Glossary
GLOSSARY
abaxial: facing away from an axis, usually for lower leaf-blade surface, but for all organs; hence abaxially.
abbreviated: shortened.
achene: a small dry indehiscent one-seeded fruit with a thin free pericarp, as in Pyrrhanthera.
acicular: slender, or needle-shaped.
acuminate: tapering to a fine point.
acute: sharply pointed.
adaxial: facing towards an axis, usually for leaf-blade, but for all organs; hence adaxially.
adherent: separate parts or organs touching or in union, but not fused.
adjacent: lying near, next to.
adnate: attached to or united to an organ of a different kind.
adventitious: arising from an unusual position, as of roots.
alpine: an altitudinal zone ± above 1400 m.
alternate: placed singly along an axis, not opposite or whorled.
anastomosing: joining to form a network, as of nerves or veins.
androecium: male organs of a flower, i.e. stamens with their filaments, and anthers.
anemophilous: wind-pollinated.
annual: completing life-cycle in one year.
anterior: on the side away from the axis and thus appearing at the front.
anther: pollen-bearing organ of a stamen, usually filamented.
anthesis: opening of floret to allow emergence of anthers and stigmas.
anthoecium: floral envelope of lemma and palea; plural anthoecia.
antrorse: directed forward, usually of teeth or hairs.
apex: tip of an organ or part; hence apical, apically.
apiculate: ending in a short slender ± flexible point.
apomixis: process of producing seeds without fertilisation, as of Elymus; hence apomictic.
appressed: closely and flatly pressed against a surface.
approximate: close to, nearby.
aquatic: living in water.
arista: awn, as of lemma, sometimes borne on column q.v.; hence aristate.
ascending: directed upwards usually sharply.
aspergilliform: of stigma branches arranged in all directions, as of stigmata in Ehrharta.
asymmetric: lateral halves of dissimilar shape.
attenuate: gradually tapering, drawn out.
auricle: an ear-like appendage of a leaf-blade; hence auriculate.
auricular lobe: a short ± rounded extension of the leaf-sheath margin, as in Festuca.
autonym: a name established automatically at the subdivision of a taxon, whether or not published at the same time.
awn: a stiff or bristle-like projection from tip or back of an organ, as of lemma, glume; diminutive awnlet.
awn column: the base of an awn, of different form from the arista or bristle above.
awn sinus: notch in lemma whence the awn originates.
axillary: occurring in an axil between two parts, as of leaves or bracts.
bambusiform: having or resembling the habit of a bamboo.
beard: short stiff hairs usually surrounding the callus.
biaristulate: with two short awns.
bicuspid: having two sharp rigid points.
bidentate: having two teeth; hence diminutive bidenticulate.
bifid: divided into two parts; twice-cleft.
bilateral: occurring on both sides of an axis, as of bilateral racemes.
bilobed: with two lobes.
binate: occurring in pairs.
bisexual: both sexes present in a flower, perfect, hermaphrodite.
bract: a modified, often much reduced leaf, often scale-like.
bristle: stiff stout hair, or a very fine straight awn or arista.
caducous: falling off at an early stage.
caespitose: growing in tufts.
callus: hardened basal projection at base of floret, of differing length and ornamentation; point of disarticulation in a spikelet.
canaliculate: longitudinally channelled.
capillary: hair-like, fine.
cartilaginous: firm and tough but flexible.
caryopsis: dry indehiscent naked seed of grasses with a thin adherent pericarp.
cataphyll: a modified leaf reduced to a short sheath or bract surrounding the base of extravaginal innovations or rhizomes.
caudate: bearing a tail-like appendage.
cauline: belonging to the stem, as of leaves.
chartaceous: of thin papery texture.
chasmogamous: of flowers opening for pollination.
cilia: short hairs forming a fringe usually on margin; hence ciliate, ciliolate.
clavate: club-shaped, thicker towards apex.
cleistogamy: fertilisation without the opening of florets, always therefore self-fertilising; hence cleistogamous.
cleistogene: axillary hidden seed-forming spikelets or reduced inflorescences usually at the base of culms and differing from aerial spikelets; as of Microlaena or Nassella.
coalescence: the incomplete fusion of like parts, as of spines.
collar: junction of leaf-blade and leaf-sheath, anterior to ligule, often thickened.
