GLOSSARY, PART 4.

Cauline. Referring to stems. Cauline leaves are borne along stems not at the base of a plant. For example, this Cistanthe

plant has most of its leaves on the stems.

Caespitose or cespitose. Cushion forming, a common shape for coastal bluff and alpine plants. This alpine bilberry, Vaccinium caespitosum is a good example. It lives in the high mountains

near timberline.

Dudleya caespitosa is a good example of a coastal plant forming low mounds or cushions.

Ciliate. Eyebrow-like hairs on leaves and other structures. The leaf hairs on coast rockcress, Arabis blepharophylla, are a good

example.

The narrowed base of a petal or other similar structure. These elegant clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata, petals are clawed.

Cleistogamous. Literally hidden marriage, used for flowers that don’t open but rather are self pollinated inside the flower bud. For example, after these Viola douglasii flowers have faded, the plant if not pollinated will produce round green budlike flowers.

Column. A term used to describe the fused structure of orchid flowers, situated directly above the petal lip and consisting of style, stigma, and anther. In this close-up of a Miltonia flower,

the centlralwhite structure is the column.

This head-on view of a Cymbidium lip shows a yellow column at the top, the single stamen forming a bulge at the end of the

column.

Compound. Used in many ways but especially for leaves that are divided into several separates part or leaflets. The compound

leaves of this Berberis nevinii lie in one plane, something seldom encountered on simple leaves of a stem.

Here you see the bulging sheath at the base of the compound leaves of cow parsnip, Heracleum maximum

When stipules are present as at the base of these false lupine leaves, the stipules mark where the compound leaves diverge

from the stem. These leaves are trifoliate with 3 leaflets.

Compound leaves divided in multiples of 3 are called ternate as with this columbine leaf.

Compound leaves with leaflets arranged like a ladder or feather are called pinnately compound as with these giant vetch leaves.

Many ferns, like this common wood fern, Dryopteris arguta, have bipinnately or twice pinnately compound leaves.

By contrast, the leaflets of the buckeye, Aesculus californica, have leaflets arranged like fingers on a hand; they’re palmately

compound.

Cone. (synonym, strobilus). A cone-shaped structure consisting of scales or bracts that bear spore sacs or seeds. Conifers bear

seed cones with scales as seen here.

By contrast, seed cones in the cycads are immense, the seed borne on modified leaflike sporophylls

The genus Equisetum or horsetail has cones bearing spore sacs.

Cordate. Heart shaped, often applied to leaves. The false lily-of-the-valley, Maianthemum dilatatum is a good example.

Corm. A bulb-shaped underground stem. Unlike bulbs, corms are solid throughout rather than having scales. The brodiaea clan

including Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, and Triteleia have corms as does the garden gladiolus.

Corolla. The collective term for all the petals of a flower. For example, the corolla of this clarkia consists of four petals.

Cotyledon. The first leaves or seedling leaves of a young seedling. Cotyledons are often a different shape from the other

leaves. This dicot (=2 cotyledons) of Aralia californica shows how the cotyledons differ from the first true leaf.

Another dicot, the oaks, are confusing because they cotyledons stay hidden inside the seed. Such a method of germination is

called hypogaeous.

Crenate. Scalloped, used to describe the margins of leaves that are not sharply toothed or serrate. The leaves of Phacelia

crenulata are an example.

The grouse flower, Synthyris reniforme, is another example.

Cyme. A kind of determinate inflorescence, the center flower opening first, the flowers on side branches last. Most cymes are

compound, that is cymes of cymes, like this blue elderberry.

Decumbent. Where the stems lie close to the ground, turning up at their tips. The rare Pinehill fremonti, Fremontodendron

decumbens, is an example.

Decurrent. Where a leaf blade continues down a stem. The stems of this sneezeweed, Helenium bigelovii, are nearly hidden

by leaf blades.

The nonnative Italian thistle, Carduus pycnocephala also has strongly decurrent leaves.

Dehiscent. A seed pod that splits open to shed its seeds like this lily capsule.

Indehiscent. The opposite of dehiscent, where the seed pod never opens, the whole pod shed as if it were the seed. The

acorns of oaks are indehiscent.

Deltoid. Shaped like the delta of a river system. Fremont cottonwood, Populus fremontii, has deltoid leaves.

Dentate. Literally toothed. Mostly used for leaf margins where the pointed teeth are at right angles to the axis of the leaf. These

Ribes indecorum leaves are dentate in some places, serrate in others.

Serrate. Similar to dentate except the pointed teeth are oriented towards the leaf tip like the teeth on a saw blade. This Ribes

bracteosum leaf is mostly serrate.

Digitate. Like the fingers of a hand, referring to leaves divided into fingerlike pieces. Here you see the digitately divided leaves

of Leptosiphon ciliata. (Look at the leaves at the base of the photo.)

Dioecious. Where male and female flowers are produced on separate plants.

• Dioecious flowers are unisexual and usually petalless• Monoecious, the opposite refers to unisexual flowers on the

same plant, and…• Bisexual refers to perfect flowers, that is flowers with both

stamens and pistils.

Coyote bush, Baccharis pilularis, is dioecious. Here you see the male flowers on male plants. Note the pale yellow color due to

pollen from the stamens.

This is the female plant, the flowers white from the long hairs attached to the seeds

The willows, Salix, are also dioecious. Here are the female catkins, green from their ovaries, and…

…here is a male catkin with protruding stamens and yellow anthers.

By contrast, the hazelnut, Corylus cornuta californica, is monoecious. Here are the male catkins just before opening.

Here is the female flower with its sticky red stigmas, borne on the same plant but receptive at a different time from the male

catkins shedding their pollen.

