Glossary: S

saccate: Shaped like a pouch or bag.
sagittate: Leaf base consistes of two triangular lobes pointed downward, like an arrow-head.
salverform: A corolla with a basal tube that expands out into a flat limb.
samara: A winged, dry, indehiscent fruit (achene) that has wings.
sap: A watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant.
SC: Species is listed as Special Concern in the indicated New England state.
scabrous: With the rough texture of sandpaper.
scale: A tiny, modified, usually wedge-shaped leaf; in Carex species, the tiny bract associated with the perigynium; or, in some Asteraceae, a pappus of flattened chaff.
scape: A flower or inflorescence stalk that arises without leaves from ground level.
scarious: Thin and dry, often paper-like.
scent: The smell given off by a plant or plant part; usually indicates an underlying chemical or signal.
schizocarp: A dry, dehiscent fruit that splits into sections, each holding a single seed, as in some plants in the Apiaceae (carrot family).
scorpioid: Resembling a scorpion's curling tail; as in an inflorescence with small alternating branches that curves to accommodate developing flowers.
scurfy: Covered with small, dandruff-like scales.
scutelliform: The shape of a corolla (or other structure) that is circular or nearly circular in outline and lacks a basal tube and has somewhat ascending lobes (i.e., the corolla is slightly convex within), more concave than rotate but not as concave as cupuliform; saucer-shaped.
scutelliform: Saucer-shaped; a slightly upwardly rounded corolla.
secund: Bearing all like structures on one side of an axis, as with leaves or flowers all pointing to one side.
seed: A mature, fertilized ovule that contains the developing embryo (developing plant).
seed cone: An organ on conifers that contains the reproductive structures; the familiar "pine cone" is the organ that produces seeds.
senescent: Aging, about to die back.
sepal: A single part of the outermost whorl of flower organs (the calyx). Often green, but sometimes other colors.
sepaloid: An organ that resembles a typical, leaf-like sepal in color (green, brown or drab), texture, and shape.
septate: With one or more partitions (septa).
septicidal: Splitting along a partition (septum).
septum: A partition (plural: septa).
sericeous: Silky with long, soft hairs.
serrate: With forward-pointing, sharp teeth.
serrulate: With small, forward-pointing teeth on the margin; finely serrate.
sessile: Without a stalk.
seta: A short, thin, straight bristle.
setaceous: Bristle-like.
setose: Covered with bristles.
sheath: A tubular tissue enclosing another tissue, usually referring to the area where a leaf base encloses the stem (important in grasses and Cyperaceae).
short shoot: A peg- or knob-like shoot (branchlet or other new growth) with closely crowded leaves.
shrub: A woody plant lacking a tree-like form, usually shorter than 6m (18 feet) and with many stems at the base.
silicle: A fruit, less than 3 times as long as wide, splitting by two valves (in Brassicaceae).
silique: A fruit, 3 times as long as wide, splitting by two valves (in Brassicaceae).
simple: Undivided or unbranched.
sinus: The indented area between two lobes of an organ.
solid pith: Interior of branchlet is filled completely with tissue.
sordid: With a gray, dingy color.
sorus: A structure in ferns and fern relatives that contains clusters of sporangia (spore-producing organs); plural: "sori".
spadix: An unbranched, fleshy spike with flowers partially imbedded in it (unique to species in the Araceae).
spathe: A large, sheathing bract that surrounds a specialized inflorescence called a spadix (in Araceae).
spatulate: Spoon-shaped.
special concern: A species that has suffered a decline (documented by scientific evidence), which could threaten its continued existence, or with a highly restricted distribution or specialized habitat.
species: The basic unit of biological classification consisting of organisms that share similar physical and molecular characteristics, and are capable of reproducing successfully.
spicule: A tiny, stiff needle-like structure on the edge of an organ.
spike: An indeterminate flower cluster (inflorescence) consisting of a long axis with unstalked (sessile) flowers.
spikelet: In Cyperaceae and Poaceae, the structure contaning bracts and a number of florets.
spine: A slender, firm, sharp structure (round in cross-section) derived from a leaf or a portion of a leaf.
spinulose: With spines.
sporangiaster: A modified sporangium that partly covers the sorus in ferns.
sporangium: A small, thin-walled, usually stalked case that bears the spores of ferns and fern relatives (plural: sporangia).
spore: The tiny offspring of a sporophyte, as in ferns and their relatives.
sporocarp: A hard, capsule-like structure that encloses the sorus.
sporophore: A fertile, modified leaf that bears sporangia in moonworts (Botrychium species) and adder's-tongues (Ophioglossum species).
sporophyll: A reduced leaf that bears sporangia (spore-producing organs) at its base, i.e., in Lycophytes.
sporophyte: The generation of plant that produces spores.
spreading: Diverging from an axis by an angle of 45–90°, as in leaves or branches that are splayed out at a right angle from the stem.
spur: A tapering, sometimes curving projection.
squarrose: With tips of scales or bracts bending outward to create a rough appearance.
S-rank: A state-level conservation status rank used to reflect the risk of extinction.
stalk: Generic term for a slender structure that attaches a small part to a larger support; includes peduncle, stipe, petiole, etc.
stamen: A highly modified leaf in a flower that bears pollen; anther and filament collectively.
staminate: With male organs (stamens).
staminode: A sterile, modified stamen.
stellate: Star-shaped, as in hairs that form three or more branches from a single point.
stem: The main supporting axis of a plant, like the trunk of a tree.
sterile flower: A structure with petals and/or sepals but no functionally reproductive parts; often produced to attract pollinators to more inconspicuous, truly reproductive flowers as in some Viburnum species.
stigma: The surface tissue that receives pollen during the process of fertilzation, often found at the apex of the style.
stipe: Stalk.
stipel: Stipule-like outgrowth at the base of leaflets in compound leaves.
stipitate: Borne on a stipe.
stipule: An appendage, often paired, found at the base of the petiole in some species of plants, a part of the leaf.
stolon: Horizontal stem growing along surface or just above or below the ground, rooting at intervals and giving rise to new plants or culms.
stomate: A pore on the leaf that allows passage of gases into the leaf and water out of the leaf (plural: "stomata").
striate: With parallel lines or grooves.
strigose: With stiff, short, appressed hairs.
strobilus: A spore-, pollen-, or seed-bearing spike covered in overlapping small leaves or scales, such as a pine cone or spore cone of horsetails.
style: The stalk that connects the stigma(s) to the ovary.
submersed: Below the surface of the water.
subprecocious: Appearing slightly before (as in flowers emerging shortly before leaves emerge).
subshrub: Small plants that are woody mainly at the base, with stems that are tough or only weakly woody; often used for low-growing evergreen species such as Mitchella repens (partridgeberry).
subtend: To be positioned at the base of, as with bracts of a flower.
subulate: Narrowly tapering from the base to the apex; awl-shaped.
succulent: Juicy, thick, fleshy.
sulcate: Grooved.
summit: Top or apex of an organ, facing away from its point of attachment.
superior ovary: The ovule-bearing organ of a flower that has the other floral parts (calyx, corolla, etc.) attached to its base.
superposed bud: An extra (accessory) bud placed above or on top of a bud on the side of a branch.
suture: Seam or line at a juncture, usually referring to the place where a fruit will open to expose the seeds.
symmetrical: With equally sized and shaped parts on either side of a central axis.
sympatric: When species often tend to be found together; occuring in the same type of natural community or geographic area.
sympodial: With a discontinous main axis, where stem is a series of superposed branches.
syncarpous: With united carpels.
synonym: Alternative scientific name for a taxon that is not the accepted, current name.