Flora of Australia Glossary — Vascular Plants
Compiled by A. McCusker
acicle: a slender, stiff, needle-like prickle. adj. acicular.
cuneate: wedge-shaped.
elliptic: oval in outline, widest at the centre.
filiform: thread-like.
flabellate (= flabelliform): fan-shaped.
lanceolate: of a leaf, about four times as long as it is broad, broadest in the lower half and tapering towards the tip.
linear: very narrow in relation to the length, and with the sides parallel. cf. lorate.
oblong: a two-dimensional shape, having the length greater than the width but not many times greater, and the sides parallel.
obovate: similar in shape to ovate but attached at the narrower end.
orbicular: circular or nearly so.
ovate: a two dimensional shape, like a section through the long axis of an egg, and attached by the wider end.
reniform: kidney-shaped.
spathulate (= spatulate): spoon-shaped; broad at the tip and narrowed towards the base.
subulate: narrow and tapering gradually to a fine point.
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