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Glossary

glossary - handling & establishing plants - origin & provenance - root-balled trees

Glossary

The following glossary provides descriptions and definitions of words used within the practice of landscape planting and horticulture and are taken from the following references:

BRITISH STANDARDS INSTITUTION

BS 3975 Glossary for Landscape Work

  Part 4 Plant Description (1966)

  Part 5 Horticultural, arboricultural and forestry practice (1969)

 

Clark, R. Purchasing Landscape Trees, a guide to assessing tree quality; Construction Information Systems Australia Pty Ltd. 1996

Kelly, J. (edit.) The Hillier Gardener's Guide to Trees and Shrubs; David and Charles, 1995.

 

References

A

Adventitious root	A root which arises from any part of a plant other than in the normal sequence of growth of the root system
Adventitious shoot	A shoot arising in a position other than the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem
Air pruning	The use of bottomless containers, or containers with holes in the sides, to arrest root development
Alien	A plant originally introduced from other areas
Alpine	A plant which is indigenous to the zone above the line at which trees cease to flourish and below the limits of perpetual snow (and by extension, a plant which will thrive in simulated alpine conditions
Alternate	(Leaves) borne singly at each node on opposite sides of the stem
Annual	A plant which grows from seed, flowers, fruits and dies within one year.
Anther	Pollen-bearing part of the stamen
Apical dominance	Of growth, the dominance of the terminal bud to the lateral buds
Aquatic plant	A non-woody plant suitable for growing within in shallow water or in saturated soil
Axil	Angle formed by a leaf or lateral branch with the stem, or that formed by a vein with the midrib.
Axillary	Produced in the axil

 

B

 

Bedding plant	A plant suitable for short term display in an ornamental bed
Berry	Strictly a pulpy, normally several-seeded, indehiscent fruit
Biennial	A plant which grows from seed one year and flowers, fruits and dies the next (Note: Certain short lived perennials, e.g. Dianthus barbatus, Sweet Williams, are commonly treated as biennial
Bipinnate	Twice pinnate
Bisexual	Both male and female organs in the same flower
Blade	Expanded part of a leaf or petal
Bloom	A fine powder-like, waxy deposit
Bog plant	A plant which thrives in permanently wet soil
Bole	Trunk, of a tree
Bract	Modified, usually reduced leaf at the base of a flower-stalk, flower-cluster or shoot
Bud sport	A shoot produced by a sudden and permanent change in vegetative cells in a growing point , causing a change of character
Budded	Produced by obtaining a union between a bud from one plant and a rooted portion of another (the stock)
Bulblet	A small immature bulb developed from seed, arising at the base of a parent bulb or in the axil of a leaf

 

 

C

Calcicole	Of plants which thrive in a soil containing free calcium compounds
Calcifuge	Of plant which will not tolerate a soil containing free calcium compounds
Callus	New tissue which forms over a wound
Calyx	Outer part of a flower, the sepals
Cambium	The layer of actively dividing cells between bark and wood
Capsule	Dry, several-celled pod
Catkin	Normally dense spike or spike-like raceme of tiny, scaly-bracted flowers or fruits
Central leader	The clearly defined single, dominant stem at the top of the tree
Ciliate	Fringed with hairs
Cladode	Flattened leaf-like stem
Collar	The position of the main stem or stems of a plant which coincides with the surface level of the soil
Columnar	Tall and cylindrical or tapering
Compound	Composed of two or more similar parts
Conical	Cone-shaped
Coniferous	Cone bearing (mainly evergreen)
Container grown	Having been individually grown from propagation in a container.
Containerised	Having been transferred at some stage of development (usually prior to transplanting) into a container for purposes of sale, transport or decorative effect
Cordate	Shaped like a heart
Corolla	Inner, normally conspicuous, part of a flower, the petals
Corymb	Flat-topped or dome-shaped flowerhead with the outer flowers opening first
Cotyledon stage	The stage of growth of a seedling at which seed leaves have developed above ground
Crenate	Toothed with shallow, rounded teeth, scalloped
Crown	The base of an herbaceous perennial where stem and root meet and from which fresh shoots and roots arise
Cyme	Flat-topped or domed-shaped flowerhead with the inner flowers opening first

 

D

Deciduous	(Of tree or shrub) that sheds its leaves each year at the end of the period of growth
Deciduous	Shedding all its leaves before the emergence of next season's leaves
Decumbent	Reclining, the tips ascending
Dentate	Toothed with teeth directed outward
Digitate	With the members arising form one point like fingers
Dioecious	Bearing male and female flowers on different plants
Dissected	Divided into many narrow segments
Division	A form of propagation by splitting clumps of a plant, or by separating the rhizomes in a clump
Dormancy	A state of greatly reduced metabolism in which a plant or part of a plant is alive but not growing
Double	(Flowers) with more than the usual number of petals, often with the style and stamens changed to petals
Doubly serrate	Large teeth and small teeth alternating
Downy	Covered with soft hair or down

 

