Botanical Terms

Welcome to our comprehensive botanical glossary. Whether you are a seasoned horticulturist, a budding botanist, or simply a plant enthusiast looking to understand your garden a little better, navigating the precise language of plant science can be a challenge. The table below compiles and defines essential botanical terms, covering everything from plant anatomy and leaf morphology to reproductive structures and growth habits. By mastering these foundational terms, you will be able to accurately identify species, interpret professional gardening guides, and deepen your appreciation for the complex mechanics of the natural world.

Achene	A small, dry fruit that contains one loose seed and that does not split open spontaneously
Acuminate	Tapering gradually to a point at the apex.
Acute	Coming sharply to a point at the apex.
Alternate	Arranged singly at different points along a stem or axis.
Annual	A plant which grows from a seed, flowers, sets seed and dies in one year.
Apex	The tip.
Appressed	Pressed flat or close up against something.
Aril	An outer covering or appendage of some seeds.
Ascending	Rising upward gradually from a prostrate base.
Awn	A bristle characteristic of the spikelets in some grasses.
Axil	The more-or-less V-shaped angle made by the junction between a leaf and a stem or twig.
Axillary	Growing from an axil.
Basal rosette	Leaves radiating directly from the crown of the root.
Berry	A stoneless, pulpy fruit containing one or more embedded seeds (e.g. grape).
Biennial	A plant which forms leaves in the first year, produces a flowering shoot in the second year, flowers, sets seed and dies.
Bilabiate	Two-lipped.
Bipinnate	Pinnate, with pinnate leaflets.
Blade	The broad, thin part of a leaf or petal.
Bloom	A powdery, whitish coating on leaves, stems, or fruit.
Bracts	The leaflike structures of a grouping or arrangement of flowers (inflorescence). A green leaf-like structure that has a flower in its axil and which may remain on the plant with the fruit. Bracts vary enormously in size, shape, and function.
Bud	A protuberance on a stem from which a flower, leaf, or shoot develops.
Calyx	The sepals collectively; the external floral envelope, usually consisting of layered, fleshy leaves and membranes.
Capsule	A dry, many-seeded, spontaneously splitting fruit that arises from a compound pistil.
Carpel	The wall of a simple pistil or part of a wall of a compound pistil.
Catkin	A drooping spike of small flowers characteristic of some deciduous trees. Male catkins produce pollen; female catkins are pollinated and then develop into fruiting catkins which bear seeds. A spike-like flower cluster that bears scaly bracts and petal-less, unisexual flowers.
Cauline	Relating to or growing on a stem.
Clasping	Partly or completely surrounding the stem.
Claw	The narrow, curved base of a petal or sepal in some flowers.
Compound	Made up of two or more definable parts.
Compound pistil	A pistil comprises two or more partially or completely united carpels.
Cone	A rounded, more or less elongated cluster of fruits or flowers covered with scales or bracts.
Corm	A bulblike but solid, fleshy underground stem base.
Corolla	The petals of a flower, which may be separate or joined in varying degrees.
Corymb	A generally flat-topped flower cluster with pedicels varying in length, the outer flowers opening first.
Creeper	A shoot that grows along the ground, rooting all along its length.
Crenate	Having rounded teeth along the margin.
Culm	The hollow stem of grasses and bamboos.
Cyme	A branching, relatively flat-topped flower cluster whose central or terminal flower opens first, forcing the development of further flowers from lateral buds.
Deciduous	Falling off each season (as leaves); bearing deciduous parts (as trees).
Decompound	Divided several or many times; compound with further subdivisions.
Decumbent	Lying on the ground but having an ascending tip.
Decurrent	Descriptive of leaves whose edges run down onto the stem.
Dentate	Sharply toothed, with the teeth pointing straight out from the margin.
Digitate	Compound, with the elements growing from a single point.
Dilated	Expanded, broadened, flaring.
Disk flower	One of the tubular flowers or florets in the center of the flower head of a composite flower such as the daisy.
Dissected	Cut into fine segments.
Doctrine of Signatures	A concept popular in the 15th century, espoused that God revealed an herb’s medicinal purpose by providing special markings on the plant. Many herbs indeed support this theory. For example, the leaves of the lungwort plant, an excellent treatment for upper respiratory infections and lung ailments, have spotted markings characteristic of delicate lung tissue. The root of the ginseng plant, an herb reputed to be good for nearly every organ system, resembles the shape of the human body.
Double	Descriptive of flowers that have more petals than normal.
Doubly serrate	Serrate, with small teeth on the margins of the larger ones.
