A FLORA OF MANILA

By E. D. MERRI LL
DEFINITIONS OF THE TERMS USED IS DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY
A work containing descriptions of the different kinds of plants growing
in a country, or within some part of a country, properly arranged accord-
ing to their relationships or assumed relationships is called a flora. The
principal object of a flora is to enable the student or the individual
interested in the study of the vegetation properly to determine the names
of the various kinds of plants growing within the area treated by the
work in question, and to gain some ideas of the range, abundance, and
relationships of the various forms. In order to facilitate the naming of
plants botanists have arranged the different kinds in groups according to
the natural relationships of the different species, and botanical usage has
established the values of numerous technical names used in describing
plants. In the following pages an attempt has been made to define the
more important and common terms used in descriptive botany; these,
with additional less important ones, will also be found in the appended
glossary.
THE PLANT.'According to their habit of growth plants are described
as trees when they are erect, living from year to year, with a large
development of woody tissue, having a single distinct stem or trunk, and
reaching a height of 5 to 6 m or more. Shrubs are really small trees,
and this term is frequently applied to tree-like plants less than 5 m in
height, but by other authorities it is restricted to small, erect, woody
plants which produce several trunks from the base; small shrubs less
than a meter high are called under shrubs, but all intergrades occur
between undershrubs, shrubs, and trees. Herbs are plants of various
habit which contain but little woody tissue, and which, at least the parts
above ground, persist for a year or less; they vary greatly in size. Plants
that climb either by twining, by means of special organs for attachment,
or by sprawling over other plants or objects are called vines; these may
be either woody or herbaceous according to the development and per-
manence of the woody tissue. Some woody vines are frequently called
scandent shrubs, especially when sprawling over other plants or objects,
with no special adaptations for climbing.
Most plants are terrestrial, that is, growing on the earth and rooting
in the soil; those that grow in water, either entirely or partly submerged,
are called aquatic; those that grow on other plants may be either epiphytes,
that is simply growing on the supporting plant but taking no nourish-
ment from it, like most orchids, many ferns, mosses, etc., or parasites,
when taking part or all of their nourishment from the host-plant, like
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