History of Gardening Extracts – Definitions beginning with ‘Ac’ from the Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening 1951.
Acclimatization – “The attempt to inure plants to a climate different from that of which they are native. There is no evidence that such attempts have been successful, at least so far as rendering tender plants less susceptible to injury by low temperatures are concerned. The most that appears possible is to select out of a species individuals more gardy than the majority and perhaps from the extremey range of their natural distribution and by breeding from them raise a more hardy race (or conversely one less liable to damage by extreme heat) than the greater number of the individuals comprising the species. Avoidance of damage may sometimes be secured by growing plants under glass for the first few years of their existence until they are larger enough for their upper parts to be above the frost line, but this applies only to woody plants.”
Accrescent – accres’cent – “increasing in size after flowering.”
Accumbent – accum’bent – “lying against anything, as distinct from incumbent, lying upon it.”
Acephalusaum – aceph’alus -a -um – “without a head.”
Aceroides – aceroi’des – “Maple-like.”
Acerosusaum – Acero’sus -a -um – “needle-like, needle-pointed.”
Acetarious – “relating to salads.”
Achene – “small, dry, hard fruit that does not open, 1-seeded.”
Achlamydeous – “without calyx or corolla.”
Acmopetala – Acmopet’ala – “having anvil-shaped petals.”
Acropetal – “developing from the apex, the oldest part being at the base, as in the leaves of a current year’s shoot.”
Actinidiaceae – “Doctyledons. A family of about 40 species of deciduous twining shrubs, natives of E. and S.E Asia from Japan to Java and N. India. Characters of the genus Actinidia. Perhaps allied to Dilleniaceae in which the genus has sometimes been placed and to Ternstroemiaceae which has also accomodated it; probably related also to Eucryphiacaea. Clematoclethra and Saurauja are also included in this Family, removed from Dilleniaceae.”
Actinomyces – “A small genus of fungi commonly found in the soil, some species of which cause injury to root crops, A. Scabies being the cause of Potato Common Scab.”
Aculeatusaum – Aculea’tus -a -um – “aculeate; armed with prickles.”
Aculeolatusaum – Aculeola’tus -a -um – “armed with small prickles.”
Acumen – “an acute point as of a leaf.”
Acuminatusaum – Acumina’tus -a -um – “draw out to a long, narrow point.”
Acutusaum – Acu’tus -a – um – “short-pointed.”
Acyclic – “having the parts of the flower, or some of them, spirally arranged, as in Ranunculus, where all parts are spirally arranged, or Magnolia where stamens and carpels only are so arranged.”