column: base of arista or bristle of awn, sometimes twisted.
coma: ring of hairs at apex of lemma as of Austrostipa; hence comate.
compatibility: genetic reaction between pollen and stigma; hence self-compatible, self-incompatible, q.v.
compound: composed of several ± similar parts.
compressed: flattened; often as dorsally compressed and laterally compressed as of spikelets.
concave: having the surface curved inwards.
concolorous: of ± the same colour throughout.
conduplicate: folded together lengthwise along midrib, with the upper surface within, as of leaf-blades.
confluent: blending or running together as of nerves etc.
congested: crowded.
connate: joined together, especially of two similar parts as of lodicules, styles, etc.
contiguous: touching but not fused.
continuous: not breaking up or uninterrupted as of rachis in Chloris.
contra-ligule: line of hairs on the abaxial surface at junction of leaf-blade and leaf-sheath.
contracted: of panicles with erect branches close to rachis or almost so.
convex: bulging outward.
convolute: rolled together longitudinally, as of leaf-blades.
cordate: heart-shaped with the notch at the base.
coriaceous: of somewhat leathery texture, tough.
corona: membranous cup-shaped growth as of florets in Nassella; hence coronate.
corymb: flat-topped raceme; hence corymbiform.
costa: a rib, especially of the leaf-blade; plural costae; hence costal, costate.
coumarin: the scent of mown or dried holy grasses.
crenate: with shallow rounded teeth, the sinus acute; hence crenulate.
cross-veined: divided into lattices by short septa, especially of leaves.
crustaceous: of brittle texture.
culm: flowering stem, usually comprising nodes, leaves and internodes; in vegetative phase of Bambuseae multinoded stems bearing culm-sheaths and culm-leaves.
culm-sheath: sheath of a cauline leaf, as of Bambuseae.
cultivar: a selected and named form reproduced in cultivation; abbreviation cv.
cuneate, cuneiform: wedge-shaped, gradually and evenly narrowing to the base.
cupule: a small cup.
cusp: a sharp rigid point.
cuspidate: with the apex narrowed abruptly to a sharp rigid point.
cymbiform: boat-shaped.
deciduous: falling after the completion of normal function.
decumbent: lying along the ground with tip ascending.
decurrent: running or extending downwards.
deflexed: bent sharply downwards.
dehisce: opening to shed contents as of anthers; hence dehiscence.
deltoid: more or less triangular in shape.
dentate: toothed.
denticle: a very small tooth; hence denticulate, with very small sharp teeth perpendicular to the margin, the sinus ± open.
dichogamous: early maturity and exsertion of one sexual element; hence duodichogamy, 2 dichogamous events.
diffuse: of open or straggling growth.
digitate: spreading from the centre like fingers of a hand, as of inflorescences.
dilated: enlarged or expanded.
dimorphic: occurring in two forms, as of shoots.
dioecism: population comprising two sexual morphs one ‹ and the other ›; hence dioecious.
disarticulation: separating at a joint as of florets in a spikelet, leaf-blades at ligules.
discolorous: of two different colours especially of upper and lower surfaces of leaves; see also heterochromous.
disjunct: used of plant distribution with large gaps between occurrences.
distal: towards the free end of an organ as opposed to the attached or proximal end.
distichous: arranged in two opposite rows so as to be in one plane.
divaricate: spreading at a very wide angle.
divergent: spreading from an axis at a rather wide angle, as of panicle branches, spikelets.
dorsal: relating to the back or outer surface of an organ.
dorsiconvex: convex on the back.
dorsiventral: of an organ with both dorsal and ventral surfaces, as of a leaf-blade.
e-, or ex-: prefix meaning lacking.
eccentric: offset from the centre; hence eccentrically.
ecotype: the genetical response of a plant to its environment; often simplistically treated as a morphological variant.
eglandular: lacking glands.
ellipsoid: of a solid object elliptic in section or outline.
elliptic: in the shape of an ellipse, rounded at both ends, widest in the middle.
elongate: lengthened, stretched out.
emarginate: with a shallow notch at the apex.
embryo: the rudimentary plant within the caryopsis.
endemic: native only to a particular country or region; in this Flora exclusive to the N.Z. Botanical Region.
