page_title: Glossary of botanical terms
section_title: I
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of botanical terms / I
caption_attribution_description: English: Syagrus romanzoffiana (habit). Location: Maui, Home Depot Nursery Kahului
context_page_description: This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary of leaf morphology.
context_section_description: idioblast
  A cell, especially of a leaf, differing markedly from surrounding cells. They often synthesise specialised products such as crystals.
   
  illegitimate name (nomen illeg.)
  A name not abiding by the rules of the botanical Codes, e.g. later homonyms, cultivars that have been Latinised after 1 Jan 1959; cultivar names with more than 10 syllables or 30 letters; cultivar names that use confusing names of other plants, e.g. Camellia 'Rose'.
  imbricate
  From the Latin for "tiled". Overlapping each other; of perianth parts, edges overlapping in the bud (the convoluted arrangement is a special form of imbrication). Dormant buds of many deciduous species are imbricately covered with protective cataphylls called bud scales.
  imparipinnate
  A pinnate leaf with an odd number of pinnae (terminated by a single leaflet). Compare paripinnate.
  in
  In nomenclature, where the preceding author published the name in an article or book, authored or edited by the succeeding author.
  -inae
  The suffix added to the stem of a generic name to form the name of a subtribe: for instance, Corydalinae from Corydalis + -inae.
  inbreeding
  The production of offspring between closely related parents leading to a high degree of similarity; self-fertilization is the most intense form of inbreeding.
  incertae sedis
  Of unknown taxonomic affinity; relationships obscure.
  incised
  Cut deeply and (usually) unevenly (a condition intermediate between toothed and lobed).
  included
  Enclosed, not protruding, e.g. stamens within the corolla.
  incomplete flower
  A flower which lacks one or more of its usual parts, such as carpels, sepals, petals, pistils, or stamens.
  incurved
  Bent or curved inwards; of leaf margins, when curved towards the adaxial side.
  ined.
  An abbreviation of Latin inedita, an unpublished work. Used to indicate that a botanical name appeared only in a manuscript that was not published, so the name is invalid.
  indefinite
  variable in number, and as a rule numerous, e.g. more than twice as many stamens as petals or sepals, but no particular standard number of stamens. In another usage it is a synonym for the preferable term indeterminate, meaning the condition in which an inflorescence is not terminated by a flower, but continues growing until limited by physiological factors. Compare numerous. Contrast definite.
  indehiscent
  Not opening in any definite manner at maturity; usually referring to fruit. Contrast dehiscent.
  indeterminate
  usually referring to a stem or inflorescence in which there is no particular terminal bud or meristem that stops growth and ends the extension of the stem, which continues until physiological factors stop the growth. Racemes of some Xanthorrhoeaceae, such as many Aloes, and of many Iridaceae, such as Watsonias, are indeterminate. Contrast determinate.
  indigenous
  native to the area, not introduced, and not necessarily confined to the region discussed or present throughout it (hardly distinct from ‘native’ but usually applied to a smaller area). For example, the Cootamundra Wattle is native to Australia but indigenous to the Cootamundra region of southern New South Wales. Compare endemic.
  indumentum
  a collective term for a surface covering of any kind of trichomes, e.g. hairs, scales.
  induplicate
  folded upwards, or folded with the two adaxial surfaces together.
  indusium
  1.  a membrane covering the sporangia of some ferns.
  2.  a cup enclosing the stigma in Goodeniaceae.
  inferior
  (of an ovary) At least partly below the level of attachment of other floral parts. Contrast superior.
  inflated
  swollen, like a bladder.
  inflexed
  bent sharply upwards or forwards. Compare deflexed.
  inflorescence
  several flowers closely grouped together to form an efficient structured unit; the grouping or arrangement of flowers on a plant.
  infraspecific
  denotes taxonomic ranks below species level, for example subspecies.
  infrageneric
  denoting taxonomic ranks below the genus level, for example, subgenera, sections, and series.
  infructescence
  the grouping or arrangement of fruits on a plant.
  wikt:infundibular (infundibuliform)
  funnel-shaped, for example in the coro
caption: The leaves of Syagrus palms are induplicately folded, in contrast to many other palm genera with reduplicate leaves.
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