The following is an attempt to answer the question that I have been so often asked, “can you tell me where I can find something about Newfoundland wild flowers?” I have made a list of those found in or near St. John’s. I have grouped them in their Natural Orders, and given a short description of each, which together with the fact that they are all found near St. John’s may be enough to enable the student to recognize them. The descriptions would be very inadequate in a wider field of study, but I have tried to note the special characters of each plant by which it may be most readily recognized.
I have used as few technical terms as possible and these are explained in the glossary at the end.
Glossary
Achene.---A fruit carpel which is dry, one-seeded, and does not split open when ripe. Ex. Carpels of buttercup.
Alternate.---When a single leaf is given off at each node or point. If two are given off at each point they are said to be opposite, if three or more in a whorl verticillate.
Anther.—The head of the stamen which contains the pollen.
Axil.---The angle formed by the leaf and the stem.
Calyx.---The outer leaves of the flower generally colored green.
Carpel.---The ovary with its style and stigma.
Catkin.---Spikes bearing imperfect flowers and falling off early.
Compound Leaves.---Leaves divided into distinct parts called leaflets.
Simple leaves may be very deeply divided but the divisions do not extend to the base of the leaf, and are not separately joined to the leaf stalk.
Cone.---A collection of overlapping scales each of which covers two seeds. Ex. Pine and Fir cones.
Corolla.---the second row of flower leaves usually colored.
Corymb.---A form of raceme in which the lower peduncles are much longer than the upper ones.
Cyme.---A form of inflorescence in which the flower stalk itself terminates in a flower. Definite.
Drupe.---Stone fruit like the cherry. They do not split open when ripe but fall to the ground and the covering rots away.
Fructification.---The parts composing the fruit.
Involucre.---whorl of small narrow leaves surrounding the receptacle in compound flowers, looking somewhat like a calyx.
Lanceolate.---Oblong, lance shaped.
Legume.---Pod like fruit of pea or bean.
Lobe.---the segment of a leaf.
Panicle.---An inflorescense which branches irregularly. Ex. Horse chestnut and grasses.
Parasite.---A plant which lives upon the juices of other plants.
Pedicel.---The stalk of each single flower in a 2 or more flowered inflorescense.
Peduncle.---Flower stalk.
Perianth.---When the calyx and corolla resemble each other, or when one only is present, it is spoken of as a perianth.
Persistent.---When the calyx or corolla remains after flowering and does not fall off.
Petals.---The leaves of the corolla.
Petiole.---The stalk supporting the blade of the leaf.
Pinnate.---Compound leaves such as the rose.
Pistil.---The central part of the flower consisting of ovary style and stigma. One of the reproductive organs.
Raceme.---A stalk bearing a number of short-stalked flowers until it exhausts itself. Ex. Wallflower.
Radical.---Springing from the root.
Regular.---Petals and sepals equal in size and form.
Sagittate.---Arrow-shaped.
Scape.---A flower stalk which springs directly from the root.
Sepals.---the leaves of the calyx.
Serrate.---Sharp teeth directed forward like a saw.
Sessile.---Leaves without petioles, springing directly from the stalk.
Spathe.---A large sheathing bract-leaf enclosing a flower.
Spike.---Differs from a raceme in the flowers being sessile.
Sporange.---Bag containing spores.
Spores.---The reproductive bodies of flowerless plants.
Spur.---A conical projection from a sepal or petal.
Stamens.---Consist of filament and anther, the anther containing pollen. The third floral row.
Stipe.—The stem of a fern.
Stipule.---Organ somewhat like a leaf at the base of the petiole. Leaves with stipules are said to be stipulate. In the pea the stipules are very large.
Style.---The middle part of the pistil.
Terminal.---Buds which terminate a stem or branch and after a winter’s rest renew the shoot. A flower is terminal when it is at the extremity of the main stem, having no leaves beyond it.
