Plant Glossary of

Terms

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Plant Glossary A



Abcission Layer: A thin walled layer of cells that forms for the normal separation of leaves or fruits from plants.

Acidic: (of soil) With a PH value below 7

Adventitious Bud: Latent or dormant bud on the stem or root, often invisible until the growth is stimulated.

Aeration: The opening up of a soil or soiless mixture to allow the freeing up of air, allowing the feeder roots of the plant(s) better uptake of air, nutrients, etc.

Agar: A polysaccharide gel derived from certain red algae. Agar is used for making sem-solid or gelatinous media for growing tissue cultures and microbes.

Air Layering: A propagation method in which a stem is stimulated to develop roots while it is still attached to the mother plant

Alkaline: (of soil) With a PH value above 7

Alkaloid: Any number of colorless, crystalline, bitter organic substances with alkaline properties. Many are found in plants, and can have toxic effects on humans. Caffeine, quinine, and strychine are some examples of alkaloid substances.

Amino Acid: A nitrogenous organic compound that serves as a structural unit of proteins.

Angiosperm: Flowering plant that bears ovules, later seeds, enclosed in ovaries. (See also gymnosperm

Annual: A plant that completes its life cycle in one season

Anther: The part of a flower on which pollen forms

Anther Culture: The in vitro culture of anthers to obtain haploid plants.

Antioxidant: A substance used to prevent phenolic oxidation, the browning of cultures as a result of bleeding phenolic exudates.

Apex (plural: apices; adjective; apical): Tip

Apical Dominance: The inhibition of lateral growth as a result of auxins produced by the apical bud.

Apical Meristem: The new, undifferentiated tissue at the microscopic tip of a root or shoot. The apical meristematic dome os stem tips∼which is usually about 0.5mm or less∼along the accompanying leaf primordia are commonly used as explants

Apoximis: Asexual reproduction of ripe seeds. The offspring are called clones, being identical to the parents.

Artifical Seed: A somatic embryo that has been coated or encapsulated and grown as true seed

Aseptic: Free from microorganisms. The terms 'sterile technique' and 'aseptic technique' are used interchangeably.

Asexual: Without sex, vegetative

Atom: The smallest part of an element that retains the chemical characteristics of that element.

Atomic Weight: A system of relative weights of atoms

Autoclave: A vessel for sterilizing using steam under pressure. It is usually distingusihed from a pressure cooker by its size and design. Also the verb form, to sterilize in such a vessel.

Autotrophic: Able to produce one's own food from inorganic substances.

Auxin: Synthetic or naturally occurring substances in plants controlling shoot growth, root formation, and other physiological processes.

Auxillary Bud: Bud borne in the angle between a leaf and stem, between a main stem and a sideshoot, or between as stem and a bract.

Axil: The point of attachment of lateral growth with the stem.

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