Keys Dictionary

Word	Meaning
Septicidal	a method of dehiscence in which a pod splits through the partitions, dividing into its component carpels. (Latin “caedere” means to cut and “septum” means “partition”).
Seriate	Occurring or arranged in a series.
Sericeous	With a silky texture arising from closely appressed soft straight hairs.
Serrate	Saw-toothed, with sharp, forward-pointing teeth. Serrulate refers to a leaf margin that is minutely serrate.
Sessile	Without a stalk. The term means 'sitting' or resting on the surface.
Seta	A bristle or stiff hair. A terminal seta is an appendage to the tip of an organ such as the primary rachis of a bipinnate leaf.
Setaceous	Having bristles or stiff hairs.
Setae	The plural form of seta.
Shrub	A multi-stemmed, woody, perennial plant.
Silt	Silt is a solid sediment made up of particles of rock and minerals that are smaller than sand, but larger than fine-grained clay. Silt is typically carried along and deposited by water in the Lowveld.
Simple leaf	The leaf blade is in one unbroken piece, and not divided into leaflets.
Sinuate	The margin is wavy, with deep, rounded sinusoidal undulations. See repand.
Spathaceous	A large bract, often coloured, that surrounds the inflorescence.
Spathe	A leaf-like bract or sheath that envelops an inflorescence.
Spathulate	Spatula-shaped.
Spatulate	If referring to a leaf, a shape which is bulbous toward the end, shaped like a spatula or spoon.
Species	A species is a unit of classification of living organisms, ranking below a genus. Several or many species may belong to one genus. In botany, one species is a group of plants that share morphological characteristics and the genetic structures required to inter-breed and produce fertile offspring.
Spicate	Arranged in spikes. See spike.
Spike	Stalkless, or sessile, flowers borne consecutively along an unbranched axis. A spike is a form of raceme. A spike is an inflorescence.
Spine	A firm, thin and straight structure with a sharp point. Spines may be modified stipules. All spines originate from the vascular or woody tissue of the plant, whereas prickles arise from the epidermis of the stem. The leaves of some species may have short spines along their margins.
Spiralled	Arranged singly, and roughly in a spiral pattern along the stem.
Spur	The botanical use of this word refers to a short, stubby stem that may bear leaves, spines, flowers and fruit.
Squamiform	Scale-like shape.
Stamen	A stamen is the male organ of a flower, comprised of an anther carried on a filament.
Staminode	A sterile, modified, smaller stamen in a female flower, often rudimentary and not bearing pollen. Pollinators may be attracted to feed on the staminodes, bringing pollen from a male flower.
Stellate	Hairs radiating outward in star-shaped clumps, creating a course feel to the leaf.
Stigma	The female pollen receptor. The stigma may be at the end of the style, or the style arms, or it may be sessile, on top of the ovary.
Stipe	A small stalk or stalk-like structure.
Stipel	Stipule-like growths at the base of leaflets in some compound leaves.
Stipitate	Borne on a stipe; for example, an ovary borne on a gynophore.