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Tuesday, 11 August 2026, 7:12 AM
Site: MISIN Learn
Course: MISIN Learn (MISIN Learn)
Glossary: Glossary
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Salviniaceae

Floating Fern Family. Comprised of 2 genera and about 16 species of floating aquatic plants. Members of this family usually have relatively short stems that appear dichotomously branched, sometimes lacking roots with leaves that are either alternate and 2-lobed with 1 lobe green and floating and the other submerged and white or translucent or in whorls of 3 with 2 leaves unlobed and floating and the 3rd submerged.

Saxifragaceae

Saxifrage Family. Comprised of 36 genera and about 600 species of mostly perennial, herbaceous plants. Members of this family usually have opposite or alternate leaves, flowers with five unjoined petals, twice as many stamens as petals, and a small seed capsule containing many small seeds.

Scale

Each of the small, thin horny or bony plates protecting the skin of fish and reptiles, typically overlapping one another.

Scrophulariaceae

Figwort Family. Comprised of about 65 genera and 1,700 species. Most are herbaceous, with a few shrubs and climbers and some are semi-parasitic. There are no crop plants of economic importance but is notable for many ornamental garden plants. Members of this family usually have opposite or alternate leaves, flowers in spikes, and irregular flowers with four or five petals.

Sepal

One of the divisions of the corona, the ring of structures surrounding the petals.

Serrate

With sharp, forward pointing teeth.

Sessile

Without a stalk.

Sheath

Plant part that wraps around another plant part.

Shrub

A woody plant which is smaller than a tree and has several main stems arising at or near the ground.

Silique

Elongated seed pod.

Siluridae

Catfish Family. Includes wels and glass catfishes. Comprised of 11 genera and about 170 species that occur across much of Europe and Asia. Characterized by a compressed body; adipose fin is lacking, an anal fin is very long and a short dorsal fin (often lacking) without a spine. 

Simaroubaceae

Quassia Family. Comprised of 25 genera of pantropical trees. Members have leaves that alternate along the stem and are composed of a number of leaflets arranged along an axis.

Simple

In reference to a leaf, not compound.

Solanaceae

Nightshade or Potato Family. Comprised of 102 genera and about 2,280 species, many of considerable economic importance as food and drug plants. Members are annual, biennial or perennial and are usually herbs, though some species grow as shrubs or small trees. Members of this family usually have regular flowers with five petals, alternate leaves, five stamens attached to the corolla tube, and a superior ovary containing many yellowish disc-shaped seeds.

Spike

An elongate inflorescence with sessile or barely stalked flowers arising from a central stalk.

Sporangia

Sac-like structures which store spores.

Spore

A small, usually single-celled reproductive body that is produced by non-flowering organisms including ferns and fungi.

Sporocarp

A specialized structure in aquatic ferns whose primary function is the production and release of spores.

Stamen

The male organ of a flower.

Stem

The plant axis that bears buds and shoots with leaves and, at its basal end, roots

Stipule

One of a pair of appendages at the base of a leaf.

Stolon

An elongate, creeping stem (above ground).

Stylet

A small style, especially a piercing mouthpart of an insect.

Submergent

Growing under water.

Subterminal Mouth

A mouth oriented and opening somewhat ventrally in which the upper jaw and snout clearly extend beyond the lower jaw.

Supraterminal Mouth

A mouth where the lower jaw slightly projects beyond the upper jaw and mouth tends to open upward.