Dictionary

Word	Meaning
Tendril	A slender twining branchlet-like growth, often a modified stipule, used by the plant to grasp on to other plants or objects for support.
Tepal	The term 'tepal' is used when the sepals and petals of a flower are not sufficiently differentiated or distinct from one another for either term to be applied specifically.
Terete	Circular in cross section, or somewhat round in cross-section; or cylindrical without grooves or ridges.
Terminal	At the end of a stem.
Tetra-	A prefix meaning four, as in four parts.
Thorn	A short, firm, pointed woody structure that is often recurved. Thorns are derived from a reduced branch.
Thyrse	A branched inflorescence in which the main axis is indeterminate (racemose) and the lateral branches determinate (cymose).
Tomentose	Covered in dense, short soft hairs, which may be matted.
Tomentum	A layer of short, matted woolly down on the surface of a plant. Refer to tomentose, pubescent, pilose.
Torulose	Having a few rounded elevations or knobs scattered over the surface.
Transpiration	Transpiration is the loss of water vapour by a plant, mostly through its stomata. Such loss of water in leaves creates transpiration pull, a force that draws water and nutrients up through the plant.
Tree	A perennial woody plant with a clear main trunk and a canopy of foliage.
Trichome	A hair-like outgrowth from the epidermis, such as a hair or bristle.
Trichotomous	Divided or dividing into three parts or into threes. A type of branching where the stem divides into three branches.
Trifoliolate	A compound leaf with three leaflets, each of which arises from the same point. A trifoliolate leaf is not pinnate. Such leaves may be referred to as 3-foliolate. The term trifoliate refers to three leaves, not leaflets.
Triquetrous	A triangle with three sharp angles.
Tropism	The growth curvature of a stem or other plant parts in response to an environmental stimulus such as light or gravity.
Truncate	If referring to a leaf base, tapering abruptly into the petiole, as if cut off.
Truss	If referring to fig tree, a truss is a group of figs on a modified leafless branch that grows from a main limb or the tree trunk.
Tuber	Root tubers are swollen roots or root-branches that store water and/or nourishment. Stem tubers are thickened branches of an underground stem that bear minute leaves and store water and nutrients. A potato is, for example, a tuber.
Tufted	Growing in a tight group.
Twice pinnate	A compound that is leaf twice divided, or bipinnate, with leaflets arranged in two opposite ranks along rachilla, that are in turn arranged along the rachis.
Umbel	Flowers with stalks, each of which branch out from the tip of a main flower stem. A compound umbel arises when each stalk branching out from the tip of the main flower stem itself ends in another umbel. An umbel is an inflorescence.
Umbrageous	To give or create shade.
Undulate	With a wavy, or wave-like margin.
Unguiculate	A petal or sepal having a narrow, stalk-like base, or narrowing into a claw-like base.
Urceolate	Urn-shaped, with a swollen tube, narrowing near the top and then widening slightly into a narrow rim.
Vaginate	Sheathed, or having a sheath.
Valvate	Having adjacent edges meeting exactly at the margins, rather than overlapping. Compare with imbricate.
Valves	The separable sections of a ripe pod or capsule. Dehiscent fruits split along valve sections.