OrchidOrchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (ˌɔːrkɪˈdeɪsi.iː,_-si.aɪ), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchidaceae is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, along with the Asteraceae. It contains about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed across 763 genera. Which of the two families is larger is still unclear, because new members of both of these enormous families are continually discovered.
DormancyDormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be closely associated with environmental conditions. Organisms can synchronize entry to a dormant phase with their environment through predictive or consequential means. Predictive dormancy occurs when an organism enters a dormant phase before the onset of adverse conditions.
EukaryoteThe eukaryotes constitute the domain of Eukaryota (juːˈkærioʊts,_-əts), organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms are eukaryotes. They constitute a major group of life forms, alongside the two groups of prokaryotes, the Bacteria and the Archaea. Eukaryotes represent a small minority of the number of organisms, but due to their generally much larger size, their collective global biomass is much larger than that of prokaryotes.
CryptogamA cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name Cryptogamae () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact that no seed is produced, thus cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants. Other names, such as "thallophytes", "lower plants", and "spore plants" are also occasionally used. As a group, Cryptogamae are the opposite of the Phanerogamae () or Spermatophyta (), the seed plants.
Bast fibreBast fibre (also called phloem fibre or skin fibre) is plant fibre collected from the phloem (the "inner bark", sometimes called "skin") or bast surrounding the stem of certain dicotyledonous plants. It supports the conductive cells of the phloem and provides strength to the stem. Some of the economically important bast fibres are obtained from herbs cultivated in agriculture, as for instance flax, hemp, or ramie, but bast fibres from wild plants, as stinging nettle, and trees such as lime or linden, willow, oak, wisteria, and mulberry have also been used in the past.
ElaterAn elater is a cell (or structure attached to a cell) that is hygroscopic, and therefore will change shape in response to changes in moisture in the environment. Elaters come in a variety of forms, but are always associated with plant spores. In many plants that do not have seeds, they function in dispersing the spores to a new location. Mosses do not have elaters, but peristomes which change shape with changes in humidity or moisture to allow for a gradual release of spores.
LegumeA legume (ˈlɛɡjuːm,_ləˈɡjuːm) is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, grass peas, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover.
BryophyteBryophytes ('braI%oUfaIts) are a group of land plants, sometimes treated as a taxonomic division, that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. In the strict sense, Bryophyta consists of the mosses only. Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although they can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia), but they do not produce flowers or seeds.
MacrofossilMacrofossils, also known as megafossils, are preserved organic remains large enough to be visible without a microscope. The term macrofossil stands in opposition to the term microfossil. Microfossils, by contrast, require substantial magnification for evaluation by fossil-hunters or professional paleontologists. As a result, most fossils observed in the field and most "museum-quality" specimens are macrofossils. Plant macrofossils include leaf, needle, cone, and stem debris; and can be used to identify types of plants formerly growing in the area.
EmbryophyteThe Embryophyta (ˌɛmbriˈɒfətə,_-oʊˈfaɪtə), or land plants, are the most familiar group of green plants that comprise vegetation on Earth. Embryophytes (ˈɛmbriəˌfaɪts) have a common ancestor with green algae, having emerged within the Phragmoplastophyta clade of green algae as sister of the Zygnematophyceae. The Embryophyta consist of the bryophytes plus the polysporangiophytes. Living embryophytes therefore include hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants.
