Botanical Words Alphabetical List - PE

PECTINATE: Resembling a comb; divided nearly to the base with narrow, close segments, as the leaves of some ferns.

PEDATE: Palmate, with the two lateral lobed divided into smaller segments, such as the leaf of Helleborus foetidus.

PEDICEL: The stalk of a flower. Also pedicle.

PEDICELLATE: Having or attached by a pedicel or pedicels.

PEDICELLIFORM: Having the form of a pedicel.

PEDICULATE: Having a pedicel or pedicels.

PEDUNCLE: A botanical term used to describe the stalk of a single flower, as in the Tulip, or of a cluster of flowers, as in the Geranium.

PELTATE (of leaves): A leaf in which the leafstalk is connected to the center of the leaf.

PENDENT: Hanging or supported from above; drooping. Also pendulous.

PENTADELPHOUS: Grouped together in five sets, as the stamens of the linden, which are in bunches of five united by their filaments.

PENTAMEROUS: Consisting of five sets of parts, as in flowers such as many of the rose family, which have calyx lobes, petals, stamens, and other flower parts in five's or multiples of five.

PENTANDROUS: Pertaining to a flower having five stamens.

PENTASTICHOUS: Describing an arrangement of leaves upon the stem in five vertical rows or ranks, as in the apple tree.

PEONY FORM: Describes a deep, rounded flower consisting of a convex mass of petals, petaloids, and sometimes stamens.

PERCURRENT: Running through the entire length from base to tip, as the midrib of a leaf.

PERENNATE: To live perennially from one year to another.

PERENNATION: The tendency of a plant to live for more than two growing seasons.

PERENNIAL: Living for at least three seasons; commonly used of herbaceous plants and woody perennials, i.e. trees and shrubs.

PERFECT: Flowers having both stamens and pistils; also refers to a whole plant whose flowers have both male and female parts.

PERFOLIATE: Having a stem that seems to pass through the blade, said of a leaf, such as those of many honeysuckles.

PERIANTH: The term for that part of a flower which surrounds the pistil and stamens; it generally consists of sepals and petals.

PERICARP: The wall of a fruit that is fleshy, as in berries, or hard, as in nuts.

PERICARPIAL: Of or relating to the wall of a fruit.

PERICARPOIDAL: Resembling a pericarp.

PERIGYNIUM: The sac-like bract that surrounds the pistil in the sedges of the group Carex.

PERIGNOUS: Surrounding the pistil of a flower.

PERIGYNY: The state or condition of being perigynous.

PERSISTENT: Leaves or flower petals that remain attached to the plant instead of dropping off.

PEST: Any very destructive or mischievous animal or insect in a garden.

PEST-FREE PLANTS: Plants resistant to insects.

PESTICIDE: Any substance used to kill, repel, prevent, or alleviate a pest problem. They include fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, and bactericides.

PEST NETTING: A lightweight net draped over fruit trees, berries, or row crops to protect them from rabbits, deer, and birds.

PETAL: One portion of the often bright and colored part of the corolla; one of the floral leaves which combine to form the perianth of a flower. The whorl of flower parts just inside the sepals, usually colorful. The median petal of Orchids, the labellum is often differentiated in form and/or function

PETALOID: A term meaning petal-like.

PETIOLE: The stalk of a leaf.

PETIOLULE: The stalk of a leaflet of a compound leaf. (See illustration above.)

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