E

Elliptic	Widest at or about the middle, narrowing equally at both ends
Embryo	A rudimentary plant within a seed
Entire	Undivided and without teeth
Ephemeral	A short-lived annual, capable of producing more than one generation in one season
Evergreen	Remaining green during the winter
Evergreen	Having leaves all the year round

 

F

F1	First filial generation, the immediate offspring of cross-fertilisation. A term used commercially to designate a generation FO seed or resulting plants which does not transmit all its desirable characteristics and can be obtained only by a repetition of the cross
F2	Second filial generation, arising from the intercrossing or self-fertilisation of an F1 generation
Fastigiate	With branches erect and close together
Fertile	Of stamens producing food pollen or fruit containing good seeds, or of stems with flowering organs
Fibrous roots	Roots which are relatively thin, much branched throughout and have ample fine growth
Filament	Stalk of a stamen
Florets	Small, individual flowers of a dense inflorescence

 

G

Glabrous	Hairless
Graft chimera	A plant composed of tissues from two cytologically different plants
Grafted	Produced by obtaining a union between a shoot (the scion) of one plant and a rooted portion of another (the stock)
Ground cover	A group of plants which by their natural habit of low, close growth are suitable for covering the ground surface and discouraging weeds

 

H

Half-hardy annual	An annual, or a plant commonly treated as an annual, which cannot be grown in the open before the warm season of the year; usually raised from seed under glass for summer display in the open
Harden off	Gradually to accustom to more rigorous conditions seedlings or other plants which have been growing in a protected environment
Hardy	Able to thrive in a given climate all the year round without special protection
Heath plant	A heather, or plant suitable for growing in the same dry and sandy conditions as heather
Heel	A portion of older tissue at the base of a young shoot torn or cut from its parent
Herb	A flowering plant of which the stem does not become woody and which generally dies to the ground at the end of the season
Hermaphrodite	Bisexual, hearing both male and female organs in the same flower
High or Top worked	Grafted or budded at the point of the future crotch of standard or half standard tree

 

I

Incised	Sharp and usually deeply and irregularly cut
Indehiscent	Said of fruits which do not (burst) open
Indigenous	Having origin in a particular locality, district, county or country
Indumentum	Dense hairy covering
Inflorescence	Flowering part of the plant
Internode	Portion of stem between two nodes or joints
Involucre	Whorl of bracts surrounding a flower or flower cluster

 

L

Lanceolate	Lance-shaped, widening above the base and long-tapering to the apex
Lateral	On or at the side
Layer	A plant produced by layering
Leader	The main terminal shoot at the apex of a stem or principal branch
Leaflet	Part of a compound leaf
Linear	Long and narrow with nearly parallel margins
Low worked	Grafted or budded at or near ground level

 

M

Marginal plant	A plant capable of adapting itself to growing either in shallow water or in saturated soil
Mature	Of trees, fully developed
Midrib	Central vein or rib of a leaf
Monoecious	Bearing male and female flowers separately, but on the same plant
Mother bulb	A bulb, especially a Narcissus bulb, which has formed a number of offsets, all of which, however, remain attached, giving the appearance of a single bulb
Mother plant	The parent plant from which all subsequent stock of a particular variety, clone, cultivar or strain have been derived
Mutant	A plant with new characteristics resulting from a heritable change (mutation) in the reproductive cells

 

N

Native	An indigenous plant
Naturalised	Having been introduced, and colonised, placed where not indigenous
Node	Point on the stem where the leaves are attached, the 'joint'
Notch planting	Planting by setting a tree's roots in a vertical notch, or group of notches, cut in the soil with a spade or mattock, and specified in I-notch, L-notch, H-notch planting according to the shape of the notch(es)
Nut	Non-splitting, one-seeded, hard or bony fruit

 

O

Obovate	Inversely ovate
Obtuse	Blunt (as in apex of leaf or petal)
Offset	A new plant formed from a short, rooted side-growth, which can be detached from its parent
One year budded	Having been grown for one season in a nursery plant bed after propagation
Open ground grown	Having been established and grown in the ground without protection and not grown in a container or frame
Opposite	(Leaves) borne two to each note, opposite each other
Oval	Broadest at the middle
Ovary	Basal 'box' part of the pistil, containing the ovules
Ovate	Broadest below the middle
Ovule	Female germ cell in flowering plant

 

P

Palmate	Lobed or divided in hand-like fashion, usually five- or seven-lobed
Panicle	Branching raceme
Paniculate	Bearing flowers in panicles
Pedicel	Stalk of an individual flower in an inflorescence
Peduncle	Stalk of a flower cluster or of a solitary flower
Pendulous	Hanging, weeping
Perennial	Living for several years
Perfoliate	Of leaves in pairs fused at the base whose stem appears to pass through them
Perianth	Calyx and corolla together; also commonly used for a flower in which there is no distinction between corolla and calyx
Pernicious	Persistent and having qualities harmful to other plants
Persistent	Remaining attached
Petal	One of the separate segments of a corolla
Petaloid	Petal-like (as in a stamen)
Petiole	Leaf-stalk
Pinnate	With leaflets arranged on either side of a central stalk
Pistil	Female organ of a flowering plant comprising ovary, style and stigma
Pit planting	Planting in a prepared pit
Plumose	Feather, as the down of a thistle
Pollard	To cut off all the branches of a tree, leaving only the trunk
Pollen	Spores or grains contained in the anther, containing the male element
Polygamous	Bearing bisexual and unisexual flowers on the same plant
Procumbent	Lying or creeping
Propagation	The production of plants, by sexual, asexual or vegetative means
Prostrate	Lying flat on the ground
Pubescent	Covered with short, soft hairs, downy

