An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate and indehiscent. Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it. In many species, what is called the "seed" is an achene, a fruit containing the seed. The seed-like appearance is owed to the hardening of the fruit wall (pericarp), which encloses the solitary seed so closely as to seem like a seed coat.
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals or sepals. The state of having bracts is referred to as bracteate or bracteolate, and conversely the state of lacking them is referred to as ebracteate and ebracteolate, without bracts.
The perianth is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals). The term perianth is derived from the Greek περί, peri, meaning around, and άνθος, anthos, meaning flower, while perigonium is derived from gonos, meaning seed, i.e. sexual organs. In the mosses and liverworts (Marchantiophyta), the perianth is the sterile tubelike tissue that surrounds the female reproductive structure.
In botany, an awn is either a hair- or bristle-like appendage on a larger structure, or in the case of the Asteraceae, a stiff needle-like element of the pappus.
Calyceraceae is a plant family in the order Asterales. The natural distribution of the about sixty species belonging to this family is restricted to the southern half of South-America. The species of the family resemble both the Asteraceae family and the Dipsacaceae.
Euryops pectinatus, the grey-leaved euryops, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, endemic to rocky, sandstone slopes in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Felicia is a genus of small shrubs, perennial or annual herbaceous plants, with 85 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and which are surrounded by an involucre of, in this case between two and four whorls of, bracts. In Felicia, the centre of the head is taken by yellow, seldomly whitish or blackish blue disc florets, and is almost always surrounded by one single whorl of mostly purple, sometimes blue, pink, white or yellow ligulate florets and rarely ligulate florets are absent. These florets sit on a common base and are not individually subtended by a bract. Most species occur in the Cape Floristic Region, which is most probably the area where the genus originates and had most of its development. Some species can be found in the eastern half of Africa up to Sudan and the south-western Arabian peninsula, while on the west coast species can be found from the Cape to Angola and one species having outposts on the Cameroon-Nigeria border and central Nigeria. Some species of Felicia are cultivated as ornamentals and several hybrids have been developed for that purpose.
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of terms relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the related Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary of leaf morphology. See also List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. You can help by adding illustrations that assist an understanding of the terms.
Liatris aestivalis, also known as the summer gayfeather, is a plant species in the aster family Asteraceae and genus Liatris. The specific epithet, aestivalis, is derived from Latin and means "pertaining to the summer". It is native to Oklahoma and Texas in the United States, where it is found in habitats that range from limestone outcrops to slopes and bases of slopes with shallow soils.
Liatris cokeri, also known as Coker's gayfeather and sandhills blazing star, is a plant species in the aster family Asteraceae and genus Liatris. It is native to North and South Carolina in the United States, where it is found in habitats such as sand ridges and sandy fields to roadsides; it is also found in turkey-oak and longleaf pine-oak plant communities. It blooms in late summer with purple flower heads.
Senecio cadiscus is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is endemic to the Western Cape of South Africa, where it grows in vernal pools. It was at one time classified as Cadiscus aquaticus, the only species in the monotypic genus Cadiscus, but molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that it is nested within Senecio. It is a floating or emergent plant with small narrow leaves and white-rayed flowers. Its populations are small and fragmented, and are declining. The plant is threatened by grazing and trampling by livestock, invasive plants, reclamation of wetlands and eutrophication from fertilizer runoff. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has consequently rated it as "critically endangered".
Mairia is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants assigned to the daisy family. All species have leathery, entire or toothed leaves in rosettes, directly from the underground rootstock, and one or few flower heads sit at the top of the stems that carry few bracts. These have a whorl of white to mauve ray florets surrounding yellow disc florets in the centre. In general, flowering only occurs after the vegetation has burned down. The six species currently assigned to Mairia are endemic to the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Some of the species are called fire daisy in English and vuuraster in Afrikaans.
Syntrichopappus is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy or sunflower family (Asteraceae), found in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, including Baja California. It is a member of the Heliantheae alliance of the Asteraceae. There are two species. Common names include xerasid and Fremont's-gold.
Bartlettia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. It contains the single species Bartlettia scaposa, known commonly as the Bartlett daisy. It is native to Mexico and to New Mexico and Texas in the United States.
The Stifftioideae are a subfamily of the Asteraceae, or sunflower family, of flowering plants. It comprises a single tribe, Stifftieae, of ten genera.
Mikania scandens is a species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. Its common names include climbing hempvine, climbing hempweed, and louse-plaster. It is native to the eastern and central United States, its distribution extending into Tamaulipas in Mexico. Reports of its presence in Ontario in Canada are erroneous. It is an introduced and invasive species on many Pacific Islands and in parts of southern Asia.
Catananche lutea, is a woolly annual plant, assigned to the daisy family, with most leaves in a basal rosette, and some smaller leaves on the stems at the base of the branches. Seated horizontal flowerheads develop early on under the rosette leaves. Later, not or sparingly branching erect stems grow to 8–40 cm high, carrying solitary flowerheads at their tips with a papery involucre whitish to beige, reaching beyond the yellow ligulate florets. Flowers are present between April and June. This plant is unique for the five different types of seed it develops, few larger seeds from the basal flowerheads, which remain in the soil, and smaller seeds from the flowerheads above ground that may be spread by the wind or remain in the flowerhead when it breaks from the dead plant. This phenomenon is known as amphicarpy. The seeds germinate immediately, but in one type, germination is postponed. It naturally occurs around the Mediterranean. Sources in English sometimes refer to this species as yellow succory.
Felicia heterophylla is a roughly hairy annual plant in the daisy family. It has alternate leaves of 1–5 cm long with an entire margin or few inconspicuous teeth. The flower heads are set individually at the tip of its stems, and contain a whorl of purplish blue ray florets around a center of blackish blue disk florets. Flower heads appear in winter and spring. It is called true-blue daisy in English and bloublomastertjie in Afrikaans. It is an endemic species that only occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Mairia hirsuta is a tufted perennial, herbaceous plant of up to 40 cm high, that is assigned to the daisy family. Most of its narrow to broad elliptic or inverted egg-shaped leaves are part of the basal rosette, have margin that is rolled under, with rounded or pointy teeth or with some peg-like extensions, lightly woolly on the upper surface and densely woolly on the underside, but always the green remains visible. Flower heads have been found from July to November, mostly after a fire or when the soil has been disturbed. The species can be found in the southern mountains of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
