Glossary of Gardening Terms

Index B

Backbulb:
   Dormant psuedobulb unique to orchids.
Bamboo:
   Woody-caned plant belonging to the Gramineae family.
Bare Root:
   Plants offered for sale which have had all of the soil removed from their roots.
Bark:
   Outermost layers of a woody stem, including all the living and non-living tissues outside the cambium.
Basal:
   At the base of organ or structure.
Basal leaf:
   Leaf that grows from the lowest part of the stem.
Basal stem cutting:
   Cutting taken from the base of a plant, usually herbaceous, in spring.
Balsam:
   Resinous product used as a soothing agent.
Beard:
  

Awn.

Tuft or clump of hair.
Bed:
   Area of ground , often set into a lawn, in which plants are grown.
Bedding plant:
   Annual, biennial or perennial planted to provide a temporary display of foliage or flowers.
Bell-shaped:
   Describes a flower with a broad tube terminating in flared lobes. (campanulate)
Berry:
   Fleshy fruit usually containing more than one seed.
Bi-coloured:
   With 2 distinct colours.
Biennial:
  A plant making growth in its first growing season and flowering and fruiting in its second growing season.
Bifid:
   Divided by a cleft into two parts.
Bigeneric hybrid:
   Offspring derived from crossing 2 different genera.
Bipinnate:
   Leaves divided and re-divided into regular segments.
Binomial name:
   The two-word Latin name of a species consisting of genus and specific epithet.
Binomial nomenclature:
   The universal system for naming plants devised by Linnaeus. In this system, the genus is the first name, and the specific epithet is the second.
Bisexual:
   (hermaphrodite) Refers to a flower that bears both male and female reproductive organs.
Blade:
   The flat expanded portion of the leaf.
Bleed:
   To weep sap.
Blind:
  

Refers to a plant in which the growing point has been damaged.

Refers to plants, particularly bulbs, that do not flower.
Bloom:
  

Flower or blossom.

Fine, waxy, whiteish or bluish coating.
Bog Garden:
   Waterlogged area of ground used to grow plants normally found in bogs, marshes, wet pasture and at water margins.
Bolt:
   To produce flowers and seed prematurely.
Bolting:
   Rapid production of flowers stalks in some herbaceous plants after sufficient chilling, favourable photoperiod, or stress.
Bonsai:
   Production of dwarf trees or shrubs by root pruning and restriction.
Botanical Name:
   The Latin or "scientific" name of a plant, usually composed of two words,the genus and the species.
Bottle Garden:
   A garden made inside a large bottle, carboy, etc.
Bottom Heat:
   Warmth below the ground, normally applied to propagating frames or benches.
Bract:
   A modified leaf which is often, but not necessarily scale-like.
Bracteole:
   Secondary bract sheathing a flower in an inflorescence, itself enclosed within a secondary bract.
Branch:
   Division of a stem, trunk, or the axis of an inflorescence.
Break:
   To produce new growth as a result of pinching out.
Broken:
   Type of marking in which the the ground colour is striped with one or more contrasting colours, usually caused by viral infection; particularly applied to tulips.
Bromeliad:
   Member of the Bromaliaceae family.
Bud:
   Immature organ or shoot enclosing an embryotic branch, leaf, inflorescence or flower.
Budding:
   Method of propagation in which a vegetative bud of one plant is grafted to another plant.
Bud sport:
   A mutation which occurred within a bud to produce a genetically different shoot. These may be preserved by vegetative propagation.
Bulb:
   A highly compressed underground stem (basal plate) to which fleshy modified leaves are attached
Bulbil:
  A small aboveground bulb often found in the leaf axil of a lily.
Bulblet:
   Small bulb produced at the base of a parent bulb.
Bulb crop:
   Vegetable crops grown for bulbs (e.g., Onion, garlic)
Bulb frame:
   Glass or plastic structure to provide a dry environment for the storage of bulbs.
Bulbous:
  

Describes a stem that is swollen at the bottom.

Describes a plant with bulbs.

General term for plants with underground storage organ such as bulb, corm, tuber or rhizome.
Burr:
  

Prickly, spiny, or hooked fruit, seed head, or flowerhead.

Woody outgrowth on the trunk of some trees.
Buttress root:
   Fluted or swollen tree trunk that aids stability in shallow rooting conditions.

Last updated 10 March, 2002
© copyright 1999, P. A. Owen