Botanical Words Alphabetical List - AN
ANAEROBIC: Having very little or nooxygen levels. Some aquatic plants can grow anaerobically while producing new growth in water.
ANDRODIOECIOUS: Having hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers on one plant of a species and male flowers on another plant of the same species, but no corresponding form with only female flowers.
ANDROECIUM: The male organs of a flower; the assemblage of stamens.
ANDROPHORE: The stalk or column supporting the stamens of certain flowers usually formed by a union of the filaments, as in the Malvaceae and in many genera of Leguminosae.
ANEMONE CENTERED (Of flowers): Flowers or flower heads in which the central petals or flowers (modified stamens) form a pincushion-like mound and the outer rim or petals or ray florets are flat and spreading, as in some chrysanthemums.
ANEMOPHILOUS: Wind pollinated; refers to flowers that depend on the wind for pollination. Anemophilous flowers are ordinarily unnoticeably small, uncolored and don’t secrete honey; however, they produce an abundance of pollen. Examples include the flowers of grasses, pines, sedges, etc.
ANGIOCARPIAN: A plant that has its fruit enclosed in a husk.
ANGIOCARPOUS: Having a fruit enclosed within a distinct covering, as the filbert within its husk.
ANGIOSPERM: Any flowering plant that reproduces by seeds enclosed in a protective seed vessel. The term angiosperms is given to the larger of the two divisions of seed-bearing plants, in contrast to gymnosperms, which lack flowers and in which the seeds are naked (Examples are Coniferae, Cycadaceae, etc.)
ANGIOSPERMOUS: Having seeds enclosed in a seed vessel, for example, this refers to the poppy, the rose, and most flowering plants, opposed to gymnospermous, or naked-seeded.
ANHYDROUS: Dry or lacking water.
ANION: An ion that is carrying a negative charge of electricity.
ANISOPHYLLOUS: Having the leaves of a pair of two different shapes and sizes, as in conifers and many aquatic plants.
ANNUAL: A plant that completes an entire life cycle in one growing season. A life cycle includes germination, growth to maturity, blooming, producing seeds and death.
ANNUAL RING: In trees and other woody plants, this is the layer of wood produced each year that can be seed when the wood is cut into a cross section. The number of rings equals the age of the tree.
ANNULUS: 1. A ring-like part, structure, or membrane. 2. The elastic ring that surrounds the sporecase of most ferns. 3. The raised ring around the center of a succulent flower.
ANTERIOR: The underside of a leaf; otherwise called inferior or lower; the opposite of the posterior. Also used in flowers, as on a Snapdragon, where the lower lip is anterior and the upper lip posterior.
ANTHER: The part of a stamen that produces pollen, usually located at the end of a thin stalk in the center of a flower.
ANTHERIDIUM: The male reproductive organ in spore-bearing plants such as ferns, mosses, algae, and fungi. Corresponds to the anther in seed-bearing plants.
ANTHEROZOID: The thread-like substance produced by the male with which the female organs are fertilized.
ANTHESIS: The period during which a flower opens or the act of a flower opening; coming to full bloom.
ANTHOCYANIN: The dissolved coloring matter (glycoside pigments) in blue flowers. Also anthocyan.
ANTHOGRAPHY: The description of flowers.
ANTHOLEUCIN: The dissolved coloring matter in white flowers.
ANTHOPHORE: An elongated segment as the base of a flower, between the stem and the base of the petals, stamens, and pistil, as in pinks (Dianthus) or catch-fly (Silene). Also called anthophorum.
ANTHOROPIC SOIL: Soil worked by humans in a way to produce new characteristics that make it different from the original natural soil.
ANTHOXANTHIN: The yellow or orange coloring matter of yellow flowers and fruit.
ANTIBIOSIS: 1. Not alive. 2. The absence of life.
ANTIPETALOUS: Having stamens opposite the petals.
ANTISEPALOUS: Standing opposite to sepals; applied to stamens.
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