Glossary
| Accrescent |
- increase in size with age (usually of calyx) |
|
| Achene |
- a hard,- dry, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit with a single cavity |
|
| Acuminate |
- tapering to a pointed apex, sides more or less pinched in before reaching the tip |
|
| Acute |
- tapering to the apex with the sides straight or nearly so; usually less tapering than acuminate |
|
| Adnate |
- the fusion of unlike parts |
|
|
Afforestation |
- The conversion of bare or cultivated land into forest. The establishment of a forest, stand or tree crop on an area not previously forested, or on land from which forest cover has very long been absent (IUFRO Silva term database: http:/iufro.boku.ac.at/) | |
| Alternate | - arranged in a zig-zag manner, neither opposite nor whorled | |
| Androgynophore |
- an internode of the floral axis between the corolla and stamens bearing the stamens and the pistil |
|
| Anther – lobe |
- pollen containing sac of the stamen |
|
| Apetalous |
- without petals or corolla |
|
| Apical |
- at the terminal point of any structure |
|
| Apiculate |
- with a short, but not rigid point |
|
| Aril |
- an appendage arising from the hilum and covering the seed |
|
|
- The identification of the status of,
and threats to, wetlands/mangroves as a basis for the collection of
more specific information through monitoring activities (Ramsar
definition)
|
||
| Aristate Assessment |
- awned |
|
| Attenuate |
- narrowed, tapered (usually at base) |
|
| Awn |
- a bristle - like terminal appendage |
|
| Axillary |
- situated in the axil, usually in the axil of stem and leaf |
|
| Beaked |
- provided with a solid, narrow, tubular beak-like prolongation |
|
| Berry |
- a pulpy fruit with embedded seeds |
|
| Bifid |
- divided into two parts, bifurcated |
|
|
Biodiversity |
- Biodiversity is a condensed form of
biological diversity. “Biological diversity” means the variability
among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia ,
terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological
complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within
species, between species and of ecosystems (CBD Article 2).
|
|
| Bipinnate |
- twice pinnate (compound leaf) |
|
| Bisexual |
- containing both stamens and carpels |
|
| Bract |
- a modified reduced leaf on an inflorescence with a flower in its axil |
|
| Bracteolate |
- the condition of having bracteole (in flowers) |
|
| Bracteole |
- a small bract often on the petiole or immediately below the calyx |
|
|
Buffer zones |
- Areas on the edge of protected areas that have land use controls and allow only activities compatible with protection of the core area, such as research, environmental education, recreation and tourism (UNEP-WCMC) | |
| Buttress | - downward sloping radial projection from lower trunk of tree | |
| Caducous | - falling off early | |
| Calyx | - the outermost series of the parts of a flower | |
| Campanulate | - bell – shaped | |
| Capacity Building | - Improving and building the technical and managerial skills and resources within an organization (World Bank. Glossary of Municipal Solid Waste Management Terms) | |
| Capitate | - knob like | |
| Capsule | - dry dehiscent fruit, when ripe opens by two or more valves | |
| Carpel | - a modified leaf forming an ovary bearing the ovules | |
| Carrying capacity | - It is the maximum number of individuals of a defined species that a given environment can support over the long term, or it is the ability of an environment to sustain the resource demands of a species or a community without losing its ability to regenerate the resource. The carrying capacity of a given area for a certain type of use can be defined as the capacity to provide space, resources and environmental conditions in a sustainable manner. IUCN, UNEP and WWF define it as the “capacity of an ecosystem to support healthy organisms while maintaining its productivity, adaptability, and capability of renewal”. | |
| Caryopsis | - an achene in which the pericarp is united with the seed developed from a superior, one-carpeled ovary | |
| Catkin | - a type of inflorescence having usually of unisexual flowers without petals solitary or twin in the axils of bracts | |
| Caudate | - with a tail like ending | |
| Cauline |
- belonging to the stem |
|
| Cilia | - a marginal hair | |
