Chapter M

Medullary—Pertaining to the pith or medulla.
Medullary Ray—Radial lines of tissues crossing the growth of rings
at right angles and extending into the bark.
Midrib—The central or main rib or vein of a leaf.
Monoecious—Bearing male and female flower parts in separate
flowers on the same plant.
Mucilaginous—Slimy or gummy when touched or chewed.
Multiple fruit—A cluster of fruits of separate flowers crowded
together and forming what appears to be a single fruit.
Examples: mulberry, strawberry, osage-orange fruits.

N
Naked—Said of buds without scales, and seeds without a covering.
Naval Stores—Refers to tar, turpentine, resin, etc.
Node—A place on a twig where one or more leaves originate.
Nut—A dry, 1-seeded, fruit with a hard indehiscent covering and
encased partly or wholly in an involucre or husk.
Nutlet—A small nut.

O
Oblique—Slanting, uneven. Uneven sided.
Oblong—About twice as long as wide, the sides nearly parallel.
Obovate—Reversed egg-shaped.
Obtuse—Blunt
Opposite—Said of leaves and buds, directly across from each other.
Orbicular—Circular.
Oval—Rounded.
Ovate—Egg-shaped.
Ovoid—Egg-shaped or nearly so.

P
Palmate—Radiately lobed or divided from the petiole; hand-like as
leaflets of buckeye.
Panicle—A loose, irregularly compound flower cluster with flowers
on pedicels.
Pedicel—The support or stem of a single flower or fruit in a
cluster.
Peduncle—A primary flower stalk supporting a cluster of flowers or
a solitary flower, later the fruit. A fruit-stem.
Perennial—Lasting for more than one year.
Persistent—Remaining after blooming, fruiting, or maturing.
Petiole—The stalk of a leaf.
Pinnate—Feather-like with leaflets on both sides of rachis or leaf
stalk.
Pistil—Seed bearing organ of flower. May consist of stigma, style,
and ovary.
Pith—The soft central part of a twig or stem.
Pod—Any dry, one chambered, dehiscent fruit.
Pollen—The dust-like substance from the anthers of a flower.
Pollination—The process of bringing the pollen of the male flower
in contact with the stigma of the female flower.
Pome—A fleshy fruit with a core, such as the apple or pear.
Porous—With open tubes (through wood).
Prickle—A sharp-pointed, needle-like outgrowth.
Pubescent—With short, soft, down-like hairs.
Pungent—Acrid or sharp to smell.
Pyramidal—Shaped like a pyramid with the broadest part near the
base.

R
Rachis—The stalk supporting the leaflets of a compound leaf.
Resin-ducts—A passage for the conduction of resin found in the
leaves and wood.
Ring-porous—Said of wood which has pores of unequal size, the
larger ones being found in the spring wood and the smaller
ones in the summer wood.

S
Samara—An indehiscent winged fruit such as that of maple.
Sapwood—The recently formed, usually light colored wood, lying
outside of the heartwood.
Scabrous—Rough, with stiff, bristly hairs.
Scales—The small, modified leaves which protect the growing-point
of a bud or the part of a cone which bears the seeds. The
small flakes into which the other bark of a tree divides.
Scurfy—Covered with small bran-like scales.
Serrate—Having sharp teeth on margin.
Sessile—Seated; without a stalk.
Sheath—A tubular envelope or covering such as surround the base of
pine-needles.
Silky—Covered with long, soft, straight, fine hairs.
Simple—Consisting of one part, not compound.
Sinus—The cleft or opening between two lobes.
Sinuate—Wavy.
Softwood—A general term given conifers, the wood of which may or
may not be of low density.
Stamen—Male organ of flower. Consists of a pollen-bearing anther
on a filament.
Stipule—A leaf-appendage at the base of the leaf-stalk.
Stipule-scar—The scar left by the fall of the stipule.
Stolon—A runner or basal branch that may root.
Striate—Marked with fine elongated ridges or lines.
Striations—Long narrow lines or ridges.
Strobile—A fruit marked by overlapping scales as in the pine,
birches, etc.
Sucker—A shoot arising from an underground bud.
Superposed—Said of buds when they are arranged one above the
other.
Symmetrical—Regular as to the number of parts. Having the same
number of parts in each circle.

T
Terminal—Located at the outer end.
Thorn—A stiff, woody, sharp-pointed projection as found on locust;
a spine.
Tolerant—Applied to trees which endure certain factors,
particularly shade.
Tomentose—Densely pubescent; hairy. Covered with matted-hairs.
Tomentum—A dense layer of woolly hairs.
Truncate—Ending abruptly, as if cut off at the end.
Tufted—Growing in clusters.

U
Unisexual—Consisting of one sex only, either staminate or
pistillate.