Long and narrow, with the sides almost parallel. See drawing of leaf shapes.
- Loment
- A jointed fruit, usually constricted between the seeds, that breaks into one-seeded segments upon maturity. See drawing of fruits.
- Mericarp
- Dry, indehiscent, 1-seeded section of a schizocrp.
- Mesic
- Characterized by a moderate amount of moisture.
- Mid grass
- A grass that grows two to four feet tall.
- Monadelphous
- Stamens that have their filaments united in single group around the pistil.
- Monecious
- Staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers occur at different locations on the same plant; all flowers unisexual.
- Mucronate
- Terminating with a short, sharp tip, resembling a spine. See leaf apex drawings.
- Native
- Plants which are part of the original vegetation of the North American continent.
- Nectary
- Gland or tissue that secretes nectar.
- Node
- A slightly enlarged portion of the stem where leaves, buds, and branches arise.
- Ob-
- Inversely; indicating 180-degree inversion
- Oblong
- Longer than wide, with the sides nearly parallel. See drawing of leaf shapes.
- Obovate
- Egg-shaped, with the broadest part near the top. See drawing of leaf shapes.
- Obtuse
- Blunt or rounded at the apex. See leaf apex drawings.
- Ocrea
- In Polygonaceae, a tubular, more or less membranous sheath around the stem at the nodes.
- Opposite
- Leaves arranged in a pair directly across from one another. See drawing of leaf arrangements.
- Ovate
- Egg-shaped, with the broadest part near the base. See drawing of leaf shapes.
- 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".