Glossary of Horticulture Terms
A, B, C, D, E-G, H-L, M-O, P, Q-R, S, T, U-Z
|
| Palmate |
Radiating, fan-like from a common point;
as of leaflets of a palmately compound leaf or veins of
a palmately-veined leaf. Digitate. |
| Pandurate |
Fiddle shaped. |
| Panicle |
A branched cluster of stalked flowers. |
| Parallel |
Running side by side from the base to tip;
especially of veins. |
| Pedate |
A palmately divided or compound leaf whose
two lateral lobes are again cleft or divided. |
| Pedicel |
The stalk of a flower or fruit when in a
cluster or when solitary. |
| Peduncle |
The stalk of a flower cluster or a single
flower when the flower is solitary, or the remaining member
of a reduced inflorescence. |
| Pendulous |
More or less hanging or declined. |
| Perennial |
Plants with stems which persist for more
than 2 years. |
| Perfect flower |
A flower having both functional stamens
and pistils; a plant with both functioning male and female
parts. |
| Perianth |
The two floral envelopes of a flower; a
collective term embracing both corolla and calyx as a
unit; often used when it is not possible to distinguish
one series from the other (as in most monocots) and the
parts then called tepals. |
| Persistent |
Not deciduous, as applied to leaves; not
disappearing, as applied to pith, pubescence, epidermis,
etc. Adhering to a position instead of falling, whether
dead or alive. |
| Petals |
Modified leaves forming the inner floral
envelope. |
| Petiole |
Leaf stalk. |
| Petiolule |
Leaflet stalk. |
| Pilose |
Shaggy with soft hairs. |
| Pinked |
Notched. |
| Pinna |
A leaflet of a compound leaf; when applied
to ferns, the primary division attached to the main rachis;
feather-like. |
| Pinnate |
A compound leaf with leaflets or segments
along each side of a common axis or rachis; feather-like. |
| Pinnule |
The leaflet of a pinna; a secondary leaflet
of a pinnately decompound leaf. |
| Pistil |
The female part of a flower composed of
ovary, style and stigma. |
| Pistillate |
An imperfect flower with a pistil, or seed
organ, but having no functional stamens (male pollen producing
organs). |
| Pith |
The central part of a twig, usually lighter
or darker than the surrounding wood. |
| Pithy |
Sometimes used in the sense of having a
large pith and little wood. |
| Plicate |
Folded, as in a folding fan, or approaching
this condition. |
| Plumose |
Feather-like, plumy. |
| Pod |
A dry dehiscent fruit; capsule, legume,
follide. |
| Pollen |
The male cells or microspores produced by
the stamens. |
| Polycarpic |
Flowering and fruiting many times. |
| Polygamous |
Bearing unisexual and bisexual flowers on
the same plant. |
| Pome |
A type of fleshy fruit represented by the
apple, pear or related genera. A fruit with a papery or
bony core at the center and with sepals or scars from
which the sepals have fallen at the blossom end. Many
"berry-like" fruits are really small pomes (cotoneaster). |
| Posterior |
At or toward the back; opposite the front;
nearest the axis; away from the subtending bract. |
| Preformed |
Already with definite shape or structure,
as with leaves within a bud. |
| Prehensile |
Clasping, coiling in response to touch. |
| Prickles |
Slender, sharp outgrowths of the stem tissues
beneath the epidermis. |
| Primocane |
The first year’s shoot or cane of a
biennial woody stem, ex. Rubus. |
| Procumbent |
Lying flat on the ground but the stem not
rooting at nodes or tip. |
| Prominent |
Projecting outward, conspicuous. |
| Prostrate |
Lying flat on the ground; a general term. |
| Protogynous |
Having the stigma receptive to pollen before
the pollen is released from the anthers of the same flower. |
| Proximal |
Toward the base, away from the apex. |
| Puberulent |
Minutely hairy, when viewed with a hand
lens. |
| Pubescent |
Hairy. |
| Punctate |
With translucent or covered dots, depressions
or pits. |
| Pungent |
With a sharp, hard point; sharp and acid
to taste or smell. |