endosperm: the starchy tissue of a caryopsis, mostly dry, sometimes doughy or liquid.
ensheathed: retained within leaf-sheath.
entire: continuous, not toothed or otherwise cut, whole.
epaleate: lacking a palea.
epicuticular: seated, resting or deposited on the cuticle of any organ, especially of wax on culms and leaves.
equilateral: having all sides equal.
erose: with an irregular margin as if gnawed.
espatheate: lacking a spathe.
excurrent: running out beyond the apex or margin.
exserted: projecting, as of awns beyond glumes, or stigmas outside an anthoecium.
extravaginal: of an innovation shoot bursting out through the leaf-sheath.
falcate: sickle-shaped; strongly curved.
fascicle: a close cluster or bundle; hence fascicled, fasciculate.
fastigiate: with branches ± erect and close to the axis.
female: plants or flowers bearing megagametophytes or ovules.
fertile floret: in the sense of caryopsis bearing, often as female-fertile floret, by extension to fertile spikelet.
-fid: suffix meaning cleft.
filiform: thread-like.
fimbria: hairs or processes forming a fringe; hence fimbriate, fringed.
fistula: hollow centre of a cylindric culm; hence fistulate.
flabellate: fan-shaped.
flaccid: limp, not rigid.
flexible: capable of being bent and restoring to original form.
flexuous, flexuose: having a wavy or zigzag form.
floret: lemma and palea with the enclosed flower.
floriferous: bearing flowers or flowering stems.
foliaceous: leaf-like.
forma: a minor variant of a species.
fulvous: tawny; dull yellow.
fuscous: of a brownish or greyish brown colour.
fusiform: spindle-shaped; of a solid object, ± swollen in the middle and narrowed to both ends.
geniculate: with a knee-like bend; hence 1-geniculate, bigeniculate, trigeniculate, as of culms, awns, etc.
gibbous: somewhat swollen on one side, as of Nassella trichotoma caryopsis.
glabrous: without hairs of any sort; hence glabrescent, becoming glabrous or nearly so.
gland: a secreting organ or part, as of hairs; hence glandular.
glaucous: a distinct bluish-green colour not necessarily caused by a waxy bloom; hence glaucescent.
globose: nearly spherical.
glomerule: a very dense cluster, especially of coalescing spines or bristles in Cenchrus; hence glomerate.
glume: empty bract at the base of a spikelet, usually two; hence glumaceous.
gynodioecism: population comprising two sexual morphs, one ‹ and the other Ž, both seed producing; hence gynodioecious.
gynoecium: the female part of the flower, comprising ovary, style(s), and stigma(s).
gynomonoecism: having ‹ and Ž flowers on the same plant in the same or different spikelets; hence gynomonoecious.
hermaphrodite: having both androecium and gynoecium in the same flower, perfect.
heterochromous: of different colours, as of leaf-blades.
hexagonal: having the form of a hexagon, with six angles and six sides.
hilum: the scar on a caryopsis, often punctiform or linear; hence hilar.
hirsute: with rather rough or coarse hairs.
hispid: bearing stiff bristle-like hairs or teeth; diminutive hispidulous.
holotype: the one specimen, or illustration, used by the author, or designated by the author, as the nomenclatural type.
homochromous: of the same colour, as of surfaces of leaf-blades.
hooded: with margins united for a very short distance below tip, as of leaf-blade, lemma.
hyaline: translucent or transparent.
hybrid: a plant resulting from a cross between parents which differ sufficiently to be accorded taxonomic recognition; hence hybridism.
hybrid, nomenclature: the name of a hybrid is preceded by ¥ or if unnamed the parents (putative or known) are connected by ¥.
imbricate: overlapping like roof-tiles, as of spikelets in a spike.
imperfect: sterile, as of florets.
inaequidistant: unequally separated, as of nerves.
included: not projecting beyond the enveloping structure, as of glumes and awns or spikelets.
incompatible: genetically determined failure of pollen grains to germinate on stigma; see also self-compatibility and self-incompatibility.
indigenous: native to a particular area or region, or shared between countries.
indurate: hardened and toughened.
inflated: swollen, as of the upper leaf-sheath in Critesion or Lagurus.
inflexed: bent inwards, incurved.
inflorescence: flower head terminating the stem; see also panicle, raceme, spike.