Drupe	A fleshy fruit containing a single seed in a hard “stone” (e.g. Peach).
Entire	Having no teeth or indentations.
Evergreen	Retaining green foliage for more than one season.
Filiform	Threadlike.
Floret	A tiny flower, especially one of the disk flowers of plants in the composite family.
Frond	The leaf of a fern.
Fruits	The seed-bearing part of a plant. Different kinds of fruits include Berry	a juicy fruit that usually contains several seeds. Capsule	a dry or fleshy fruit that splits open to release the seeds. Nutlet	a hard dry fruit containing a single seed. Pod	a long dry fruit, usually containing several large seeds, which splits open along one or both seams to release the seeds.
Funnelform	Descriptive of a flower whose corolla tube widens gradually and uniformly from the base.
Galea	The hooded portion of the perianth in some irregular or bilabiate flowers.
Galeated	Helmeted; having a helmetlike part, as a crest, a flower, etc.; helmet-shaped
Gemma (pl. gemmae)	A young bud from which plants vegetatively reproduce.
Geniculated	Abruptly bent.
Gibbous	Swollen on one side.
Glabrous	Not hairy.
Glandular	Having glands which secrete sticky substances.
Glaucous	Covered with a fine, white, often waxy film, which rubs off.
Globose	Approximately spherical.
Grain	Achene-like fruit, but with the seed not loose.
Head	A flower spike or raceme shortened to form a compact, flattened to globose cluster.
Herb	A plant with no woody tissue and dies down to the ground at the end of a growing season.
Herbaceous	Non-woody, herb-like.
Hesperidium	A partitioned berry with a leathery, removable rind (e.g., Orange).
Hoary	Closely covered with short and fine whitish hairs.
Incised	Sharply and irregularly slashed or cut.
Indigenous	Native; naturally occurring.
Inflorescence	Technically, the way flowers are arranged in a cluster; generally, a flower cluster.
Internode	The part of a stem or branch between nodes.
Interrupted	Descriptive of a structure, the pattern or sequence of whose elements is broken by the insertion of other elements.
Lanceolate	Widening to a maximum near the base and tapering to a point at the apex.
Lateral	Occurring on or growing from the side (compare terminal).
Leaf	A vegetative organ which, when complete, consists of a flat blade, a petiole or stalk, and (usually two) small leafy appendages at the base of the petiole.
Leaflet	A division or part of a compound leaf.
Legume	A one-celled fruit that splits along two sutures or seams (e.g., pea).
Liana	A vigorous woody vine (usually refers to tropical vines).
Linear	Long and narrow, with nearly parallel sides.
Lip	One of the parts in a corolla or calyx divided into two unequal parts.
Lobe	A part of the division, especially when rounded, of an organ.
Lyrate	Lobed to resemble a lyre, with the terminal lobe largest and the lower lobes smaller.
Node	A point on a stem at which leaves are produced.
Nut	A hard-walled, one-seeded fruit that does not split spontaneously (e.g., hazelnut).
Ob-	A prefix that indicates reversal of the usual orientation (e.g., oblanceolate means widening gradually from the pointed base to a maximum near the apex, which may be more or less rounded).
Oblong	Longer than wide and rounded at the ends, with nearly parallel sides for much of the length.
Obovate	oval, but broader toward the apex; refers to the leaf shape.
Obtuse	Rounded or blunt.
Opposite	Growing two to a node on opposite sides.
Orbicular	Circular or approximately round.
Oval	Broadly elliptical.
Ovate	Oval, but broader toward the base; egg-shaped.
Ovoid	Another term for Ovate (above).
Palmate	With three or more leaflets, nerves, or lobes radiating from a central point; compounded, divided, lobed, or ribbed so that the divisions or ribs spread out like fingers from a single point.
Panicle	A branching flower grouping with branches that are usually racemes.
Papilionaceous	Descriptive of a flower whose petals are arranged to resemble a butterfly.
Pedicel	The stalk of one flower in a cluster.
Peduncle	The stalk of a flower cluster or of a solitary flower.
Peltate	Having a stalk attached at or near the middle.
Perennial	A plant that lives yearly, starting to grow again each spring. Some perennial plants are herbaceous and die down each year, remaining dormant beneath the ground throughout the winter. Others are trees or shrubs; some lose their leaves in winter (deciduous trees), while others retain their leaves throughout the year, and their growth slows down in winter (evergreen trees).
Perfect (flower)	A flower with a full complement of male and female parts and floral envelopes (petals and sepals).
Perfoliate	A leaf that appears to be perforated by the stem.
Persistent	Remaining on the plant; not falling off readily.
