Flora of Australia Glossary — Vascular Plants
Compiled by A. McCusker
awn: a bristle-like appendage, e.g. on the tip or back of the lemma of a grass floret.
barbed trichome: a trichome with terminal or lateral retrorse projections, each projection being a barb.
beak: a prominent terminal projection, especially of a carpel or fruit.
pappus: a tuft of hairs on a fruit; in Asteraceae, a tuft (or ring) of hairs or scales borne above the ovary and outside the corolla and possibly representing the calyx.
seed: a propagating organ formed in the sexual reproductive cycle of gymnosperms and angiosperms, consisting of a protective coat enclosing an embryo and food reserves.
spine: a stiff, sharp-pointed structure, formed by modification of a plant organ, e.g. a lateral branch or a stipule.
wing: a membranous expansion of a fruit or seed, which aids dispersal; a thin flange of tissue extended beyond the normal outline of a stem or petiole; a lateral petal of a flower in Fabaceae.
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