Category: S
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Interpersonal relationship
Social intercourse.
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Sexual intercourse
Traditionally, a sexual union between a male and a female in which the penis is inserted into the vagina. Physical contact between people which involves stimulation of the genitals, especially the insertion of a man’s erect penis into a woman’s vagina with release of spermatozoa from the penis by ejaculation, which may fertilise ova from…
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Spadiax
Fleshy flower spike bearing many tiny florets; the type of flower spike found in members of the arum family, usually enclosed or subtended by a leafy sheath or spathe.
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Stalkless
Lacking a stalk; a stalkless leaf is attached directly to the stem at the leaf base.
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Sub-shrub
A perennial with more or less permanent but not woody stems, such as geraniums or Phlomis jrutkosa.
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Stratify
A technique used to break the dormancy of seeds of such plants as roses and apples, which need a period of cold before they can germinate. In its simplest form, it involves bundling them up in damp sphagnum moss and putting them m a refrigerator for a few weeks.
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Sicrile
Incapable of bearing seeds or pollen or both (flowers) or spores (the fronds of ferns) A plant may produce perfectly normal flowers but not mature fertile seed due to some aberration in its genetic make-up, something which often occurs in hybrids; or the reproductive parts of the flower may have been transformed into the extra…
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Sphagnum
A type of rather luxuriant growing moss, normally an inhabitant of boggy ground and much used when dried as an ingredient in potting mixes, especially for orchids. Live plants often grow from spores in the dried material, and are welcomed by orchid growers as a sign that conditions are right. Moss of the genus Sphagnum,…
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Seed head
A general term for a dry, inedible fruit that contains seeds.
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Scarify
To break or soften the hard coat on the seeds of certain plants, especially legumes such as sweet peas and wattles, to allow water to penetrate and thus speed up germination. It can be done by rubbing carefully with fine sandpaper or soaking the seed for a little while in hot water.