A botanical reference guide of morphological terms, plant structures, propagation techniques, and campus flora definitions.
Explore terms organized by botanical structure, morphology, and arboricultural concepts.
often on very poor soil A type of small green plant, sometimes only 1/16 (2 mm.) and mostly less than 2" (5 cm.) high. Mosses have tiny stems and leaves and reproduce by means of spores instead of seeds. They grow in moist locations
Opposite Having leaves in pairs, each pair emerging from a single node
Orbicular Approximately circular in outline. This feature helps describe plant form, function, or identification.
Ovate Having an oval or egg-shaped outline, wider at the point of attachment
Pachymorph Clumping - as in clumping bamboos. This term helps record, compare, or interpret plant and site information.
Palea A chaffy scale or bract; the uppermost of the two bracts (lemma and palea), which subtend a grass floret.
Pallid Pale, light in color. This feature helps describe plant form, function, or identification.
Palmate Having leaflets or other parts radiating from a common point, like outstretched fingers from a palm. Did you know? Maple leaves are palmate, with lobes spreading from one point like fingers from a hand.
Panicle A drooping flower cluster. This feature helps explain how flowers are arranged, how pollination happens, or how seeds begin to form.
Papillate Having short rounded bumps, called papillae (singular: papilla). This feature helps describe plant form, function, or identification. Did you know? Lotus leaves have microscopic surface bumps that help water bead and roll away, inspiring self-cleaning materials.
The Purdue Arboretum is a collaboration between the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and Administrative Operations