Week 1 Flashcards
Gymnosperm
Plants producing seeds that are not enclosed inside ovaries. Seeds are usually, but not always, in cones.
Include Conifers, evergreens, softwoods
Tree
A large, woody perennial plant, typically with one main stem that increases in diameter each year. Height varies dramatically at maturity, from 20 feet in some species to 350 feet in others.
Shrub
A woody plant, typically with multiple stems, and smaller than a tree at maturity (most often under 20 feet tall)
Evergreen
Retaining leaves for longer than one growing season
Deciduous
falling off, not persistent, not evergreen.
Habit
The characteristic form of a plant; the manner in which it typically grows
Bark
All layers of a woody stem (living and dead) external to the vascular cambium - trunk, bole, twig
Cambium
A tissue composed of cells capable of active division; a lateral meristem that results in increased diameter growth. Vascular cambium produces xylem and phloem cells; the cork cambium produces cork and phelloderm
Sapwood
The outer layers of recently formed wood between the heartwood and the bark, contains functioning vascular tissue and is often lighter in color.
Heartwood
The innermost, usually darkened portion of a woody stem. Composed of xylem cells that are blocked by resins and tannins and therefore no longer involved in water transport.
Pith
The central portion of the stem of most plants. Typically, spongy when young, but may turn hard with age. May be solid, chambered, or hollow. Typically, round, but may be other shapes in some species (triangular or star-shaped)
Leaf
A flattened, expanded portion of the stem that is usually photosynthetic. The parts of a complete lead include the blade, the petiole, and sometimes stipules. In compound leaves, a single leaf is composed of multiple leaflets.
Blade
The broad part of a leaf or petal
Petiole
The stalk of a leaf. In a compound leaf, the part of the stalk below the lowest set of leaflets. The stalk on each leaflet of a compound leaf is called a petiolule
Margin
The outer edge of the leaf blade.
Stipule
A small modified leaf that occurs near the base of the petiole in some species. If present, typically occurs in pairs; in some species, may be further modified into spines.
Bud
An undeveloped shoot or flower
Terminal
Occurring at the tip or apex
Lateral
Borne on the side
Flower
The reproductive organ of a flowering plant. A complete flower consists of sepals, petals, pistils, and stamens.
Seed
A ripened ovule. Seeds are composed of an embryo and nutritive tissue (cotyledon or endosperm) covered with a protective seed coat. The development of seeds, which limits the importance of water in the germination process, was a significant step forward in the colonization of dry land by plants.
