Lacerate Cut or cleft irregularly, as if torn. This feature helps describe plant form, function, or identification.
Arboretum Botanical Glossary
A botanical reference guide of morphological terms, plant structures, propagation techniques, and campus flora definitions.
Browse by Subject Category
Explore terms organized by botanical structure, morphology, and arboricultural concepts.
Lamina The flat surface or blade of a leaf or petal.
Lanceolate Lance-shaped (a long narrow point). This feature helps describe plant form, function, or identification.
Lax Loose, with parts open and spreading as opposed to compact.
Leader The main upward growing stem of a single-trunked tree or shrub
Leaflet A small sub-leaf" that together with others forms a single compound leaf"
Leggy With long, floppy stems, usually due to insufficient light. Term often applied to houseplants.
Legume A member of the pea family; a pea, or bean, or similar fruit
Lemma The lower of the two bracts (lemma and palea), which subtend a grass floret, often partially surrounding the palea.
Lenticel A small corky spot on young bark made of loosely packed cells, providing gaseous exchange between the inner tissues and the atmosphere. Did you know? Cherry and birch bark show visible horizontal lenticels that act as breathing pores.