Glossary

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Titlesort descending Description
Saccate Bag like
Saccus A male mating structure.
Saprophyte A plant that feeds on decayed vegetation in the ground.
Saprotrophic Utilises dead organisms as source of nutrients
Scale Appendage (normally small) not resembling a leaf, as found in Coltsfoot. 
Scales Pieces of surface tissue which break away or peel back (often on stem or cap)
Scape Leafless, stem bearing flowers.
Schizocarp A dry dehiscent fruit that at maturity splits into two or more one-seeded parts (mericarps).
Sclerotium (pl. Sclerotia) Firm, rounded mass of hyphae, giving rise to a fruit body, the resting or overwintering structure typically buried within the substrate
Scurfy Surface covered with tiny flakes or scales
Scutellum The scutellum is a triangular plate found on insects, is fairly obvious in appearance though does vary in size. It is located on the front of the thorax and behind the head. In winged invertebrates,...
Secondary seta Any of the extra hairs (setae) that develop as a larva grows from the first stage to maturity.
Secund Facing in the same direction.
Seed pod Single pod with single row of seeds. Splits in two lengthways to release the seeds. E.g. Annual Wall Rocket.
Sensu In the sense of
Sepal A leaf of the calyx; the outer whorl of the perianth.
Septate Divided by cell walls, possessing septa
Septum A thin partition or membrane separating the individual seeds within a seed pod or fruit.
Septum A muscular sheet that extends across the interior of the base of the abdomen.
Septum (pl. Septa) A cross wall, dividing hyphae, cystidia, basidia, spores, etc.
Serrate Possessing a sharply defined saw-like edge
Sessile Without a stem
Sessile Without a stem.
Seta Any tiny socketed hair-like projection from the exoskeleton, (except the flattened ones - scales)
Seta (pl. Setae) A stiff hair or bristle
Shoulder region The area where the wing meets the body.
Shrub A relatively low woody plant having several branches near the base.
Silicula Fruit of the cabbage family, often rounded and three times longer than it is broad.
Silique A many-seeded capsule of the Mustard family with two valves splitting from the bottom and leaving the placentae with the false partition between them.   
Simple Leaves not divided into leaflets.
Sinuate (of gills) notched just before joining the stem (see also emarginate)
Skippers Butterflies of the family Hesperioidea.
slime mould saprophytic organisms that form vegetative amoeboid plasmodia and spores
Solitary Flower borne singly, either from the base of a plant or a leaf axil and not in a formal inflorescence.
Spadix A fleshy spike with stalk-less flowers.
Spathe A large, hooded bract enclosing an inflorescence, especially a spadix.
Spathulate Flattened oblong with narrow base
Spatulate Referring to a spoon-shaped leaf, narrower towards the base.
Species A rank in the classification of organisms, below genus and above subspecies; a taxon at that rank. Its members can interbreed.
Species A narrowly defined type of organism, differentiating members of a genus
Species The classification of a group of similar individuals that breed true in the wild.
Speculum Mirror-like patch found on the petals of some orchids. 
Spermatophore The sperm sac that is transferred to the female during mating.
Sphaerocyst A globbose cell
Sphaeropedunculate A cystidium swollen spherically at the tip, and tapering to an elongated stalk
Sphragis A deposit left on the female's abdomen by males  just after mating, which prevents her mating with other males.
Spike A log cluster of stalk-less flowers along a central stem, as seen in Agrimony.
Spines Tooth, peg, or spine-like structures over which the spore producing layer is spread
Spinneret The silk-dispensing lobe beneath the larval head.
Spinulose Finely spiny
Spore General term for the reproductive unit of a fungus, consisting of a single cell which germinates to produce a hypha, from which a new mycelium arises
Spore-print A deposit of spores from a cap which has been placed on a sheet of glass or paper
Sporophore A spore-bearing structure (Synonym: Fruiting body)
Sporulating Producing spores
Spreading Branching horizontally; hairs at right-angles.
Spur Either of the two long, spine-like projections on the tibia. ( some Skippers have four).
Spur A hollow pouch, often cylindrical, that projects from a flower, containing nectar.
Squamous / squamulose Possessing small scales
Squamule A small scale
Stamen One of the pollen-bearing organs of a flower.
Standard petal Upright, upper petal of a pea flower that is larger than the others.
Stellate Star-shaped
Stem less A plant without an obvious stem but with a flower-stalk that rises directly from the ground.
sterigmata small, delicate outgrowths commonly arising in groups of four at the ends of basidia and each bearing at its tip a basidiospore.
Stigma  The apical end of the style where deposited pollen enters the pistil.
Stigma ray Star-shaped stigma with radiating branches. 
Stipe The stem of a mushroom
Stipule A leaf-like organ at the base of a leaf stem.
Stolon A stem that grows horizontally above or below ground.
Striate Having parallel or radiating fine lines, or fine ridges
Stroma Sterile mass of hyphal tissue
Stuffed (of stem) central core of fibres of looser consistency than the outer tissues
Style The narrow elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma.
Sub- Almost, not quite (used as a prefix)
Subshrub A small perennial with woody stems.
Subspecies Taxonomic division immediately below species, distinct but interbreeding. 
Subspherical Less than a perfect sphere, sub-globose
Substrate The material or organism upon which the fungus is growing, and within which the mycelium is commonly embedded
Succulent A plant with fleshy leaves.
Sulcate Having radiating wrinkles, grooved
Supercilium Streak above eye; stripe which starts above the bird's loral area, continuing above the eye, and finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head. Plural - supercilia.
Superior (of ring) positioned above mid-height on stem
Supraloral stripe A stripe that is above the lores and does not continue behind the eye.
Suture The seam along which pods or other fruits split open.
Symbiosis The relationship between two or more organisms in which all benefit.