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salt marsh

A coastal wetland, with specialized salt tolerant plants (halophytes).

sapling

A juvenile tree that has reached the stage of 1 or 2 main stems but is still in the shrub layer.

saprophyte

A plant lacking chlorophyll and living on dead organic matter.

saprophytic

Lacking chlorophyll and living on dead organic matter.

sarcotesta

The fleshy, often highly coloured outer layer of the seed coat in some species, e.g., titoki (Alectryon excelsus).

scabrid

Roughened or rough with delicate and irregular projections.

A scabrid leaf of Carex secta. Photographer: Tony Foster

scale

Any thin, flat, membranous structure.

Scales on the rachis of Polystichum cystostegia. Photographer: Jeremy Rolfe

scape

A leafless flower stem.

A leafless flower stem of Phormium tenax. Photographer: Tony Foster

scutiform

Shield-shaped.

sedges

A group of grass-like or rush-like herbaceous plants belonging to the family Cyperaceae. Many species are found in wetlands some are forest floor plants. Leaves are usually angular. Hence the saying “rushes are round and sedges have edges”.

seedling

A newly germinated plant.

self sustaining

Able to sustain itself, or replace itself, independently of management i.e. regenerate naturally.

self thinning

Natural tree death in a crowded, even-aged forest or shrubland.

semi-deciduous

Partial leaflessness in winter, and greater than 50% leaves lost by the beginning of spring flush.

sepal

Outer part of flower; usually green.

Outer part of flower of Arthropodium cirrhatum. Photographer: Tony Foster
Outer part of flower of Rubus cissoides. Photographer: Tony Foster
Outer part of flower of Pittosporum pimelioides. Photographer: Tony Foster

serrate

Sharply toothed with teeth pointing forwards towards apex.

Illustration of serrate leaf. Photographer: Illustration by Sue Wickison
Serrate leaf of Haloragis erecta. Photographer: Tony Foster

sessile

Attached by the base without a stalk or stem.

Sessile fronds of Blechnum fraseri. Photographer: Tony Foster
Sessile flowers of nikau. Photographer: Tony Foster

seta

The stalk of a fruiting moss capsule.

The stalk of a fruiting moss capsule. Photographer: Tony Foster

sheath

A portion of an organ that surrounds (at least partly) another organ (e.g., the tubular envelope enclosing the stem in grasses and sedges).

Sheath of Macropiper excelsusum (kawakawa). Photographer: Tony Foster

silicles

The flattened usually circular capsule – compared with the narrow, elongated fruit (silique) – containing the seed/seeds. A term used almost exclusively for plants within the cabbage family (Brassicaceae).

silique

A capsule, usually 2-celled, with 2 valves falling away from a frame (replum) bearing.

simple

Of one part; undivided (cf compound).

Simple leaf of Coprosma grandifolia. Photographer: Tony Foster

sinuate

With a wavy margin.

Illustration of sinuate leaf. Photographer: Illustration by Sue Wickison
Wavy margins of Blechnum fluviatile. Photographer: Tony Foster

sinus

The space or recess between lobes; in hebes a gap between the margins of two leaves of an opposite pair that may be present in the bud before the pair of leaves separate.

Sinus of Hebe diosmifolia. Photographer: Tony Foster
Sinus of Hebe venustula. Photographer: Tony Foster

sorus

A cluster of two or more sporangia on the margin or underside of the lamina of a fern, sometimes protected by an indusium.

Sorus on a Blechnum frond. Photographer: Tony Foster
Sorus on fern frond. Photographer: Tony Foster

spathulate

Spatula or spoon-shaped, a rounded blade tapering gradually to the base.

Leaf showing a spoon shape. Photographer: Illustration by Sue Wickison
Spathulate leaves of Coprosma spathulata. Photographer: Tony Foster

spheroidal

Almost spherical but elliptic in cross section.

spicate

Arranged in a spike.

spike

Flowers attached to main stem without stalks.

Spike of Macropiper psitacorum. Photographer: Tony Foster
Spike of Streblus banksii. Photographer: Tony Foster
Spike of Macropiper. Photographer: Tony Foster

spikelet

Collection of individual grass florets borne at the end of the smallest branch of the inflorescence.

sporangia

Plural of sporangium. Structures in which spores are produced.

Sporangia of Adiantum cunninghamii before spores have been expelled. Photographer: Jeremy Rolfe
Sporangia of Blechnum novae-zelandiae x B. procerum after spores have been expelled. Photographer: Jeremy Rolfe

sporangium

Structure in which spores are produced.

spore

A single-celled reproductive unit similar in function to that of the seed in a flowering plant.

sporophyte

The spore producing plant in ferns that is usually the visible part.

stamen

The male reproductive organ of a flower where pollen is produced. Consists of an anther and its stalk.

