AUTHOR
Tahreem Noor
UPDATED
October 4, 2021
Entering plant parenthood can also mean entering a world that seems to have a whole different language. When you’re reading an article or talking to an enthusiastic plant parent, words are thrown in that you’ve probably never heard of before. And worse, they aren’t explained! 🤦
We’re here to decode some plant terminology for you. Look, you don’t need a degree in botany or anything. You just need a few straightforward definitions under your belt, and you’ll be ready to talk and read all things plant-related without having to look up every other word.
We categorized these definitions by plant anatomy, plant care, and things that happen to plants (inflicted by us or not). All terms are defined with a focus on houseplants—we created this guide to be most relevant for indoor plant babes.
In this section we’ll cover terms related to a plant’s anatomy and their physical traits. We’ll keep it simple and give you the specifics on why it’s a useful term to know.
Roots. They’re in the ground? Not always the case when they are adventitious. These roots come from areas you wouldn’t expect. This happens purely for the survival of the plant. The roots can form from stems or leaves, depending on the plant. It’s a little like a back up plan—if a section of the plant gets detached from the main plant, it can create its own roots to continue surviving.
They’re also a common occurrence for underground stem-like anatomy, like rhizomes, corms, and tubers, making it possible to separate or divide these plants from one interconnected plant into many.
One of the most common adventitious roots are aerial roots. These roots emerge above ground from stem or leaves and are often used by the plant to climb! By sending out roots that can grab onto a tree, the plant is able to find their way up, up, up! If you notice these funny roots on your plant, you can gently tuck them back into the soil or consider training them to grow up a moss or coir pole.
These types of roots generally occur on more mature plants. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see any on your baby Monstera or Pothos until they grow into a well-established plant.
These are what make a cactus scientifically classified as a cactus and distinct from other succulents. They are the tiny bumps that grow into clusters of very spiky spines. Areoles are essentially modified branches and the spines are modified leaves! 🤯
The family of monocots known as Araceae is also commonly known as the Arum family and its members are called Aroids. This family is distinguished by producing flowers on a type of inflorescence called a spadix and partly surrounded by a spathe. Sorry, we know that’s a lot of potentially puzzling terms in a row! Keep scrolling for definitions!
Many of the most popular houseplants belong to this family—including Monstera, Pothos, ZZ Plants, Alocasia, Caladium, Dieffenbachia, Philodendron, Peace Lilys, Anthuriums, and many more!
A bud is a good reason to get excited as a plant parent! This means new growth! You’ll be able to identify buds by seeing a little swollen pod on your plant either at the tippy-top (known as a terminal or apical bud) or from the main stem right next to another leaf (known as an axillary or lateral bud). Sometimes, you’ll see a protective sheath around them—this gives the plant a safe place to develop the new growth. 🐣
An onion is a perfect example of a bulb. It’s round and multi-layered with a papery skin on the outside. Its main job is to store nutrients for the plant, but it can multiply by creating another bulb from the base of the old bulb! While an onion probably isn’t your first choice in a houseplant, there are quite a few popular houseplants with bulbs or bulb-like structures.
When you think about a callus on a plant, think about the callus you are familiar with first! People develop calluses on their hands and feet when they repeatedly use or damage that area. It’s the skin’s way of “toughening up,” right?
Well, when you’re thinking about it in terms of your houseplant, it’s quite similar. If there’s a cut or any type of damage on their stem, plants can create a hardened area to seal themselves off from further loss of sap and prevent infection. Super useful when embarking on certain types of propagation from cuttings that would otherwise be very susceptible to rot.
