http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/ 2012-05-20T00:55:24+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/ http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/lib/images/favicon.ico text/html 2007-04-12T16:04:34+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:areoles?rev=1176390274&do=diff Areoles are the distinctive feature of cacti, and identify them as a separate family from other succulent plants. Areoles give rise to spines or, on certain cacti, small, detachable glochids which are an additional form of protection. The areoles on cacti are clearly visible. They generally appear as small light to dark colored bumps, out of which grow clusters of spines. text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:branch?rev=1301088392&do=diff A branch is a part of a woody plant such as a tree, shrub, or vine. It is any woody structural member that is usually connected to but not part of the central trunk. A branch supports the terminal twigs, which in turn support the leaves. Branches may be oriented in any direction from horizontally to vertically, but usually have bark similar to the upper trunk (whereas twigs are often marked different to the bark). text/html 2007-04-12T19:02:34+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:drupe?rev=1176400954&do=diff In botany, a drupe is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin; and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a shell (the pit or stone) of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone (or pit) is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:evergreen?rev=1301088392&do=diff An evergreen plant is a plant that retains its leaves all year round, with each leaf persisting for more than 12 months. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose all their foliage for part of the year, becoming bare and leafless. Leaf persistence in evergreen plants may vary from only just over a year (shedding the old leaves very soon after the new leaves appear), up to a maximum of 45 years (in one species of Pine). However, very few species show leaf persistence of over 5… text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:glochids?rev=1301088392&do=diff Glochids are tiny, almost invisible barbed hairs found on the areoles of some cacti and other plants. Cactus glochids easily detach from the plant and become lodged in the skin, causing irritation upon contact with the tufts that cover some species, each tuft containing hundreds of tiny barbs. text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:hesperidium?rev=1301088392&do=diff A hesperidium (plural hesperidia) is a fleshy berry with a tough, leathery rind. Oranges and other citrus fruits are common examples. The peel contains volatile oil glands in pits. The fleshy interior is composed of separate sections, called carpels, filled with fluid-filled vesicles that are actually specialised hair cells. text/html 2007-07-29T15:15:29+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:home?rev=1185718529&do=diff A Areoles B Branch D Drupe E Endocarp Evergreen Exocarp G Glochids H Hesperidium I Inflorescence L Leaf M Mesocarp P Pericarp Perennial Petiole S Sessile Shrub Spine Stem Stipules Stratification text/html 2007-04-12T16:06:09+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:inflorescence?rev=1176390369&do=diff An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers on a branch of a plant. In botany the term refers to the way individual flowers are arranged on the plant, in which single or multiple flowers develop on the same stem. There are two fundamental terms used to describe the nature of inflorescences: text/html 2007-04-12T16:05:26+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:leaf?rev=1176390326&do=diff A leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast (chlorenchyma tissue, a type of parenchyma) to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues. Leaves are also the sites in most plants where respiration, transpiration, and guttation take place. Leaves can store food and water, and are modified in some plants for other purposes. The compar… text/html 2007-04-12T18:24:31+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:nopal?rev=1176398671&do=diff Nopals are a vegetable made from the young stem segments of prickly pear, carefully peeled to remove the spines. They are particularly common in their native Mexico. Farmed nopales are most often of the species Opuntia ficus-indica, although the pads of almost all Opuntia species are edible. text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:pericarp?rev=1301088392&do=diff The Pericarp is the botanical term for the tissue surrounding a seed that develops from the ovary wall of the flower. Generally the pericarp is the fruit making body. This includes many types of fruits including nuts, but does not include a few fruits like figs. In some cases, such as the acorn, the pericarp becomes dry and hard, forming a shell around the seed. In fleshy fruits the pericarp is typically made up of three distinct layers: the exocarp (the outside or the peel), the mesocarp (the m… text/html 2007-04-12T16:06:42+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:petiole?rev=1176390402&do=diff The petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the leaf. Phyllodes are modified petioles. In some plants, the petioles become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the purpose o… text/html 2007-04-12T16:06:50+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:sessile?rev=1176390410&do=diff Sessile means “without a stalk”, as in flowers (pedicel) or leaves (petiole) that grow directly from the stem. text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:shrub?rev=1301088392&do=diff A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience. Small, low shrubs such as lavender, periwinkle and thyme are often termed subshrubs. text/html 2007-04-12T16:05:12+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:spine?rev=1176390312&do=diff Spines are the ends of branches or leafs, that have been modified into rounded, hard structures with sharp ends. They are often also called thorns, which are reduced, sharp pointed stems. Spines are used by plants to protect themselves from herbivores. Some plants with spines and animals that feed on them, have co-evolved in response to each other, with some plants having very long spines and the animals that feed on those species having long tongues to reach past the spines to feed on the leav… text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:stem?rev=1301088392&do=diff A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence (flowers), cones or other stems etc. The internodes act as spaces that distance one node from another. The term shoots is often confused with stems, shoots generally refer to new fresh plant growth and does include stems but also to other structures like leaves or flowers. The other main structural axis of pla… text/html 2007-04-12T16:07:17+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:stipules?rev=1176390437&do=diff A stipule refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). A pair of stipules is considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many species the stipules are inconspicuous or entirely absent (and the leaf is then termed exstipulate). Stipules are morphologically variable and might appear as glands, scales, hairs, spines, or laminar (leaf-like) structures. text/html 2011-03-25T21:26:32+01:00 http://www.spanishgardener.com/wiki/definitions:stratification?rev=1301088392&do=diff Stratification is the storing of seeds at low temperatures under moist conditions in order to break dormancy.