Arboretum Botanical Glossary

Fistulose Hollow and tubular. This feature helps describe plant form, function, or identification.

Floret A small flower, usually part of a cluster. This feature helps explain how flowers are arranged, how pollination happens, or how seeds begin to form. Did you know? Each small disk in the center of a sunflower is an individual floret capable of producing one seed.

Follicle A dry seed pod, which splits open, consisting of a single section and opening along a single side.

Frond The leaf of a fern or palm. Botanists use this feature to describe leaf shape, surface, edge, or arrangement, which helps with plant identification. Did you know? Fern fronds unroll from fiddleheads, coiled young fronds that expand as they mature.

Fruit A ripened seed-containing ovary. This feature helps explain how flowers are arranged, how pollination happens, or how seeds begin to form. Did you know? Botanically, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, peppers, and beans are fruits because they develop from flower ovaries.

Funnelform Describing a flower whose petals form a funnel shape. This feature helps explain how flowers are arranged, how pollination happens, or how seeds begin to form. Did you know? Funnelform flowers often guide pollinators toward nectar at the base of the tube.

Fusiform Shaped like a spindle - wide in the middle and narrow at the ends.