| Ciliate | - hairy along margins | |
| Circumscissile | - dehiscent by a horizontal line cutting through the middle, the top part falling away as a lid | |
| Cirrhose | - leaf with prolongation of midrib forming a tendril | |
| Clavate | - club shaped | |
| Clawed | - with a narrow, tapering base, especially of petals | |
| Column | - a solid body formed from fusion of stamens and styles | |
| Coma | - a tuft of hair at the end of seeds | |
|
Co-management |
- The sharing of authority, responsibility, and benefits between government and local communities in the management of natural resources (UNEP-WCMC glossary). | |
| Compound |
- formed of similar parts grouped in a whole usually of leaves consisting more than one separate leaf lets |
|
| Connate | - united to one another | |
|
Conservation |
- Protection from change, loss or damage or protection of valued resources through the protection, management and care of natural and cultural resources (Encarta, 1999). | |
|
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) |
- Adopted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 1992 and
cane into force December 1993. Signed by over 150 countries. Legally
binding agreement with the three key objectives:
This Conservation is the first global, comprehensive binding agreement to address all aspects of biological diversity: genetic resources, species and ecosystems. It requires countries to develop and implement strategies for sustainable use and protection of biodiversity and provides a forum for continuing dialogue on biodiversity related issues through the annual Conference Of the Parties (COP). |
|
|
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna (CITES) |
- Adopted in Washington D.C. March 1973 and came into force July 1975 in response to the growing concern over large scale exploitation of wildlife for international trade which was threatening species with extinction. Aims of regulate international trade of wildlife (animals and plants dead or alive or any recognizable parts or derivatives of) threatened or endangered in the wild through a system or permits and controls. | |
| Convolute | - rolled up along the margins | |
| Cordate | - deeply notched at base, conventional heart-shaped | |
| Coriaceous | - leathery | |
| Corolla | - the interior series of the perianth | |
| Corona | - an inner appendage to the corolla or petals sometimes appears like a second corolla, or a ligular outgrowth of the stamens | |
| Corymb | - a type of inflorescence with several flower stalks arising at different levels which reach the same level at the top | |
| Cotyledon | - leaf of an embryonic plant in the seed stage | |
| Crenate | - having a margin with low, rounded lobes | |
| Cryptoviviparous |
- in which the seeds germinate but are covered with their pericarp (fruit skin) before detaching from the parent tree |
|
| Culm | - the stem of a grass or bamboo | |
| Cuneate | - wedge shaped | |
| Cylindrical | - circular stem as seen in T.S. | |
| Cyme | - a type of inflorescence in which the secondary or lateral branches continue to grow and may extend beyond the main axis | |
| Cymose | - sympodially branched | |
| Deciduous | - losing leaves seasonally / falling off | |
| Decussate | - with successive pairs of organs arranged at right angles to one another, causing them to appear | |
| Dehiscence | - the condition of splitting into definite parts on ripening, usually of a capsular fruit | |
| Dichasial | - a condition of inflorescence in which all the axes end in flowers from below which lateral opposite branchlets arise | |
| Dichotomous | - forked | |
| Didynamous | - in an androecium for stamens in two pairs, one pair shorter than the other | |
| Dioecious | - male and female flowers segregated on different plants | |
| Discoid |
- with a disk |
|
| Disk (=disc) | - a swollen portion of the axis of the flower inside the calyx and under the pistil | |
| Distichous | - two ranked, with leaves, leaflets or flowers on opposite sides | |
| Divaricate | - extremely divergent | |
| Dorsal | - relating to the back | |
| Drupaceous | - more or less drupe like | |
| Drupe | - a fleshy fruit with 1 –many celled stony seeds | |
| Ebracteate | - without bracts | |
|
Ecosystem |
- A dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit (Article 2 on the Convention of Biological Diversity) | |
|
