Botanical Words Alphabetical List - CO

COALESCENT: Growing together; uniting so as to form one body. Applied to the organic cohesion of similar parts.

COARSE SAND: A soil particle that measures between .50 to 1.0 millimeters.

COCCUS: One of the separate divisions of a divided seedpod, which splits up into one-seeded cells.

COCHLEAR: Shell-shaped.

COLD FRAME: A bottomless box consisting of a wooden or metal frame with a glass or polyethylene top. It is placed on the ground over plants to protect them from cold or frost.

COLLAR: A ring placed loosely around the stem of a plant, especially tomatoes, to prevent cutworm damage.

COLLENCHYMA: A layer of tissue right beneath the epidermis, having the cells thickened at the angles with a pad-like mass, which swells in water. It is found mainly in the young stems, petioles and leaf veins of many dicotyledonous plants.

COLLOID SOIL: Organic or inorganic tiny crystals that are small enough to be easily carried by air or water.

COLLUVIUM: Soil that is deposited at the base of a steep slope.

COLUMN: An organ formed by the union of filaments with one another, as in Malvacea, or of stamens with the style and stigma, as in Orchids.

COLUMN-FOOT: A basal extension of the column to which the labellum is attached, often flexibly.

COLUMNAR: Tall and cylindrical or tapering.

COLUMN-WINGS: Paired protuberances or wing-like flanges on the column.

COMA: The leafy head of a tree (such as Palms) or a tuft of leaves or bracts terminating a stem (such as the leafy top of a Pineapple). The silky hairs at the end of some seeds (such as fireweed - Epilobium).

COMMISSURE: A joint, seam, suture, or closure; the place where two bodies or parts of a body meet or unite. The face by which one carpel or mericarp attaches to another, as in Umbelliferae.

COMPACT: Pressing air out of the soil.

COMPANION PLANTING/CROPPING: A system of arranging plants in a way that a given species benefits from some characteristic of another. For example, it is thought that Tomatoes are protected from certain insects by the odor of Marigolds.

COMPLANATE: Lying in one plane. Applied to leaves, especially of Mosses.

COMPLEX SOIL: 1. A pattern of soil. 2. A mixture of different kinds of soil whose areas are too small to be shown individually.

COMPOST: The decomposition of a mass of rotted organic matter.

COMPOST ACTIVATOR: A substance, usually bacterial, that is used to speed the breakdown of organic waste into compost. Also called activator or compost inoculent.

COMPOST AERATOR: An elongated, flanged T-shaped device used to create passages for air and moisture in a compost pile. Also created compost turner.

COMPOST BIN: A container to hold decomposing garden and yard wastes, fertilizer, peat, lime, and other substances during the composting process.

COMPOSTER: A container utilizing air, moisture, and solar heat to turn grass clippings, garden waste, and kitchen scraps into compost. Composters may consist of stacked trays or other chambers arranged to facilitate periodic turning of the mixture.

COMPOST INOCULANT: A substance that may contain bacteria, fungi, enzymes, and hormones that is used to speed the composting process and to improve the quality of the compost. Also called activator or compost activator.

COMPOST TEA: A liquid fertilizer made of compost dissolved in water.

COMPOST THERMOMETER: A thermometer having a long probe used to measure the temperature in the center of the compost pile.

COMPOUND: Made up of two or more similar parts (i.e. a compound leaf).

COMPOUND LEAF: A leaf that is divided into two or more leaflets.

COMPRESSED: Flattened.

CONCEPTACLE: An organ or a cavity that encloses reproductive bodies in some ferns, fungi, mosses, and algae.

CONCRESCENCE: The union of cell walls by means of a cementing substance formed in process of growth so that they are inseparably grown together. Also called cementation.

CONCRETE: A compact mass of sand, gravel, coarse pebbles, or stone chips cemented together to form a smooth surface for steps, patios, or walkways.

CONCRETIONS: Pellet-like grains from concentrations of compounds in soils that cement the soil grains together.

