Botanical Words Alphabetical List - GR

GRAFT: 1. Method of propagation by which an artificial union is made between different parts of individual plants. The stem or shoot that is inserted into a rooted plant is called the scion; the plant or part of a plant into which the scion is inserted is called the stock or understock. There are many different methods of grafting including flat grafting, split grafting, and side grafting, among others. 2. The point where a scion is inserted in the stock.

GRAFT HYBRID: A hybrid produced by grafting a branch of one species (scion) onto another (rootstock), in which the two grow together to form a single plant or tree.

GRAFTING TAPE: Tape backed with biodegradable cloth; used in budding and grafting operations and in banding tree wounds. Also called nurseryman's tape.

GRAFTING THREAD: Fine waxed string used in budding and grafting operations.

GRAFTING WAX: A waxy substance used to hold and seal tree or rose grafts.

GRAIN: 1. The unhusked or threshed seed of one of the cereal plants: wheat, oats, rye, barley, maize, or millet; a corn. 2. Corn in general; the gathered seeds of cereal plants in mass.

GRAMINEOUS: Grass-like; belonging to the family Gramineae. Also graminaceous, gramineal.

GRANIFORM: Having the form of a seed or grain.

GRANULAR: Containing, bearing, resembling, or composed of grains or granules. Covered with small grains or granules. Also granulose, granulous.

GRANULAR FERTILIZER: A fertilizer made up to particles 0.1 inch in diameter.

GRANULATE: 1. To form into granules; make rough on the surface. 2. To become formed into grains; become granular; consisting of or resembling grains or granules. Also granulated.

GRANULATION: 1. The process of granulating. 2. One of the little elevations in a granulated surface.

GRANULE: A little grain; a fine particle.

GRAVITATIONAL WATER: The water, in large pores of the soil, which drains away under the force of gravity.

GREAT SOIL GROUP: Any one of several broad groups of soil with fundamental characteristics in common.

GREENHOUSE: A building of glass or plastic that is used to grow and protect tender plants.

GREEN MANURE: An organic crop material, turned under the soil, to be used as a fertilizer to add nitrogen to the soil. The green plants decay in the soil and provide humus and make stiff soil more porous and friable. A quick-growing crop is sown and dug into the ground before it reaches maturity (when it will provide the greatest bulk without being to tall to turn under).

GROUND COVER: Refers to low-growing or trailing plants that are used to carpet the ground, as underneath trees or as an overplanting for bulbs.

GROUND WATER: 1. Water that fills all unblocked pores of underlying material below the water table. 2. The upper limit of saturation.

GROW LIGHT: A broad-spectrum florescent light used to grow plants indoors.

GROWING POINT: The tip of a shoot from which new growth emerges.

GROWING TRAY: A tray having compartments like an ice-cube tray, used for starting seeds. Also called a cell tray.

GROWTH FORM: The form of a plant; the habit in which a plant grows; also called growth habit or just habit. Shrub and vine are growth forms (i.e. a shrubby plant or a climbing plant - a vine).

GROWTH RING: The layer of wood developed in a tree's growing season, usually one year.

GRUMROSE: Made of clustered, coarse grains or granules. Also grumous.

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