Ecosystem functions |
- The processes of production and dynamics of resources (organic matter, nutrients, biomass, elements) and energy through systems. A set of ecological processes responsible for providing an environmental good or service (Gilbert and Janssen, 1998). | |
|
Ecosystem resilience or resistance |
- Determines the persistence of relationships within a system, and is a measure of the ability of these systems to absorb changes in species composition and abundance and still persist without drastically changing the ecosystem performance. | |
| Ellipsoid | - an elliptical solid body | |
| Elliptic | - broader in the middle with narrowed ends | |
| Emarginate | - deeply notched at the apex | |
| Emucronate | - absence of mucronate tip | |
|
Endangered species |
- A technical definition used for classification in the United States referring to a species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. IUCN The World Conservation Union (1994) definition, defines species as endangered if the factors causing their vulnerability or decline continue to operate UNEP-WCMC glossary). | |
| Endocarp | - the inner layer of the wall of a fruit | |
| Ensiform | - sword shaped | |
| Entire | - without any teeth at the margin | |
|
Environmental Impact Assessment |
- A method of analysis which attempts to predict the likely repercussions of a proposed major development (usually industrial) upon the social and physical environment of the surrounding area (UNEP-WCMC glossary). | |
| Epicalyx | - a whorl of bracts just below the calyx | |
| Epicarp | - the outermost layer of the pericarp of the fruit | |
| Epipetalous | - placed on the petals or corolla | |
| Episepalous | - placed on the sepals or opposite to the sepals | |
| Erect | - rigid, strong and upright stem | |
| Exalbuminous |
- without endosperm or albumen |
|
| Exerted | - protrouding above, usually of stamens in the corolla-tube | |
| Exfoliate | - devoid of leaves, usually of branches | |
| Exstipulate | - without stipules | |
| Filament | - the stalk of an anther; any thread like body | |
| Fimbricate | - fringed | |
| Follicle | - a fruit of one carpel opening by a ventral suture to which the seeds are attached | |
| Frond | - leaf of a fern | |
| Funicle | - the stalk of a ovule or seed | |
| Glabrous | - without any hair or smooth | |
| Glaucous |
- of sea-green or blue-green colour |
|
| Globose | - spherical | |
| Glume | - the bracts and bracteoles on the spike-lets of grasses and sedges | |
|
Genetic Diversity |
- The variation within and between populations of species (i.e. individual plants, animals and micro-organisms), measured in terms of the variations between genes or DNA or amino acid sequences, as well as numbers or breeds, strains and distinct populations. |
|
| Hair | - trichome but sometimes restricted to simple non-glandular trichome only | |
| Hairy | - clothed with hair | |
| Herb | - a plant, either annual, perennial, or biennial, of which the parts above ground are not woody | |
| Herbaceous | - having the structure or texture of an herb, not woody | |
| Hermaphrodite | - bisexual, flower having both androecium and gynoecium | |
| Hilum | - the scar on the seed at which it is attached to the stalk or hilum | |
| Hispid | - with short scattered stiff bristles | |
| Hypocotyl | - the axis of an embryo below the cotyledons | |
| Imbricate | - overlapping; usually of arrangement of sepals and petals | |
| Imparipinnate | - a condition in a compound leaf with an odd terminal leaf-let | |
| Indehiscent | - not regularly opening, seedpod or anther | |
| Induplicate | - with edges folded inwards | |
| Inferior | - position of a floral part at lower level (usually of ovary) | |
| Inflorescence | - a group of flowers as a whole | |
|
Integrated Coastal Zone/Area Management (ICZM/ICAM) |
- Used to describe continuous and dynamic process that unites government and the community, science and management, sectoral and public interests in preparing and implementing an integrated plan for the protection and development of coastal systems and resources (GESAMP, 1996). |
|
| Involucre | - a ring of bracts surrounding a single flower or an infloresence | |
| Involute | - rolled inwards along both margins | |
|
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species |
- Provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that have been evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. This system is designed to determine the relative risk of extinction, and the main purpose is to catalogue and highlight those taxa that are facing a higher risk of global extinction (i.e. those listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable). The IUCN Red List also includes information on taxa that are categorized as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild; on taxa that cannot be evaluated because of insufficient information (i.e. are Data Deficient); and in taxa that are either close to meeting the threatened thresholds or that would be threatened were it not for on-going taxon-specific conservation programmes (i.e. Near Threatened) |
|
| Jugate | - in paired conditions | |
| Keeled | - ridged | |
| Lamina | - leaf blade | |
| Lanceolate | - shaped like a lance-head | |
| Leaflet |
- one of the blades of compound leaf |
|
| Leguminous | - resembling legume | |
| Lemma | - lower pair of bracts beneath each floret in grass inflorescence | |
| Lenticelled | - with pores on the bark | |
| Ligule | - a membranous strap-shaped organ, usually in grasses at base of the leaf inside | |
| Lip | - the upper or lower part of a bilabiate corolla or calyx | |
|
Livelihood |
- The word livelihood can be used in many different ways but in this context we have used the UK Department for International Development (DFID) definition: “A livelihood comprises the capabilities, aspects (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base” Carney (1998). (http://www.livelihoods.org) |
|
| Lobe | - any segment of an organ especially if rounded | |
| Locule | - a compartment or cell, such as that of an ovary or anther / cut less than half way | |
|
Management |
- The act or practice of handling, administering, supervising or controlling, entities, resources and activities. | |
|
Marine Protected Areas (MAP) |
- In 1986, the IUCN Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas (CNPPA) began promoting the establishment and management of a global representative systems of marine protected areas. IUCN defines MPA as “any area of intertidal, subtidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora and fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment” (Gubbay, 1995). |
|
|
Membranous
|
- having a thin, soft, pliable texture | |
|
Merous
|
- a suffix used in combination to indicate the number of the parts | |
|
Midrib
|
- the conspicuous central vein in the vascular system of an appendage | |
|
Monadelphous
|
- having the stamens united into a single structure | |
|
Monoecious
|
- bearing male and female flowers separately on the same plant | |
|
Monopodial
|
- a stem of a single and continuous axis | |
|
Mucro
|
- a short, small abrupt tooth-like tip; loosely used but not very sharp at extreme apex | |
|
Mucronate
|
- tipped with a short hard blunt point | |
|
Nodulose
|
- when the slender root becomes suddenly swollen near the apex | |
|
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) |
- A non-profit group or association organized outside of institutionalised political structures to realize particular social objectives (such as environmental protection) or serve particular constituencies (such as indigenous people or other local communities). NGO activities range from research, information distribution, training, local organization and community service to legal advocacy, lobbying for legislative change, and civil disobedience. NGOs range in size from small groups within a particular community to huge membership groups with a national or international scope (UNEP-WCMC glossary). |
|
|
Nut
|
- an indehiscent, one – seeded fruit from more than one carpel and having a woody coat | |
|
Obconic
|
- inversely conical | |
|
Oblique
|
- a shape with half more large than the other; usually of leaf | |
|
Oblong
|
- longer than broad with sides nearly parallel | |
|
Obovate
|
- reversed ovate shape | |
|
Obtuse
|
- blunt ended | |
|
Orbicular
|
- circular in outline | |
|
Ovate
|
- egg shaped | |
|
Ovule
|
- minute bodies found inside the ovary which after fertilization develop into seeds | |
|
Palmate
|
- like a palm with widely divergent fingers; usually of a compound leaf with leaf-lets | |
|
Panicle
|
- a repeatedly branched inflorescence | |
|
Papillose
|