innovations: new vegetative shoots at the base.
insertion: attached to or growing upon; often the place or position of origin of an organ as of awn on lemma.
interkeel: area between two keels, as of palea.
internerve: area between nerves, as of palea in Stipeae.
internode: portion between two successive nodes, as of culm.
intravaginal: of an innovation shoot growing within an enveloping leaf-sheath.
involucre: one or more whorls of spines, bristles, bracts, sterile spikelets subtending or surrounding spikelets, and often falling with them.
junceous: rush-like.
keel: a ± sharp central fold or ridge, as of leaf-sheath, lemma, etc.; hence keeled.
lacerate: irregularly torn or cleft.
lamina: see leaf-blade.
lanate: woolly.
lanceolate: lance-shaped, much longer than wide, tapering gradually to apex and more rapidly to base.
lateral: on or near the side, distant from centre, as of lobes of lemma, ribs of leaves, nerves etc.
leaf-blade: part of leaf above the leaf-sheath; of varying shape and form, also known as lamina.
leaf-sheath: the lower part of the leaf surrounding culm or innovation.
lectotype: a specimen or illustration designated as the nomenclatural type when no holotype was indicated at the time of publication, when the holotype is found to belong to more than one taxon, or as long as it is missing.
lemma: lower of two bracts enclosing the flower, sometimes called flowering glume, of diverse shapes, division, and ornamentation.
lenticular: the shape of a ± biconvex lens.
ligulate: strap-shaped as of stamen filaments.
ligule: outgrowth of the inner junction of leaf-sheath and leaf-blade, of various forms, or a ligular area as in Echinochloa; hence ligular.
linear: very narrow with parallel margins.
lobe: a recognisable but not separated division of an inflorescence, leaf-sheath, lemma, etc.; hence lobed, lobate; diminutive lobule, lobulate.
lodicule: minute scale subtending the stamens and gynoecium; hence lodiculate.
longitudinal: lengthwise.
lowland: an altitudinal zone ± equating to sea level to 450 m.
membranous: thin and ± pliable.
middorsal: at the middle of a dorsal surface, as of awns; hence middorsally.
midrib: the main central rib of a leaf-blade, usually thickened.
monoecious: with unisexual flowers, › and ‹, on the same plant.
monopodial: a stem with a single and continuous axis.
monostichous: in a single vertical row.
monotypic: having only one representative; as of a genus with a single species.
montane: an altitudinal zone ± equating to 450-900 m.
mottled: with spots or blotches on a surface.
mucro: a short sharp tip or excurrent nerve; hence mucronate.
multinoded: many nodes especially of stems and culms.
muticous: awnless, blunt.
naked below: referring particularly to lower part of panicle branches lacking spikelets.
naturalised: thoroughly established but originally coming from another country.
navicular: boat-shaped; hence naviculate.
neotype: a specimen or illustration selected to serve as a nomenclatural type as long as all the material on which the name of the taxon was based is missing.
nerve: applied to slender veins of glumes, lemmas, and paleas.
neuter: of a flower lacking functional sexual organs, Ð.
node: a point on stem or axis at which a leaf arises.
ob-: prefix signifying inversion, e.g. lanceolate and oblanceolate.
oblanceolate: the reverse of lanceolate q.v.
oblique: slanting.
oblong: longer than broad with the sides nearly or quite parallel for most of their length.
obsolete: rudimentary, vestigial.
obtuse: blunt.
olivaceous: olive-green.
opaque: not translucent, dull.
oral: at the mouth, as in oral bristles in Bambuseae.
orbicular: circular or nearly so.
ornamentation: the presence of hairs, teeth, prickles, cilia etc., on any organ.
ovary: that part of the gynoecium enclosing the ovule and surmounted by style(s) and stigma(s).
ovate: egg-shaped, attached by the broad end.
ovoid: of a solid body with an ovate outline.
pachymorph: sympodial growth with short thick rhizomes of Bambuseae.
palea: the upper of the two bracts enclosing the flower.
panicle: an indeterminate branched inflorescence with pedicelled spikelets on rachis branches; hence paniculate.
papilla: a minute pimple-like process; hence papillate, papillose.
patent: spreading, usually ± horizontally.
pectinate: divided in a comb-like manner with narrow, close-set teeth; hence pectinately.
