Introduction - Species Plantarum Programme

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SPECIES PLANTARUM — FLORA OF THE WORLD (1999)
dendroid: tree-like in form but not in size. cf. arborescent.
dentate: toothed.
denticle: a small tooth; in Coprosma (Rubiaceae), thick papillate tubercles on the margin of
the interpetiolar stipules.
denticulate: finely toothed.
depressed: flattened as if pressed down from the top or end.
determinate: of growth or branching, with a bud or flower terminating the growth of the
main axis; of an inflorescence, see definite.
dextrorse: turned towards the right. cf. sinistrorse
diadelphous: having the stamens united into two groups, or all but one united in a group and
one free.
diaphanous: extremely thin and transparent.
dichasium: a cymose inflorescence with opposite branching below the flower which
terminates each axis. cf. monochasium.
dichlamydeous: of a flower, having two whorls of perianth parts.
dichotomous: forking into two equal branches resulting from division of the growing point.
diclinous: having the stamens and the carpels in separate flowers.
dicotyledon: a flowering plant whose embryo has two (rarely more) cotyledons (seed
leaves). cf. monocotyledon.
didymous: borne in pairs; of anthers, having two lobes, with scarcely any tissue connecting
them.
didynamous: of stamens, four in number, two being distinctly longer than the other two.
digitate: branching from the axis or stalk like the fingers of a hand.
dimidiate: appearing to be halved, as when half an organ is so much smaller than the other
that it seems absent.
dimorphic: of two different forms.
dioecious: having the male and female reproductive structures on separate plants. cf.
monoecious.
diplecolobous: of cotyledons in a seed, twice folded transversely.
diploid: having two of the basic sets of chromosomes in the nucleus. cf. haploid, polyploid.
disc: a plate or rim of tissue, derived from the receptacle of a flower, occurring between
whorls of floral parts.
discolorous: of different colours; of leaves, having the two surfaces different in colour;
variegated. cf. concolorous.
dissepiment: a partition (septum) within an ovary or fruit, derived by fusion of adjacent
carpels.
distal: remote from the point of origin or attachment. cf. proximal.
distichous: arranged in two rows on opposite sides of a stem and thus in the same plane.
diurnal: of flowers, opening only during daylight hours.
divaricate: widely spreading and often ±horizontal.