Botany and Paleobotany Dictionary

Botany and Paleobotany Dictionary

Plants

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ICE AGE An ice age is a time lasting thousands of years during which the Earth is very cold and largely covered by ice and glaciers.	ICHNITES (pronounced IK-nites) Also known as trace fossils or ichnofossils, these are fossilized footprints, nests, dung, gastroliths, burrows, stomach contents, etc., but not actual body parts. Ichnofossils record the movement and behavior of animals. Ichnology is the study of ichnites.	ICHNOFOSSILS Also known as trace fossils or ichnites, these are fossilized footprints, nests, dung, gastroliths, burrows, stomach contents, etc., but not actual body parts. Ichnofossils record the movement and behavior of animals. Ichnology is the study of ichnofossils.
IGNEOUS ROCK When molten rock cools, igneous rock is formed.	IMBIBITION Imbibition is the process in which a seed takes up water from its surrounding and swells. This powerful process precedes germination and can spit the seed coat.	IMPACT CRATER Impact craters are the remains of collisions between an asteroid, comet, or meteorite and the Earth.
IMPERFECT FLOWER An imperfect flower has either male (stamen) and female (ovary) reproductive organs on the same flower, but not both. (Compare with perfect flowers.)	INCOMPLETE FLOWER An incomplete flower is missing one of the four major parts of the flower, the stamen, pistil, petals, or sepals.	INDEHISCENT A fruit that remains closed at maturity is indehiscent. Nuts, acorns, sunflowers, grains, and maple pods are examples of indehiscent fruits.
INDEX FOSSILS Index fossils are commonly found fossils that are limited in time span. They help in dating other fossils. For example: trilobites were common during the Paleozoic, but not found before the Permian period, and ammonites were common during the Mesozoic Era, but not found after the Cretaceous period. Another example: the oldest-known ostracods are from the Cambrian period; they became widespread during the Ordovician and remain so.	INDIGENOUS An indigenous organism is one that lives naturally in a particular region and were not introduced there by man.	INFERIOR OVARY An inferior ovary (also called an epigynous ovary) is an ovary located below the flower parts (the calyx, corolla, and androecium). The flower parts are attached to the top of the ovary.
INFLORESCENCE Inflorescence is the a type of flower in which there is more that one flower in a single structure.	INSECTIVOROUS Insectivorous organisms eat insects. Insectivorous plants trap and digest insects for nourishment.	INSECTS Insects have exoskeletons and six legs. They evolved during the Silurian Period, 438 to 408 million years ago, long before dinosaurs existed.
INTERNODE The part of a plant's stem between two nodes is the internode - the distance along the stem between the leaves.	INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION Interspecific competition is competition between two different species of organisms (competing for food, water, territory, etc.).	INTRASPECIFIC COMPETITION Intraspecific competition is competition among members of a species (competing for food, water, territory, etc.).
IRIDIUM (pronounced irr-ID-ee-um) Iridium is a heavy metal element that is rare on the Earth's surface, but abundant on chondritic meteors and in the Earth's core.	IRIDIUM ANOMALY The iridium anomaly is a layer of Earth's crust (the K-T layer, which is about 65 million years old) in which there is excess of iridium (a relatively rare element). The presence of this extra Iridium supports the Alvarez asteroid theory, since this iridium may have come from an asteroid.	IRRADIANCE Irradiance is the amout of light energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in an area.
ISOTOPE An isotope of an element is another form of the same element that has a different number of neutrons in the nucleus (giving it a different atomic weight).

Plant Printouts

EnchantedLearning.com Botany and Paleobotany Dictionary

Plants

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Click on an underlined word for more information on that subject.
If the plant term you are looking for is not in the dictionary, please e-mail us.

For further information log on website :
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/glossary/indexi.shtml#imperfectflower