Stamen of Sophora microphylla. Photographer: Tony Foster

standing water

Where water lies above the soil surface for much of the year.

stellate

Irregularly branched or star shaped.

Stellate hairs on leaves of Pomaderris apetala. Photographer: Tony Foster

stigma

Female part of the flower that is receptive to pollen, usually found at or near the tip (apical end) of the style where deposited pollen enters the pistil.

Stigma of Fuchsia excorticata. Photographer: Tony Foster

stipe

The stalk of a frond.

Stipe of Pteridium esculentum (bracken). Photographer: Tony Foster

stipitate

Borne on a stipe or stalk.

Stipitate fruit of Hedycarya arborea. Photographer: Tony Foster

stipulate

A leaf with stipules.

stipule

A scale-like of leaf-like appendage at the base of a petiole, usually paired.

Stipule of Coprosma grandifolia. Photographer: Tony Foster

stolon

A stem which creeps along the ground, or even underground.

stoloniferous

Producing stolons.

stramineous

Chaffy, like straw or straw-colored.

Straw coloured Metrosideros excelsa. Photographer: Tony Foster

stria

A fine line or groove.

striae

Fine lines or grooves.

striate

Fine longitudinal lines or minute ridges.

Striate Carmichaelia appressa. Photographer: Tony Foster
Striate stems of Carmichaelia. Photographer: Tony Foster

style

The elongated part of the flower between the ovary and the stigma.

Style of Pittosporum cassifolium. Photographer: Tony Foster

sub-

A prefix meaning under, somewhat or almost.

suborbicular

Slightly rounded in outline.

substrate

The surface upon which an orchid grows.

subtended

Immediately beneath, occupying a position immediately beneath a structure, i.e., flower subtended by bract.

Subtended Melicytus ramiflorus. Photographer: Tony Foster

subulate

Slender and tapering to a point.

Subulate foliage of Dacrydium cupressinum (rimu). Photographer: Tony Foster
Subulate - Entelea arborescens. Photographer: Tony Foster

succession

Progressive replacement of one species or plant community type by another in an ecosystem.

successional

Referring to species, plant communities or habitats that tend to be progressively replaced by another.

succulent

Fleshy and juicy.

Succulent fruit of Coprosma grandifolia. Photographer: Tony Foster

summer-green

Used in New Zealand to indicate herbs or sub-shrubs that die down to a root stock or rhizomatous network.

supplementary planting

Returning to a revegetation site and creating gaps, or filling existing gaps, with different plants of plants, usually later successional plants which may not have survived being planted in the first phases of the project.

surface water

Water present above the substrate or soil surface.

surveillance

Regular survey for pests inside operational and managed areas e.g. nurseries, standout areas on parks.

survey

Collection of observations on the spatial distribution or presence or absence of species using standardised procedures.

sustainable land management

The use of farming practices which are sustainable both financially and environmentally including management of nutrient runoff, waste disposal or stock effluent, reducing impacts of nutrients on waterways, preventing erosion and soil loss, and protecting native forest and wetland habitats from stock damage.

swamp

Low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog. They are more fertile and less acidic than bogs because inflowing water brings silt, clay and organic matter. Typical swamp plants include raupo, purei and harakeke (flax). Zonation and succession often leads through manuka to kahikatea swamp forest as soil builds up and drainage improves.

symbiote

An organism that has an association with organisms of another species whereby the metabolic dependence of the two associates is mutual.

sympatric

Occupying the same geographical region.

synonym

A botanical name that also applies to the same taxon.

systematics

The study of taxonomy, phylogenetics, and taxagenetics.

symbiotic

The relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other (see also symbiosis).

subglabrous

Very slightly, but persistently, hairy.

stamens

The male, pollen bearing organ of a flower.

synangia

Structures made up of fused sporangia.

Synangium of Marattia salicina. Photographer: Tony Foster
Synangium of Marattia salicina. Photographer: Tony Foster

sagittate

Shaped like the head of an arrow; narrow and pointed but gradually enlarged at base into two straight lobes directed downwards; may refer only to the base of a leaf with such lobes; cf. hastate.

A sagittate leaf base. Photographer: Illustration by Sue Wickison
Sagittate as illustrated by Acaena microphylla. Photographer: Tony Foster
Sagittate as illustrated by Calystegia marginata. Photographer: Tony Foster

serrulate

Finely serrate, i.e., finely toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward; like the cutting edge of a saw.

Serrulate leaf shape. Photographer: Illustration by Sue Wickison

schizocarp

A fruit which splits when dry, from the Greek skhizein ‘split’ and karpos ‘fruit’.

schizocarps

Plural of schizocarp, a fruit which splits when dry, from the Greek skhizein ‘split’ and karpos ‘fruit’.

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