 

R

Raceme	Simple elongated inflorescence with stalked flowers
Reniform	Kidney-shaped
Reticulate	Like a network (as in veins)
Rhizome	A prostrate thickened stem emitting roots and capable of producing leafy shoots and flowering stems from lateral and terminal buds
Rib	Prominent vein in leaf
Rogue	A plant differing from, wrongly placed, or appearing in, a batch of otherwise uniform plants
Root bound	Having roots restricted, due to confined conditions, and unable to extend, resulting in a root mass
Rootstock	The rooted portion of a plant or a root upon which one or more scions are to be or have been worked
Rugose	Wrinkled or rough
Runner	Trailing shoot taking root at the nodes
Runner	A young elongated prostrate herbaceous stem producing new plant at nodes

 

S

Sagittate	Shaped like an arrowhead
Scabrous	Rough to the touch
Scale	Minute leaf or bract, or a flat gland-like appendage on the surface of a leaf, flower or shoot
Scandant	With climbing stems
Scion	The part of a plant used to provide the shoot system when grafted upon the rootstock
Scree plant	A plant which is indigenous to mountain scree or adaptable to planting on a site simulating a mountain scree and mainly composed of loose stones
Semi-evergreen	Evergreen in its normal habitat but liable to shed some or all of its leaves under rigorous conditions
Sepal	One of the segments of the calyx
Serrate	Saw-toothed
Sessile	Attached without a stalk
Simple	Said of a leaf that is not compound or an unbranched inflorescence
Spathulate	Spoon-shaped
Spike	Simple, elongated inflorescence with sessile flowers
Sport	A plant propagated vegetatively from a bud sport
Spur	A short stubby lateral branch with short internodes
Stamen	Male organ of a flowering plant comprising filament and anther
Standard	Largest, normally uppermost petal in a pea-flower; tall, clear-stemmed young tree; shrub (often rose) trained in this fashion
Stellate	Star-shaped
Stem	The main body of the portion above ground of a shrub, tree or other plant
Sterile	Incapable of producing viable seed
Stigma	Summit of the pistil which receives the pollen, often sticky or feathery
Stipule	Appendage (normally two) at the base of some petioles
Stolon	Shoot at or below the surface of the ground which produces a new plant at its tip
Stool	The base of a woody plant which has been cut down to produce new shoots for propagation purposes, ornamental effect or small timber production (coppice)
Stooled	Cut back to ground level annually or less frequently but regularly
Style	Middle part of the pistil, often elongated between the ovary and stigma
Sub-Shrub	A shrub-like plant, but with woody parts confined to the lower portion of the plant
Succulent	Juicy, flesh, soft and thickened in texture
Sucker	A woody shoot arising from an underground stem or root; or a shoot arising from the understock of a worked plant
Suckering	Producing underground stems; also the shoots from the stock of a grafted plant

 

T

Tender	Only able to grow without protection in mild climatic conditions
Tendril	Twining thread-like appendage
Tepal	Subdivision of a perianth that cannot be clearly differentiated into sepal or petal
Tomentose	With dense, woolly pubescence
Tray	A seed tray (or one used for plug production) of standard dimensions
Trifoliate	Three-leafed
Trunk	The main stem of a tree
Tuber	A short, thick, usually underground, modified stem, of one year's duration, in which food reserves are stored, and which usually has buds (eyes) from which new plants are produced

 

U

Umbel	Normally flat-topped inflorescence in which the pedicels or peduncles all arise from a common point
Umbellate	Flowers in umbels
Undercutting	The operation of severing downward growing plant roots in situ, to control root development; usually by machine
Understock	The rooted portion of a plant used for propagation by budding or grafting
Union	In a worked plant, the junction of scion and rootstock
Unisexual	Of one sex

 

V

Venation	Arrangement of veins
Verrucose	Having a wart-like or nodular surface

 

W

Waterside plant	A plant suitable for growing in the edge of water and tolerant of periodic flooding
Weed	A plant where it is not intended to be
Well-furnished	Having even and adequate branches, spurs, leaf growth and bud formation
Whorl	Three or more flowers or leaves arranged in a ring
Wilding	Any plant occurring naturally
Woodland plant	A plant suitable for growing under a degree of shade and drip from trees
Woody	Composed in part of wood or hard wood-like tissue
Worked	Produced by budding or grafting

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