CONDITIONER: A material added to a fertilizer that keeps it flowing free.

CONDUCTANCE: The power to conduct.

CONDUCTIVITY: The physical quantity that measures the readiness with which a medium transmits electricity. Expressed in micromhos per centimeter at 25º C.

CONDUPLICATE: Folded once longitudinally down the middle.

CONNATION: Fusion of like parts; e.g. sepal with sepal; contrasted with adnation.

CONE: 1. A flower or cluster of flowers having a cone-like shape. 2. A dry, usually elongated, multiple fruit formed of compactly overlapped scales (such as those of Pines, Firs and Spruces), in which a pair of naked seeds is borne upon the upper side of each scale (technically called a strobilus or strobile).

CONGLOMERATE: Densely clustered.

CONICAL: Cone-shaped.

CONIFER: A plant that produces cones such as a plant belonging to the family Coniferae, such as Pines, Cypresses, Junipers and Cedars.

CONNATE: United congenitally.

CONSISTENCE: 1. Properties of soil material that determines its ability to change shape. 2. Consistency.

CONSOLIDATE: To increase the density and reduce pore space in soil.

CONSPECIFIC: Belonging to the same species.

CONSUMPTIVE USE: 1. The water used by plants. 2. Vapor loss. Expressed as equivalent depth of free water per unit of time.

CONTINUOUS: Not deviating from uniformity; the opposite of interrupted.

CONTOUR: An imaginary line connecting points of equal elevation on the soil's surface.

CONTOUR BASIN: A basin made by a levee or border built on a contour.

CONTOUR PLOWING: The plowman keeps to a level line at a right angle to the direction of the slope.

CONTOUR TERRACE: Leveling soil out on a slope at a right angle to the direction of the slope.

CONVOLUTE: Rolled together, or one part over another. Specifically applied to leaves or petals rolled up lengthwise in the bud.

COPPER: An element used in various forms, including copper sulfate and Bordeaux mixture, to control fungal and bacterial diseases of plants. Also used in strips around tree trunks to act as a barrier to snails.

CORDATE: Heart-shaped (leaf base).

CORIACEOUS: Leathery.

CORKING: Gradual ripening of a stem from the base, to produce a bark-like texture.

CORM: A corm in a rounded, thick underground stem that is modified into a mass of storage tissue. The foliage and flowers grow from buds on the stem. Corms are usually round and slightly flattened, not pointed like a true bulb. If you cut one in half, you won't see scale rings. (See Bulb to distinguish.) The tunics of corms are usually netted and fibrous. One or more growing points, or eyes, grow from the top of the corm. At the bottom, roots grow from a basal plate. As the plant grows, the old corm dies, and new corms, called cormels, form around it. If a new cormel is large, it may produce flowers the following year, but normally it takes two to three years. Crocuses, montbretia, and gladioluses are typical corms.

CORMEL: A smaller, secondary corm produced by an old corm; a bulblet.

CORNUTE: Having horns.

COROLLA: The usually conspicuous part of a flower, called the petals. They are contained within the calyx and immediately surround the stamens and pistil.

CORONA: A crown-like appendage or series of united appendages on the inner side of a corolla. It often resembles an outgrowth of the perianth, as in the Daffodil, or of the staminal circle, as in the milkweed.

CORONULE: A little crown of a seed; the downy tuft on seeds.

CORTEX: The cylinder of primary tissue, within the stem of a plant, which extends from the vascular tissue in the center out to the bark, or epidermis. It may function in photosynthesis, food storage, support, and growth of the plant.

CORYMB: A flat-topped or dome-shaped flower cluster with the outer flowers opening first, as in species of the group Achillea.

CORYMBOSE: Having flowers in corymbs.

COTYLEDON: The first leaf, pair or whorl of leaves to show after germinating; a seed leaf.

COVER CROP: A crop of nitrogen fixing plants that is planted with, or in rotation with, edible crops to increase nitrogen, stabilize soil, attract beneficial insects, or to be used as green manure.

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