Glossary
A handy reference for gardening and horticulture terminology
27 articles
Annual plants
Annual plants are plants that will die at the end of a growing season, and will need to be replanted or regrown. Tropical climates don't really have seasons, so in Singapore's context, annual plants are plants that will die within a year.
A
Bacterial ooze
A liquid discharge coming out from a bacterial infected part of the plant.
B
Biodiversity-attracting plants
Plants that produce materials that attracts animals, like food or nesting materials. Food materials include nectar, pollen, and fruit, while nesting materials include hollow twigs, leaves for lining nests, or large branches.
B
Bud
Horticulturally, this refers to undeveloped shoots at the base of leaves or on the tip of stems. They can develop into flowers or additional stems.
B
Corm
Corms are short, vertical, underground plant stems that store starch for plants. A number of them can be cooked and eaten, and they can also be used for propagation via division.
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Cultivar
Cultivars are plant types that have been produced by breeding by people in cultivation, as opposed to being produced via natural selection in the wild. Many commercial plant cultivars have been bred to make them more appealing, with larger fruits, showier flowers, or resistance to heat or pests.
C
Flower
Flowers are the reproductive structure of a plant. The "male" parts or a flower produce pollen, while "female" parts consist of the stigma and ovule, which become fruits and seeds when pollen is brought to the stigma in a process called pollination. Plants can have flowers that are male, female, or both.
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Free-flowering
When flowering plants are described as free-flowering, they often have a long bloom time and do not have a defined blooming season. They produce many flowers continuously over a long period, sometimes all year round.
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Groundcover
Groundcovers are plants that creep along the ground, growing horizontally and thus covering the ground. Groundcovers can be used to protect soil, prevent erosion and serve as the lowest layer in mixed planting.
G
Heat stress
Heat stress is defined as damage caused by an increase in temperature. This results in plants rapidly losing water through evaporation, and causes wilting, stunted growth, and if severe, death.
H