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Abdomen

The last of an insect's three body divisions.

Aerial Rootlets

Small root-like structures found on some climbing vines.

Alternate

An arrangement of leaves and buds, where the leaves or buds are spaced singly, at intervals along a twig

Antennae

Feelerlike appendages located on insects' heads above their mouth parts

Anther

The part of a flower's stamen which contains the pollen.

Bark

The outermost cell layers on stems, branches, twigs, and roots, formed by the cambium cells. The bark of trees usually has two layers, the outer and the inner, more or less distinct in structure, texture, color, etc.

Basal

Located at the base; the term often describes leaves of wildflowers.

Berry

A fleshy fruit that contains small seeds, like a blueberry.

Bract

A structure occurring beneath a flower or fruit or their clusters. Bracts can be leaf-like, petal-like, or woody.

Bristle

A stiff hair, sometimes pricklelike.

Bud

An incipient shoot bearing embryonic leaves, flowers or both.

Cap

The rounded, flat, or convex top of a mushroom.

Capsule

A dry fruit that partially splits open at maturity.

Catkin

A cluster of tiny flowers or fruits, usually fuzzy and caterpillar-shaped, often drooping. They occur in willows, birches, and some other plants.

Coarse-toothed

Describes a leaf edge which has large, dentate or serrate teeth.

Compound Eye

An eye with many elements, common in insects, in which each element is visible as a hexagonal facet.

Compound Leaf

A leaf divided into leaflets, each of which usually has the general appearance of a leaf.

Cone

A dense and conical mass of flowers or fruits, or of seed-bearing scales, on a central axis. Found on conifers and alders.

Conifer

A cone-bearing plant; Members of the pine and hemlock families

Deciduous

Describes a plant whose leaves fall off seasonally, or a leaf which falls off seasonally. Most deciduous plants lose their leaves in autumn.

Double-toothed

Describes a leaf edge on which each tooth bears smaller teeth.

Drupe

A fleshy fruit with a stone-like pit; cherries and blackberries are drupes.

Fan-Compound

A compound leaf in which leaflets are arranged in the shape of a fan.

Fiddlehead

A popular term for an unfurled fern.

Fine-toothed

Describes a leaf edge with small teeth; denticulate or serrulate.

Frond

The leaf of a fern or palm.

Furrowed

Marked with longitudinal grooves.

Gill

In mushrooms, the spore-containing organs; in fish, the breathing organs.

Husk

The outermost covering of a fruit, usually of a heavy character.

Inflorescence

In grasses, the arrangement of flowers on the stem, OR the entire flower cluster.

Larva, pl. Larvae

The immature stage of an insect which goes through complete metamorphosis, between the egg and pupa stages.

Leaflet

A leaf-like subdivision of a compound leaf.

Lenticel

A corky spot on tree or shrub bark, either circular or somewhat stripelike, that originated as a breathing pore.

Lobed

Describes leaves or flower petals that are divided into incompletely separated, rounded or bristle-tipped sections. Oak and maple leaves are prominently lobed.

Opposite

A leaf or bud arrangement in which leaves and buds are situated in opposing pairs along a twig.

Ovate

A general term referring to oval-shaped leaves, petals, or sepals.

Panicle

An cluster of flowers in which flowers are borne on stalks that branch off larger stalks.

Pectoral Fin

In fish, the fins on the sides of the body.

Pelage

A mammal's coat, composed of fur and guard hairs.

Perfoliate

Describes the leaf arrangement of plants such as honeysuckle, in which two opposite leaves are fused and appear to be pierced by the stem or branch.

Petal

One of a circle of modified leaves immediately outside the reproductive organs of a flower; usually brightly colored.

Petiole

The stalk supporting a leaf; the leafstalk.

Pod

The dryish fruit of some plants, especially legumes, containing one to many seeds and usually flattened, splitting down one or both sides.

Pollen

The sperm-making organs of plants.

Prehensile Tail

A grasping mammalian tail, used to hold on to tree branches.

Proboscis

The "beak" of an insect, used to probe and obtain food.

Prostrate

Flat on the ground

Scale

(1) A thin, membranelike covering of the bud or twig base, or (2) the fine, grainy surface material on bark, a leaf, or a twig.

Segments

A subdivision of an animal's body or appendage, located between joints.

Sepal

One of the outermost circle of modified leaves surrounding the reproductive organs of a flower; usually green. Daylilies have colored sepals.

Sheath

In grasses and wildflowers, the lower part of the leaf that wraps around the stem.

Shrub

A woody plant usually growing with several equally strong stems to a maximum height of about 15 feet.

Species

Populations whose individuals freely breed with one another and vary only slightly from one another.

Spike

A cluster of flowers or fruits with a narrow, fingerlike shape. The individual flowers or fruits either do not have separate stalks, or very short ones.

Spore Print

The print of a mushroom's spores; these vary widely in color and are made by placing a mushroom cap on a piece of paper.

Stamen

The pollen-bearing, or male organ of a flower.

Stem

The main axis of plant growth above ground, bearing the buds, leaves, and flowers.

Tarsus, pl. Tarsi

The part of an insect's leg beyond the tibia.

Tendril

A clasping, twining, slender outgrowth of a vine's stem.

Thorn

A stout, sharp, woody outgrowth of the stem.

Tree

A woody plant, usually with a single main trunk or stem, which generally grows more than 20 feet tall.

Trunk

The main stem of a tree.

Twig

The end subdivision of a branch, which marks the current year's growth.

Variegated

Describes a plant, animal, or fungi which has two or more colors.

Vein

A branch of the sap-conducting tissue of a leaf, petal, scale, bract, seed coat, etc.

Venation

The pattern of veins on a leaf, a flower, or an insect's wing.

Whorl

An arrangement of three or more leaves (or other organs) arising in a circle from one point on a shoot or stem.