Discoid and disciform. Terms used to describe flower heads in Asteraceae, the first where heads have only disc flowers, the

second with a mixture of unisexual and disc flowers. Chaenactis nevadensis, one of the pincushion flowers, is discoid.

With flower heads like Chaenactis glabruiscula, the flowers although basically discoid, display outer enlarged somewhat

irregular flowers, and are referred to as radiant.

Disc flower Flowers of Asteraceae with 5 starlike petal lobes, whereas ray flowers have 5 petals fused into a strap. Here you

see a close view of a Wyethia flower head showing just the disc flowers.

Dissected. Leaves or other parts that are deeply slashed into many segments, often resembling ferns. A leaf of the California

poppy, Eschscholzia californica, clearly shows a dissected pattern.

Distal. A part that is farthest away, or in a flower spike, at the top. Compare to proximal, which refers to the nearest parts. In this photo of Erysimum capitatum, the distal flowers are still in

bud.

Drupe. A fleshy fruit with one or more hard stones inside. The genus Prunus has drupes exclusively. Some manzanitas also have

drupes with several hard stones in the center like this Arctostaphylos glauca.

Elliptical. Shaped like an ellipse. Many leaves are elliptical as seen in these two examples; toyon above and coffee berry below

Entire. Leaves without teeth or scallops on the margin. This Oemleria cerasiformis or oso berry has entire leaves.

Epipetalous. Petals on top of the ovary, the same basically as an inferior ovary. Snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus, is a good

example.

Exserted. The opposite of included, exserted is where the stamens and/or style extends beyond the petals. Here you see

exserted style and stamens in California fuchsia flowers.

False indusium. While a regular fern indusium is a membrane over the sorus, a false indusium is simply the curled under leaf margin that partly hides and

protects the sori. Pellaea brachyptera is a beautiful example. Here you see the bumps under the false indusium, created by the sori.

Filament. The stalk portion of the stamen which serves to position the pollen-bearing anther in the right place for the

intended pollinators. Here the Rhododendron macrophyllumfilaments are pink, the anthers white.

Floret. A term meaning tiny flower, often used for the flowers of grasses and sedges, sometimes also Asteraceae.

Follicle. Unlike its meaning for hair, in botany follicle refers to a single-chambered seed pod that opens by one lengthwise slit. Here you see an open milkweed follicle, the ovary on the right.

Here is a follicle of columbine split open and shedding black seeds.

Free. Not joined, used to describe flowers whose petals and sepals are separate and can be pulled off separately. The flowers

of Fremont star-lily, Toxicodscordion fremontii are a good example.

Fruit. In botany any mature ovary with ripe seeds inside. Fruits can be dehiscent, opening to shed their seeds

• Indehiscent, containing a single seed, the fruit dispersed as a unit, and

• Indehiscent and fleshy, the fruit often edible to birds, mammals, or humans

Funnelform. Funnel shaped, usually applying to a flower. Ithuriel’s spear flowers are funnel shaped.

Fusiform. Fuse shaped.

Glabrous. Bald, without hairs. Douglas iris, Iris douglasiana, has glabrous leaves.

Gland. Structures that produce sticky or glandular substances. Tarplants, for example, have glandular hairs.

The tiny spots on this lemon leaf are embedded oil glands.

Glaucous. Usually used for leaves that are bluish green. For example, the bigberry manzanita, Arctostaphylos glauca has

glaucous leaves.

Glochid. The tiny barbed hairs or spines found at the nodes of prickly pears and chollas, seldom evident until grasped. In this

photo, the tufts of shorter spines on this prickly pear are glochids.

Glume. The (usually) pairs of bracts at the base of grass spikelets. Importance is often given to whether the spikelets shatter above

or below the glumes. In wild oats, the pale structures with attached spiky awns are the glumes.

Graduated. Series of structure that are gradually changed in size from bottom to top, typically in the phyllaries of Asteraceae.

Here you see how the hairy phyllaries of seaside daisy vary from the bottom row to the top.

Gymnosperm. The other major group of seed plants, the seeds not borne inside ovaries, and lacking flowers. The gymnospmers

include…

• The familiar conifers like pines, redwoods, cedar, junipers, and firs

• The mostly subtropical palmlike cycads• The single species of maidenhair tree or Ginkgo biloba, and…• The Gnetales order which contains Ephedra or Mormon tea,

Gnetum, a tropical woody vine, and Welwitschia mirabilis, a bizarre plant from the Namib desert of Africa.

• Gymnosperms are supposed to have “naked” seeds but in fact most bear their seeds protected inside scales or bracts.

Here is a typical cycad from Africa, Encephalartos, showing the large palmlike leaves

Ginkgo biloba, a revered tree from China, is the one of the few gymnosperms with a truly naked seed.

Here is a native Ephedra loaded with tiny seed cones.

Here is a Gnetum with its naked fleshy seeds.

The bizarre Welwitschia mirabilis has a single pair of strap-shaped leaves for life.

Habit. An easily misunderstood term meaning the overall gestalt or shape of a plant. For example, is the habit

• A tree• Shrub• Vine• Ground cover• Bulb• Herbaceous perennial• Grass, and if so,• What is its mature shape?

Habitat. Totally unrelated to habit, habitat refers to the plants’ ecosystem or plant community, including shade, soil, slope, and

more.

Hastate.

Head (=capitulum). An arrangement of flowers crowded together at the end of a stem. All the members of the Asteraceae

have flowers arranged in heads.

Herbaceous. The opposite of woody, herbaceous plants have no discernible wood or bark. Herbaceous plants are often annual or

geophytes, but some perennials like the irises are also herbaceous.