Tree Terminology

Here are some botanical terms our certified arborists might use when evaluating and describing trees.

• Acicular - Needlelike.
• Angisperm - Means 'enclosed seeds' and identifies trees usually known as hardwoods.
• Bract - A thin leaf-like structure often extending past the cone scale on conifers.
• Clinometer - a clinometer, or device for measuring vertical angles.
• Cone - Seed bearing structure of certain gymnosperms.
• Conifer - A gymnosperm which bears cones.
• Cultivar (cultivated variety) - A unique form or type propagated and maintained for specific purposes.
• Deciduous - Characteristic of leaves dropping in the fall.
• Dioecious - Having only one sex per plant.
• Drupe - A simple fleshy fruit which often has only one seed.
• Evergreen - Characteristic of retaining at least some leaves through the fall and winter.
• Fascicle - A cluster or bundle, usually referring to groups of needles in certain pines.
• Flower - Reproductive structure of a plant.
• Fruit - Seed bearing part of a plant.
• Gymnosperm - Means 'naked seeds' and identifies trees usually known as softwoods or evergreens. Christmas trees are nearly always gymnosperms.
• Habit - Shape or form of a plant.
• Habitat - Location where a plant lives.
• Hybrid - Cross between two plants, usually indicates between two species.
• Leaf - Plant structure which is the primary location for photosynthesis. Long slender leaves are often referred to as needles.
• Monecious - Plant with both sexes on the same individual.
• Morphology - Dealing with form and structure.
• Needles - Long, slender leaves typical of many gymnosperms.
• Nomenclature - Naming of an organism.
• Phloem - Conducting tissue for products of photosynthesis.
• Pollination - Transfer of pollen from the male to the female.
• Scale - Small , suppressed leaf as found in junipers, or the individual unit of a cone under which the seeds may be found.
• Species - Taxonomic classification below genus. Also a group of individuals considered set apart from other species by consistent differences in morphology, ecology or reproductive behavior.
• Sterigmata - Small, peg-like structures on which the individual needles of some species can be found.
• Strobili - A reproductive structure of conifers and certain other plants. Consists of organs of one or both sexes. 'Strobilus' is the singular form of the word.
• Taxonomic - Dealing with the description, classification and naming of organisms.
• Variety - Taxonomic classification below the level of species, which indicates morphological or genetic differences.
• Xylem - Conducting tissue of plants involved in transport of water and nutrients upward in the tree.