FERN GLOSSARY

ACROSCOPIC:  Those segments of the blade on the upper side of the pinna rachis, facing the apex of the frond

ADNATE:  Fused, usually laterally, to an unlike structure, as blade to rachis

APOGAMY:  The formation of a sporophyte from a gametophyte by asexual means such as budding, rather than by egg formation; also refereed to as apomitic although this term covers a broader meaning.

ARISTATE:  Tapering to a narrow elongate apex or spike.

AURICULATE:  Bearing one or two auricles

AURICLE:  A low, basal lobe

BASISCOPIC:  Those segments on the lower side of the pinnae rachis, facing the base of the frond.

BIPINNATE:  Pinnae divided two times

BLADE:  The expanded leafy portion of a frond not including the stipe.

BULBIL: An asexual bud occurring on the main or secondary rachis capable of forming a new plant before or after being detached from the parent.

CAUDATE:  Bearing a narrow, elongate tail

CAUDEX:  The central crown or upright rhizome of a fern.

CONGESTED:  Rachis shortened so that the pinnules overlap like shingles on a roof; associated with dwarf forms. See IMBRICATE

CONNATE: Fused, usually laterally, to a similar structure, as one pinna to another

CRISPED: Having the margins waved or curled.

CRISTATE: When the pinnae or pinnules are divided into one or more terminal divisions from the normal form.

CREEPING: Extending horizontally in or on the soil

CRENATE:  Shallowly scalloped, with rounded teeth

CROZIER:  Young uncoiling frond; fiddlehead.

CUSPIDATE:  Rather abruptly constricted at the apex to a narrow, sharp-pointed tip

DELTATE:  Broadly triangular with an obtuse apex

DEPAUPERATE:  Having missing or defective parts; as in the linearis section

DIMORPHIC:  Having two distinct shapes; in ferns this usually refers to sterile versus fertile blades or portions of blades.

ELLIPTIC:  Having the outline of an elongate circle

ELONGATE:  Much longer than wide

FALCATE:  Sickle-shaped; curved and flat.

FARINA:  A white, yellow, or other colored , waxy appearing exudates of glands; in ferns especially in the desert or xeric ferns.

FERTILE:  Having sporangia and producing viable spores.

FIDDLEHEAD:  Young uncoiling frond; fiddlehead.

FIMBRIATE:  Fringed; dissected into fine segments.

FROND:  A fern leaf including the stipe and the blade.

GRANDICEPS:  Having a much divided terminal crest; capitate.

IMBRICATE:  Rachis shortened so that the pinnules nearly overlap one another; associated with dwarf forms

LACERATE:  Deeply and irregularly cleft on the margin

LANCEOLATE:  Shaped like a lance or spear-head, as of leaves tapering at both ends, much longer than broad, and wider below the middle.

LOBE:  A portion of a balde, pinna, or pinnule, or segement, that is fully connate and with a shallow sinus on either side that extends no more thanhalf way from the lobe apex to the axis that the lobe is attached to

MARGINATE:  Having a margin with a distinctive fringed or cut character.

OVATE: Having an oval shape

PERCRISTATE:  All tips crested including the pinnules; crests on crests.

PINNA (Plural = PINNAE):  Primary division of a compound blade.

PINNATE:  Divided simply with the pinnae arranged on either side of the rachis.

PINNATIFID:  Divided into lobes, with the clefts reaching halfway or more but not completely to the supporting rachis.

PINNULE:  A division of a pinna; ultimate segment.

RACHIS:  Midrib of a blade; continuation of the stipe through the blade.

RHIZOME:  A dorsiventral stem of a root-like appearance which produces fronds above and roots below; usually creeping although in some ferns it forms a clump holding the fronds close together, and in others it is short, thick and upright; a caudex, producing a tufted appearance.

SCALE: A membranous chaffy hair found on the rhizome, stipe and occasionally on the blade surface.

SERRATE:  Toothed; having margins notched like a saw.

SETOSE:  Having bristly straight hairs

SORUS (Plural = SORI): Arrangement or cluster of spore cases.

SPORANGIUM (Plural = SPORANGIA): A small stalked capsule in which spores grow; the spore case.

SPORE: A minute asexual body.

STIPE: Leaf stalk of a fern excluding the leafy portion.

TRIPINNATE:  Pinnae divided three times

VEIN:  A strand of vascular tissue in a frond or part of a frond that conducts water and nutrients and strengthens the structure.

 

 

 

Fancy Fronds Nursery PO Box 1090 Gold Bar WA, 98251 (360) 793-1472 fancyfronds@gmail.com