pedicel: the stalk of a spikelet; hence pedicelled.
peduncle: a common axis bearing several spikelets; hence pedunculate.
pendent, pendulous: drooping.
penicillate: provided with a brush-like tuft of hairs (often of anthers).
percurrent: extending throughout the entire length.
perennial: with a life-span of two or more years.
perfect: of flowers with both male and female organs functional, Ž.
pericarp: the skin of a caryopsis, often free.
persistent: remaining attached to an axis after maturity, as of glumes, leaf-blades.
petiole: the stalk of a leaf, in grasses a false petiole; hence petiolate.
pilose: bearing soft shaggy hairs.
plano-: having one surface flat, as in planocompressed, planoconvex.
plicate: folded into pleats usually lengthwise, or as in a fan.
plumose: feather-like.
pollen-sterile: pollen grains lacking cytoplasm and deemed incapable of germination, often of hybrids.
posterior: on the side nearest the axis and thus appearing at the back.
prickle: robust, pointed structure with swollen base arising directly from the epidermis; hence prickle-teeth.
procumbent: trailing or lying over or along the ground.
produced: extended beyond.
proliferous: bearing vegetative buds or plantlets in inflorescences; hence proliferation.
prolongation: extending beyond the ultimate spikelet of an inflorescence (rachis prolongation), or floret of a spikelet (rachilla prolongation).
prolonged: see prolongation.
prophyll: the first leaf of an innovation usually reduced to a short bikeeled sheath.
prostrate: lying flat on the ground.
protogynous: with stigma emerged and receptive before the emergence of anthers.
proximal: towards the attached end of an organ as opposed to its free or distal end.
proximate: towards the attached end of an organ.
pruinose: bearing a waxy bloom on the surface.
pseudopetiolate: falsely petiolate.
puberulent: covered with exceedingly fine, short, dense hairs.
pubescent: clad in short soft hairs; hence pubescence.
pulvinus: a swelling or cushion at an axis often causing reflexed or deflexed branches, pedicels, or spikelets; hence pulvinate.
punctate: with dot-like markings often because of glands or wax; hence punctiform; diminutive punctulate.
pungent: ending in a stiff sharp point.
pyramidal: resembling a pyramid.
pyriform: pear-shaped.
quadrangular: four-angled.
quasi-raceme: resembling a raceme.
raceme: an unbranched, ± elongate, indeterminate inflorescence with stalked spikelets; hence racemelets, racemose.
rachilla: main axis of a spikelet bearing the florets; associated with disarticulation between florets, sometimes prolonged beyond ultimate floret.
rachis: main axis of inflorescence; plural rachides; sometimes elsewhere as rhachis.
recurved: curved backwards or downwards.
retrorse: bent or facing backwards or downwards.
retuse: notched slightly at a usually obtuse apex.
rhizome: underground stem bearing scale-like leaves usually spreading ± horizontally and often extensively; hence rhizomatous.
rhombic: diamond-shaped; hence rhomboidal.
rib: main or prominent nerves on leaf-blade; hence ribbed, midrib.
rotund: rounded, orbicular, nearly circular; hence rotundate.
ruderal: growing in waste places.
rudimentary: arrested at an early stage of development and thus imperfectly developed.
rugose: wrinkled; hence diminutive rugulose.
rupestral: growing on rocks.
sagittate: in the form of an arrowhead with the basal lobes pointing down.
scabrid: rough to the touch because of minute harsh projections; hence diminutive scaberulous, scabridulous.
scale: small ± leaf-like organ, often of rhizomes and stolons.
scandent: climbing.
scarious: very thin, dry, almost translucent.
sclerenchyma: subepidermal abaxial thickened fibrous tissue of leaf-blade, often in separate strands or continuous or nearly so, sometimes in ribs (costal sclerenchyma), especially of Festuca transverse section.
secund: one sided with leaves, inflorescences, or spikelets appearing to be arranged along one side of axis.
self-compatible: setting seeds after self-pollination; hence self-compatibility.
self-incompatible: unable to set seeds after self-pollination; hence self-incompatibility.
semi-: half, in part.
septum: a partition or crosswall; plural septa; hence septate.
sessile: lacking a stalk, sitting.
setaceous: bearing fine bristle-like structures.
sheath: see leaf-sheath, culm-sheath.
