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