- with soft superficial protruberances or glands | |
|
Parallel
|
- parallel veined | |
|
Paripinnate
|
- pinnate with an equal number of members on each side of the axis and without an odd terminal one | |
|
Pedicel
|
- stalk of a flower | |
|
Pedicellate
|
- the flower with pedical | |
|
Peduncle
|
- a common stalk of more than two flowers | |
|
Peltate
|
- the floral envelops without any differentiation into calyx and corolla | |
|
Pendulous
|
- hanging | |
|
Pentamerous
|
- five-merous, the parts in 5's or multiple of 5 | |
|
Perennial
|
- a plant lasting for 3 or more years | |
|
Perianth
|
- having the stipe attached to the lower surface but not at the base or margin | |
|
Pericarp
|
- outer wall of a fertilized ovary or fruit | |
|
Persistent
|
- not falling off | |
|
Petal
|
- a single member of the corolla | |
|
Petaloid
|
- like petals | |
|
Petiolate
|
- leafs with stalks | |
|
Petiole
|
- leaf-stalk | |
|
Pinnae
|
- the lobes of a bipinnate leaf | |
|
Pinnate
|
- feather-formed with the leaflets of a compound leaf placed on either side of the rachis | |
|
Pistil
|
- the female sex organ consisting of ovary style and stigma | |
|
Plicate
|
- plaited | |
|
Plumule
|
- a primary leaf-bud of an embryo | |
|
Pneumatophore
|
- vertical outgrowths of roots which facilitate breathing in swamp plants | |
|
Pod
|
- a dehiscent dry fruit | |
|
Prostrate
|
- lying flat on the ground | |
|
Pubescent
|
- clothed with short soft hair / having fine short hair | |
|
Pyriform
|
- pear-shaped | |
|
Raceme
|
- a type of infloresence with a continuously growing main axis and the oldest flowers at the base opening first | |
|
Radicle
|
- the rudimentary root in an embryo | |
|
Reforestation |
- Planting of forests on lands that have previously contained forests but that have been converted to some other use (IPCC, 2001). The reestablishment of forest cover either naturally (by natural seedling, coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seedling or planting) (IUFRO Silva term database http://iufro.boku.ac.at/) |
|
|
Rehabilitation |
- The recovery of specific ecosystem services in a degraded ecosystem or habitat (UNEP-WCMC glossary). Establishment of mangroves in degraded/destroyed mangrove areas through activities by man namely hydrology and planting restoration. A functioning system reinstated by man but not necessarily what was there before. |
|
|
Restoration |
- The return of an ecosystem or habitat to its original community structure, natural complement of species, and natural functions (UNEP-WCMC glossary). Returning a former mangrove forest area to forest cover through hydrological restoration and either followed by planting of seeds, seedlings or saplings or allowed to naturally recolonise. |
|
|
Reticulate
|
- netted | |
|
Rhizomatous
|
- possessing rhizomes | |
|
Rhizome
|
- a modified horizontally running underground stem | |
|
Scaberulous
|
- covered with small hard rough hair | |
|
Scaly
|
- with scale | |
|
Scandent
|
- climbing | |
|
Scutellum
|
- a second and anterior cotyledon in grasses | |
|
Sedges
|
- plants of the family Cyperaceae having spirally arranged seeds | |
|
Sepal
|
- a single member (lobe) of the calyx | |
|
Septate
|
- partitioned by walls | |
|
Serrate
|
- toothed, with teeth inclined upwards | |
|
Sessile
|
- without a stalk | |
|
Setaceous
|
- with long, stiff needle like hair | |
|
Sheath
|
- the tubular basal portion to a leaf, usually which encircles the stem | |
|
Sheathing
|
- the leaf having expanded base of the petiole encircling partially or completely the stem | |
|
Siliqua
|
- a long, narrow many seeded fruit developing from a superior, bicarpellary ovary with two parietal placentae, dehiscing from below upwards by both the sutures | |
|
Sinuate
|
- leaf margin divided by irregularly spaced narrow notches | |
|
Sinus
|
- a recess or re-entering angle | |
|
Solitary
|
- flowers borne singly, not in clusters | |
|
Spadix
|
- a flower spike with a fleshy axis | |
|
Spathe
|
- a more or less modified bract enclosing an inflorescence | |
|
Spathulate
|
- structure has broad apex and long, narrow base |
|
|
Species diversity |
- The variation of species and subspecies among living organisms on Earth. |
|
|
Spicate
|
- arranged in such a way as to resemble a spike | |
|
Spiciform
|
- a spike-like inflorescence | |
|
Spike
|
- inflorescence with sessile flowers on elongate axis | |
