Glossary

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Palaeotropics

    The tropics of the Old World: Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific.  

  • Osmophore

    A structure producing an odour. The portion of a chemical responsible for the odor of the compound.  

  • Nested within

    Of a taxon or clade placed within another clade in a phylogenetic tree.  

  • Nearctic

    The northern part of North America.  

  • Mycoheterotrophic

    Extracting nutrition from a fungus and hence indirectly from other organic matter, rather than producing energy through photosynthesis.  

  • Monilophyte

    Monilophyte

    Colloquial term often used for the fern clade including Equisetaceae and Psilotaceae, to distinguish them from pteridophyte, which typically includes the lycopods; the correct term for this clade is ‘the ferns’.  

  • Molecular study

    DNA phylogenetics, the analysis of DNA sequences to produce a phylogenetic tree and estimate evolutionary relationships of taxa.  

  • Microclimate

    A local climatic condition in which a plant may thrive, despite a different climate in the surrounding area.  

  • Lycopod

    Major clade of seedless vascular plants sister to all other vascular plants (ferns+gymnosperms+flowering plants). The clade is distinguished in having non-specialised leaves called microphylls and simple vascular structures and consists of Isoëtaceae, Lycopodiaceae and Selaginellaceae.  

  • Lycophyte

    Colloquial term used sometimes incorrectly instead of lycopod.  

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