ILLUSTRATED GLOSSERIES AVAILABLE ONLINE
- Vegetative Characteristics from Texas A & M provides extremely nice images for most of the basic terms you might need. Recommended.
- Reproductive Characteristics from Texas A & M provides extremely nice images of flower parts and types to illustrate their definitions. Recommended.
FLORAL TERMINOLOGY
FLOWER - a determinate shoot of the sporophyte of a higher plant that is modified for reproduction and consists of a shortened axis bearing modified leaves.
FLORAL PARTS:
- 1. PEDUNCLE
- - stalk of a solitary flower or entire inflorescence, PEDICEL = stalk of an individual
flower in an inflorescence.
- 2. RECEPTACLE
- - shoot tip upon which floral parts sit.
- 3. SEPAL
- - outermost whorl, typically green.
- CALYX - collective term for all the sepals.
- 4. PETAL
- - in between sepals and stamens, usually showy.
- COROLLA - collective term for all the petals.
- 5. PERIANTH
- - collective term for calyx and corolla.
- 6. TEPAL
- - used when can't distinguish between sepals and petals.
- 7. STAMEN
- - male structure:
- A. ANTHER - pollen sacs
- B. FILAMENT - stalk
- C. ANDROECIUM - collective term for all male parts.
- 8. PISTIL
- - female parts, consists of:
- A. STIGMA - region receptive to pollen
- B. STYLE - portion of pistil between stigma and ovary
- C. OVARY - portion which contains ovules
- D. GYNOECIUM - collective term for all female parts.
- 9. LOCULE (CHAMBER)
- - spaces within ovary, often separated by septa.
- 10. PLACENTATION
- - attachment of ovules within ovary:
- A. PARIETAL - attached to ovary wall.
- B. AXILE - attached to septa.
- C. FREE CENTRAL - attached to central column.
MANY FLORAL PARTS MAY BE FUSED, MODIFIED OR LACKING:
- 1. COMPLETE
- - all 4 parts present.
- 2. INCOMPLETE
- - 1 or more parts missing.
- 3. PERFECT (hermaphroditic)
- - has both sexual parts.
- 4. IMPERFECT
- - lacks one or more sexual parts:
- A. STAMINATE - if male
- B. PISTILLATE - if female
- 5. MONOECIOUS
- - unisexual flowers on same plant.
- 6. DIOECIOUS
- - unisexual flowers on different plants.
INSERTION OF FLORAL PARTS - positions of sepals, petals and stamens relative to the ovary:
- 1. HYPOGYNOUS = superior ovary
- - other parts attached below the ovary.
- 2. EPIGYNOUS = inferior ovary
- - other parts attached above ovary, e.g. apple.
- 3. PERIGYNOUS = superior ovary
- - sepals, petals, stamens fuse to form cup
(HYPANTHIUM) around ovary, e.g. rose hip.
FLORAL SYMMETRY (Jepson Manual) - arrangement of parts and their relative sizes:
- 1. AYSMMETRIC
- - irregular, not divisible into identical mirror image halves.
- 2. BILATERAL
- - divisible into mirror image halves in only one way.
- 3. BIRADIAL
- - divisible into mirror image halves in two ways.
- 4. RADIAL
- - divisible into mirror image halves in three or more ways.
INFLORESCENCE - arrangement of one or more flowers and associated structures on an
axis:
- 1. SPIKE
- - sessile flowers on an axis.
- 2. RACEME
- - flowers with pedicels.
- 3. PANICLE
- - compound raceme, branched inflorescence in which basal or lateral flowers
open first.
- 4. CYME
- - branched inflorescence in which central or uppermost flowers open first.
- 5. UMBEL
- - flat top, pedicels arise from same point.
- 6. CORYMB
- - flat top, pedicels arise from different points.
- 7. HEAD
- - many small flowers on large receptacle.
- 8. CATKIN
- - spilkelike inflorescence of unisexual flowers subtended by bracts.
Much of the material on this page comes from the work of Dr. Steve Wolfe at California State University.
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