|
Spikelet
|
- an ultimate part of a spike with 1 or more sessile flowers | |
|
Spine
|
- a rigid, sharp – pointed structure usually modified from a stem | |
|
Spinous
|
- bearing many spines | |
|
Spiny
|
- stem having spines | |
|
Spore
|
- reproductive body of lower plants, usually single cell |
|
|
Stability |
- The ability of a system to return to the initial equilibrium state following a temporary disturbance. |
|
|
Stakeholder |
- An institution,
organization, or group that has some interest in a particular sector or
system
(WHO.http://www.who.int/terminology/ter/Health_futures.html). |
|
|
Stalk
|
- a short or elongate structure bearing or supporting another structure | |
|
Stamen
|
- the floral organ bearing the anther and pollen | |
|
Staminode
|
- an abortive stamen without anther and pollen | |
|
Stellate
|
- star like, usually referred to hair on plant parts | |
|
Sterile
|
- infertile and unproductive, as a flower without a pistil, a stamen without an anther or a leafy shoot without flowers | |
|
Stigma
|
- the terminal part of pistil which receives the pollen |
|
|
Stilt-root
|
- looping aerial roots exposed to the air, arising from the trunk and lower branches and extending outward and downward into the soil. | |
|
Stip
|
- the stem – like, usually basal part of a thallus | |
|
Stipitate
|
- stalked | |
|
Stipule
|
a lateral appendange at the base of petiole | |
|
Sub-sessile
|
- having short petiole | |
|
Succulent
|
- juicy; fleshy; soft thickened in texure |
|
|
Suckers
|
- adventitious shoot that develops from root, often coming up from parent plant separated from parent plant after development of root and these form new plants | |
|
Sulcate
|
- grooved or furrowed | |
|
Sustainable development |
- “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987) or “the management and conservation of the natural resource base and the orientation of technological change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable” (FAO, 1988). See also “WSSD” |
|
|
Suture
|
- a groove marking the line along which a structure opens any lengthwise groove that forms a junction between two parts | |
|
Sympodial
|
- a stem with a series of superposed branches appearing to be a simple axis | |
|
Taxon |
- A grouping of species:
taxonomic group at any level, e.g. Kingdom, Phylum or Division, Class,
Order, Family, Genus, Species, Sub-species |
|
|
Terete
|
- more or less cylindrical | |
|
Terminal
|
- arising from the end of the stem | |
|
Tessellate
|
- mosaic-like | |
|
Testa
|
- the outer seed coat or coat | |
|
Thyrse
|
- a compact panicle, usually egg or spindle shaped | |
|
Tomentellous
|
- minutely tomentose | |
|
Tomentose
|
-densely matted with woolly hair | |
|
Tomentum
|
- pubescence of densely matted, short hair | |
|
Trichotomous
|
- an axis successively 3 forked | |
|
Trigonous
|
- said of an achene or other structure which is three – sided or triangular in cross section | |
|
Triquetrous
|
- having three projecting angles | |
|
Truncate
|
- ending in a transverse line | |
|
Tuberculate
|
- structure that has its surface covered with small warty | |
|
Tufted
|
- with a dense cluster of elongate structures spreading from what appears as a common point of attachment | |
|
Twisted
|
- one margin of the petal overlaps that of the next one, and the next margin overlaps the third one |
|
|
Umbel
|
- an inflorescence in which a cluster of padicels arise from the same point | |
|
Unipinnate
|
- having leaflets on each side of and axis | |
|
Unisexual
|
- in flowering plants, said of a plant or flower that either bears only stamens or only pistils, but not both | |
|
Utricle
|
- a small bladder | |
|
Veins
|
- the ultimate branches or divisions of the vascular system, as in leaves or petals | |
|
Venation
|
- arrangement of veins | |
|
Ventral
|
- relating to the front side | |
|
Villose
|
- clothed with long, shaggy weak hair | |
|
Villous
|
- shaggy appearance due to coverage of long, soft, curly trichomes | |
|
Vivipary
|
- the process of germination of seed while still attached to the parent plant | |
|
Warty
|
- covered with firm roundish eruptions | |
|
Whorled
|
- occurring in a whorl | |
|
Xerophyte
|
- plant of dry habitat able to endure conditions of prolonged drought | |
|
Zygomorphic
|
- having the members of any whorl unlike irregular | |
