A
Acuminate: When referring to a leaf, narrowing to a point, often forming a “drip tip” which channels water off the leaf and down to the ground below.
Acute: Sharply pointed
Alternate: Leaves arranged alternately along the stem or branch (as opposied to opposite)
Apex: the tip of the leaf
Attenuate: gradually narrowin
Axil: the angle between the leaf stem and the branch
B
Berry: Fleshy, often edible fruit that contains one or more seeds.
Bifoliate: Compound leaf made up of two leaflets
Bipinnate: Compound leaf which divides into separate leaflets which bear a second arrangement (variable) of leaflets up the stem.
Bole: Area of tree trunk below the lowest branches, sometimes thickened, rounded or swollen.
Bract: a form of leaf often found enclosing flower. Some plants, such as poinsettias, have large and colourful bracts which are often mistaken for flowers. This is rarely the case with Australian rainforest plants.
Buttress: Large sections of the lower trunk which jut out from it and act as stabilisers (rainforest trees have very shallow, albeit spreading, root systems). They also help prevent soil erosion and gather nutrients and moisture in the leaf letter that piles up in their crevices.
C
Calyx: The sepals of a flower grouped together
Cauliflory: Flowers and fruits growing “cauliforously” on the branches or trunk of a tree.
Canopy: Top forest layer of trees.
Capsule: Dry seed case of some plants
Carpel: Ovary, stigma and style inside a flower
Chlorophyll: Green colouring in plants that absorbs sun’s energy
Compound leaf: Leaves that are divided into two or more leaflets
Coppice: Shoots that develop on some tree trunks (usually at the base but sometimes on branches), developing from a dormant bud
Cordate: Heart-shaped, as in some leaves
Cotyledon: The first leaves that appear as shoots from a planted seed
Crenate: Leaves with blunted, rounded teeth around the margin. (Crenulate is the same only teeth are smaller, finer and usually more numerous)
Crown: All the branches and foliage above the lowest branches of tree or shrub
D.
Deciduous: Sheds leaves in certain seasons, usually winter
Dioecious: Male and female flowers borne separately on different plants (as opposed to monoecious where a plant bears both male and female flowers)
Dentate: Leaves with sharpish teeth around the margin
Domatia: Pits or tufts in the vein angles on the underside of a leaf
Drip-tip: Leaf with long, narrow tip that “drips” water on to the soil – and thus the roots – below.
E
Elliptic: An oval-shaped leaf which is widest in the middle.
Endemic: Plants originating from and restricted to a specified region.
Entire: Leaf margin that is neither toothed nor lobed.
Epidermis: The outer cell layer or “skin” of a leaf or stem.
Epiphyte: A plant supported by another plant and dependent on it but not nurtured by it; unlike a parasitic plant which feeds off the host. One example is a Staghorn Fern (Platycerium bifurcatum)
Evergreen: Has leaves throughout the year, i.e. is not deciduous. Like a pine tree.
F
Falcate: Leaf that is sickle-shaped.
Flora: From the Latin, collective name for plants. As with fauna, the collective name for animals.
Floristic: The adjective for “Flora”
1-Foliate: Leaf with swollen joint at the base, where it meets the petiole
Frond: Compound leaves of ferns and palms
Fused: Joined parts of stem, leaf or flower that are growing together
G
Genus: Taxonomical term for group of species that are closely related
Glabrous: Smooth, without hairs or fuzz
Gland: A secreting swelling on leaf surface, leaf base or petiole
Glaucous: dull bloom either white, grey or bluish, either waxy or powdery, found on the undersurface of leaves and, rarely, on the surface.
Globose: round and solid like a globe
Gymnosperm: Ancient plant group with uncovered seeds and ovules not encased in an ovary. Seeds usually born in cones as with conifers and cycads. Often loosely categorised as “non flowering” plants
Inflorescence: Cluster of flowers on one stem
Pinnate: Compound leaf composed of small leaflets either opposite or alternately arranged along the stem (rachis).
Raceme: A single long inflorescence with a non-flowering bud on the end and lots of tiny florets along the stem. Often pendant, as in Buckinghamia celsissima and Macadamia species.
Sepal: Small leafy growths that surround the petals, constituting the calyx
Stigma: receptacle of the pistil; part of flower’s reproduction “organs”
Style: Slender stalk that connects the stigma to the ovary in a female flower
Lyrebird Mountain 