sheath-blade: leaf-blade of a culm leaf in Bambuseae; see also culm-sheath.
silicified: impregnated with silica.
sinuous: with shallow broad waves.
sinus: the space or recess between two lobes or segments, as of lemmas.
smooth: used to indicate the absence of asperities, teeth, roughness.
solitary: borne singly.
spathe: a large bract enclosing an inflorescence; hence spatheate; diminutive spatheole.
spathulate: spoon-shaped.
spike: an unbranched ± indeterminate inflorescence with sessile spikelets; hence spicate, spiciform, spike-like.
spikelet: unit of grass flower head (inflorescence), generally comprising two glumes, one or more florets (anthoecia), each with lemma and palea between which the flower is borne.
spine: a stout process with a sharp point; hence diminutive spinule, spinulose.
stamen: pollen bearing organ of a flower, comprising an anther with pollen sacs, or loculi, and the staminal filament; hence staminate.
staminode: a non-functional stamen often considerably reduced in size.
sterile: not producing seeds, pollen or ovaries; hence pollen-sterile in particular.
stigma-styles: united organs of gynoecium which receive pollen and transmit pollen tubes towards the egg apparatus; hence stigmatic.
stipitate: having a stipe or special stalk.
stolon: a stem, ± horizontal or arched or running along the ground rooting at nodes, these giving rise to vegetative shoots and culms; hence stoloniferous.
stramineous: straw-like or straw-coloured.
striate: with fine longitudinal lines or ridges; hence diminutive striolate, with finer lines or ridges.
strigose: covered with appressed, rigid, bristle-like, straight hairs.
style: see stigma-style.
sub-: prefix meaning somewhat less than, slightly, not quite; e.g. subapical, subcoriaceous.
subalpine: an altitudinal zone ± equating to 900-1400 m, usually above timber line.
subtending: standing below, but usually close to another organ.
subulate: awl-shaped, tapering from wide base to sharp apex, ± circular in cross-section.
sulcus: a small furrow; hence sulcate, with longitudinal grooves.
sympodial: of a rhizome where growth is continued by the activity of an axillary bud, as in Bambuseae.
synchronous: occurring at the same time.
synonym: a name which applies to the same taxon as another name.
tailed: caudate appendages of anthers.
tardily: of slow or late occurrence.
taxon: a taxonomic group of any rank, e.g. tribe, genus, species.
teratology: the study of malformations.
terete: circular in cross-section.
terminal: borne at the end of a stem.
tessellate: forming a lattice of cross-veins, especially in leaves of bamboos.
tiller: a new lateral shoot.
tortuous: twisting.
translucent: allowing the passage of light but diffusing it.
transverse: at right angles to an axis.
triad: in 3s, especially of spikelets in Hordeeae.
trifid: split into 3; 3-fid.
trigonous: a solid body triangular in section.
triplets: in 3s, especially of spikelets in Andropogoneae.
truncate: appearing as though cut off squarely across.
tubercle: a small wart-like swelling; hence tubercled, tubercular, tuberculate.
turbinate: top-shaped.
turgid: swollen or fully inflated.
tussock: a grass of dense tufted habit; hence tussocky.
type, nomenclatural: see holotype, lectotype, neotype.
ultramafic: parent material of rocks or soils in N.Z. with high iron and magnesium content.
unawned: lacking an awn or bristle.
uncinate: hooked obtusely at the tip.
undulate: waved in a plane at right angles to the surface.
unilateral: one-sided.
unisexual: of one sex only, › or ‹.
utricle: a thin but hard covering enveloping inflorescences in Coix.
variegated: striped or blotched with various colours; usually of leaves.
vascular bundle: conducting tissue in leaf-blades, as of Festuca.
vein: a strand of conducting tissue.
ventral: of the inner or lower surface of an organ; hence ventrally.
verticel: a whorl of flowers, branches; hence verticillate.
vestigial: of a part now degenerate and non-functional.
vesture: covering, often of hairs.
villous: clad in long soft hairs not matted together.
wart: a swelling, or tubercle; hence warty.
weft: an area of closely interwoven or matted together hairs.
whorl: an arrangement of three or more parts, or organs, at the same level around an axis; hence whorled.
wing: a thin membranous expansion of an organ or part; hence winged.
