Glossary
- Alternate - leaves that are arranged singly up the stem; not opposite each other
- Annual - plant that germinates, flowers, seeds, and dies during one growing season
- Anther - structure in a flower in which pollen is formed
- Auricle - lobe-like structure at the collar of a grass leaf
- Awn - slender bristle at the tip of grass seed structures
- Axil - the angle formed between a leaf and a stem
- Basal - at the base of a plant or plant part
- Biennial - plant that germinates in one growing season, then flowers, seeds, and dies during a second
- Bract - leaf-like structure at the base of flowers or leaves
- Calyx - all the flower leaves together, normally green in color
- Clasping leaves - leaves that appear to wrap around the stem at their base
- Compound leaves - leaves with 2 or more distinct leaflets
- Cotyledons - the first leaf-like structures that appear after germination; seed leaves
- Crown - the structure formed where leaves, stems, and roots grow together
- Dissected - deeply and repeatedly divided into smaller parts
- Entire - not toothed or otherwise cut
- Glumes - the 2 bracts surrounding a grass spikelet
- Head - a group of flowers borne tightly together
- Leaflets - leaf-like structures within a compound leaf
- Ligule - the structure at the collar of a grass leaf between the sheath and the stem
- Linear - long, narrow, and slender
- Lobed - a cut into a leaf from the edge toward the center; greater than toothed, but not quite compound
- Margin - the edge of a leaf
- Membranous - thin and flexible, usually not green
- Midrib - the center and usually most prominent vein on a leaf
- Nodding - a flower that is not pointed upward, but bent downward or sideways to the stem
- Opposite - leaves situated directly across the stem from each other
- Ovate - egg shaped in outline
- Panicle - a much-branched inflorescence.
- Perennial - a plant that lives for more than 2 growing seasons.
- Petiole - a leaf stalk
- Pinnate - with 2 rows of leaflets, like a feather
- Plume - a hair-like or feather-like structure, often on a seed
- Pubescence - the hairs on a leaf, stem or flower
- Rhizome - a creeping, underground stem
- Rosette - a circular, normally basal, clump of leaves
- Sheath - the extension of leaf tissue surrounding a stem
- Simple leaf - one with a blade in one piece; not compound
- Spike - a narrow, non-spreading inflorescence
- Spikelet - a single or group of floral structures in a grass
- Spur - a hollow appendage on a flower
- Stolon - a creeping stem along the surface of the ground
- Succulent - fleshy and juicy
- Taproot - a thick, central root with minimal branching
- Trifoliate leaf - a leaf made of 3 leaflets; clover-like
- Whorled - 3 or more similar structured arranged as spokes on a wheel
Please contact: Ag Publishing, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844 to 2240; 208-882-7982 visit the Resources for Idaho website for more information about this or other publications.