Petal	One unit of the corolla.
Petiole	The stalk of a leaf.
Pinna	Plural pinnae; a leaflet or primary division of a pinnately compound leaf.
Pinnate	A featherlike arrangement usually refers to a compound leaf with leaflets arranged on each side of a central axis.
Pinnatifid	Split about halfway to the midrib so the divisions are pinnately arranged.
Pinnule	One of the divisions of a pinnate leaflet in a bi-pinnate leaf.
Pistil	The female reproduction organ of a flower.
Pod	Generally, a dry fruit that splits open.
Pome	A fleshy fruit with a central seed-bearing core (e.g., apple).
Procumbent	Growing along the ground without rooting and having ascending tips.
Prostrate	Growing flat along the ground.
Pubescent	Covered with down or soft, short hairs.
Punctate	Having translucent spots or depressions.
Raceme	An unbranched, elongated flower grouping with individual flowers on distinct stalks.
Rays (ray flowers)	The straplike, often sterile flowers (commonly called “petals”) surrounding the flowerhead (disk) of a plant in the composite family. (Examples	the yellow rays of sunflowers or the purple rays surrounding the cone of Purple Coneflower (Echinacea).
Receptacle	The end of the stem or stalk on which the flower parts are borne.
Rhizome	A perennial creeping underground portion of a stem that may look like a root; producing shoots on top and roots beneath; different from a root in that it has buds, nodes, and scaly leaves; rootstock.
Rootstock	Rhizome.
Rosette (basal)	Leaves radiating directly from the crown of the root.
Runner	A thin stem or shoot growing along the ground and producing roots at the nodes.
Sagittate	Resembling an arrowhead in shape.
Samara	A winged fruit that does not split spontaneously (e.g., maple).
Saprophytic	A plant (usually lacking chlorophyll) that lives on dead organic matter.
Scale	A small, usually dry leaf closely pressed against another organ.
Scape	A leafless flower stalk that grows from the ground.
Sepal	The individual divisions of the calyx (outer floral envelope).
Serrate	Saw-toothed, with the teeth pointing toward the apex.
Sessile	Lacking a stalk, such as a leaf or flower with no obvious stalk.
Sheath	An expanded or tubular structure partially enclosing a stem or other organ.
Shoot	A new young growth; a stem or branch and its leaves.
Shrub	A woody plant that produces no trunk but branches from the base.
Silique	A term applied to the peculiar seedpod structure of plants in the mustard family.
Simple	Not compound (leaves) or branched (stems, flower clusters).
Smooth	Not rough (compare glabrous).
Solitary	Not growing as part of a cluster or group.
Spadix	A thick, fleshy flower spike (usually enveloped by a spathe), as in members of the arum family (Skunk Cabbage, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Dragon Arum, etc.).
Spathe	A modified, leaflike structure surrounding a spadix, as in members of the Arum family (Skunk Cabbage, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Dragon Arum, etc.).
Spatulate	Shaped like a spoon, with a narrow end at the base.
Spike (flower)	An unbranched, elongated flower grouping wherein the individual flowers are sessile (attached without stalks).
Spikelet	A small spike, particularly one of the few-flowered spikes making up the inflorescence of a grass.
Spore	A one-celled reproductive body produced by relatively primitive plants.
Spur	A slender, hollow projection from a petal or sepal.
Stamen	The pollen-bearing anthers with attached filaments (sometimes without filaments); the male organ of a flower.
Stipule	Appendages (resembling small or minute leaves) at the base of leaves of certain plants.
Strobile	A cone or conelike structure.
Style	The slender, elongated part of a pistil.
Subshrub	Somewhat or slightly shrublike; usually a plant with a woody stem at the base, but mostly herbaceous.
Suture	A natural seam or groove along which a fruit splits.
Taproot	A single main root that grows vertically into the ground.
Tendrils	A modified leaf or branch structure, often coiled like a spring, used for clinging in climbing plants.
Terminal	Occurring at or growing from the end opposite the base (compare lateral).
Ternate	Occurring in threes or divided into three parts.
Trifoliate	Having three leaves.
Trifoliolate	Having three leaflets.
Tripinnate	Descriptive of a pinnate leaf having pinnate leaflets with pinnate pinnules.
Tuber	A swollen root or underground stem or rootstock which forms a food store for the plant.
Umbel	A flower grouping with individual flower stalks or floral groupings radiating from a central axis; often flat-topped and umbrella-like.
Valve	One of the parts into which a capsule divides when splitting.
Whorl	A circular arrangement of three or more leaves, flowers, or other parts at the same point or level.