Introduction - Species Plantarum Programme

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SPECIES PLANTARUM — FLORA OF THE WORLD (1999)
capillary: of hairs etc., very slender.
capitate: of an inflorescence, with the flowers unstalked and aggregated into a dense cluster;
of a stigma, globose, like the head of a pin.
capitellate: shaped like, or aggregated into, a very small head.
capitulum: a dense cluster of sessile flowers. adj. capitate.
capsule: a dry fruit formed from two or more united carpels and dehiscing at maturity to
release the seeds.
carinate: keeled.
carpel: an organ (generally believed to be a modified foliar unit) at the centre of a flower,
bearing one or more ovules and having its margins fused together or with other carpels to
enclose the ovule(s) in an ovary, and consisting also of a stigma and usually a style.
carpophore: in ferns, the stalk of a sporocarp; in a fruit, the stalk of a mericarp.
caruncle (= strophiole): an outgrowth of a seed coat, near the hilum.
caryopsis: a dry, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit in which the seed coat is closely fused to the
fruit wall (characteristic of grasses).
cataphyll: a scale leaf associated with a vegetative propagating organ such as a rhizome or
perennating bud; a simple, scale-like leaf.
catkin: a spike in which the flowers are unisexual and without conspicuous perianth.
caudate: having a narrow tail-like appendage.
caudex: a thick, erect trunk, especially of cycads.
caudicle: a thread to which a pollen mass is attached in Orchidaceae and Asclepiadaceae;
the part of a pollinarium that connects the corpusculum with the pollinia.
cauliflorous: of plants, with flowers (and fruits) borne on a well-developed trunk or major
branch. cf. cauline.
cauline: of leaves, borne on an aerial stem; of flowers or fruits, borne on old wood. cf.
cauliflorous).
cell: the basic unit of plant structure consisting, at least when young, of a protoplast
surrounded by a wall.
centrifugal: directed, or developing, from the centre or axis outwards.
centripetal: directed, or developing, from the outside towards the centre or axis.
chaff: thin, membranous scales or bracts; thin, dry unfertilised ovules among the fully
developed seeds of a fruit.
chalaza: the part of an ovule to which the end of the stalk (funicle) is attached.
chartaceous: papery.
chasmogamous: pollinated when the flower is open. cf. cleistogamous.
chlorophyll: pigment(s) constituting the green colouring matter of plants and absorbing
radiant energy in photosynthesis.
chromosome: a thread-like structure in the nucleus of a cell, containing a linear sequence of
genes.
cilia: in gametes, spores etc., minute hair-like protoplasmic protrusions whose movement
confers motility on the cell; in vascular plants, hairs more or less confined to the margins
of an organ. sing. cilium; adj. ciliate.