Plant Dictionary by Dan the Gardener

[Dan The Gardener]

Plant Dictionary

Annual - A plant which has a life cycle of a year after it is planted.

Aquatic - A plant that partially grows in water.

Biennial -A plant which lives for two seasons after it is planted.

Bloom - A waxy layer on the leaves of some plants.

Bulb - A storage organ formed under ground such as Garlic, Daffodils and Bluebells.

Compost - Compost is decomposed vegetable materials used for growing plants because of it’s richness in Minerals - See How to make your own Compost

Cutting - A Cutting is a leaf or stem with some leaves taken from a parent plant and re potted to grow as a new plant.

Dead Heading - Removing dead flowers from plants- remember that a lot of dead flower heads have seeds in them so open them up and have a look inside to collect the seeds.

Deciduous - Plants that lose their leaves at the end of the growing season to hibernate for winter.

Dormant Period - When a plant naturally stops growing, this usually happens in the winter because it is too cold.

Epiphyte - A plant which does not root into the ground but into trees and rocks.

Family - Groups of plants that are similar to each other belong to families.

Floret -A small flower which makes up a bigger flower.

Grafting - Joining the stem or bud of one plant onto another- Did you know that you can graft Apple tree stems onto a Pear tree? You can also do this with some Cacti.

Hardy - A plant which can handle drops and rises in temperature.

Herb - A plant grown for flavouring food or medicinal reasons- see medical plants and how to grow your own herb garden

Herbaceous - A plant with a non woody stem.

Honeydew - The sticky stuff insects leave on plants.

Hybrid - A cross of two separate plants.

Inter node - The stem between the branches of a plant- (see Node)

Loam - Good soil for making Compost, usually made from clay or sand.

Mouth - The open end of a bell shaped flower, for example a Fuchsia.

Multi Colour - A flower with three or more different colours.

Node - The point on the stem of a plant where the leaf or bud grows from.

Offset - A young plant which sprouts from the parent plant and grows its own roots which feed from the air and dust until they are planted. Good examples of plants that grow offsets are Spider and Strawberry Plants.

Organic - Something that has been recycled from natural sources.

Peat - Peat is partially decomposed Moss that is used to make Compost. Peat is great for plants because it holds a lot of air and water which are vital for the plant to survive.

Perennial - A plant that lives for three or more years.

Petal - The brightest part of the flower, think of the petals as the flowers leaves.

Petiole - A leaf stalk.

Ph - Ph is a measurement of the chemicals in the soil. If the Ph is below 6.5 it is acidic, if it is above 7.5 it is an alkaline soil

Pistil - The female reproductive part of a flower.

Shrub - Woody plant that bushes out rather than growing upwards.

Spore - Some plants do not flower, so they reproduce by spreading Spores, plants such as Ferns do this as well as Mushrooms and other Fungi

Stamen - The Male reproductive part of a Flower.

Strain - A selection of a certain variety of plant.

Sucker - A sucker is shoot which grows from the under ground root and pops up in the soil near the plant, suckers can be taken from the parent and re-potted to grow as a new plant. Lots of plants grow suckers a good example is Aloe Vera

Tap Root - The first root a plant grows, the Tap root is like the plants anchor, it grows straight down to support the plant and search for minerals.

Tendril - A tendril is a flexible stem, that plants like Mange Tout use to wrap around and cling to other plants to support themselves.

Terrestrial - A plant which grows in soil.

Transpiration - When a plant loses water through the pores in its leaves.

Tree - A woody plant with a central trunk.

If anyone has anymore to add please let me know, this is from Dan the Gardeners childrens gardening site

[suddly]

Excellent resource, Dan! Thank you so much for taking the time to post this list!

I'm sure it will serve our members well.

[fruitmago]

Awesome resources, I've already found a way to make use of this. Thank you!

[snargle]

Wonder collection of terms, thanks Dan.

I'll try to pay you back somehow!

[Kuro]

Finally, a list of plant definitions all in one place! On a useful forum at that, very nice.
I usually have to manually find it all, but now it's all in one spot. thanks~

[suga]

Wow, cool! I just learned a lot of new terms by reading all of the definitions on that list!

[Carlton]

As did I! It's really nice to see some extra resources on this board - kudos, Dan.

[Kalgo]

Yes, Dan usually pulls through with these types of posts. It is a useful resource for sure.

[Chuchu]

The one term I didn't know from this list was "Epiphyte - A plant which does not root into the ground but into trees and rocks."

[Gabiel]

Woah super nice resource everyone! Thank you Dan!!!