Glossary: M
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maculate
- Spotted or splotched.
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mamilla
- A nipple-shaped projection.
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marcescent
- Withering but persistent and not falling.
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margin
- Edge.
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marginal
- Pertaining to the edge of a structure.
- marshes
- Wetlands dominated by herbaceous vegetation such as grasses, reeds or sedges.
- meadows
- Open, sunny fields vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants.
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Megachile brevis
- Leaf-cutter Bee, photo USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory.
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Megachile inermis
- Unarmed Leaf-cutter Bee, photo ©Sierra Williams, USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory.
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Megachile melanophaea
- Fuzzy-legged Leaf-cutter Bee, photo ©Sierra Williams, USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory.
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megaspore
- In species that produce two kinds of spore (e.g., Isoetes, Selaginella, Azolla, Marsilea), the larger spore that gives rise to the "female", egg-producing gametophyte.
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Melipona beecheii
- Stingless Bee, photo ©David Cappaert, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org.
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membranaceous
- Thin, flexible, almost translucent; like a membrane or film.
- mentum
- A 'chin-like' projection at the base of the flower, made up of the column and the sepals.
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mericarp
- A single-carpellate section of a schizocarp.
- merous
- Having a specified number or multiple of parts.
- mesic
- Moist (as in a habitat).
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mesifixed
- Attached at or toward the middle, as in the area where a petiole meets the leaf blade.
- microspore
- In species that produce two kinds of spore (e.g., Isoetes, Selaginella, Azolla, Marsilea), the smaller spore that gives rise to the "male", sperm-producing gametophyte.
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midrib
- The main vessel of a leaf, the continuation of the petiole; midvein.
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midvein
- The biggest vein that runs down the middle of the leaf blade; midrib.
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monadelphous
- With all of the filaments of the stamens joined into a single group.
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moniliform
- Bead-like.
- monocarpic
- Flowering only once before dying.
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monochasial cyme
- A 2-flowered cyme with a terminal flower and a single, lateral flower.
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monochlamydeous
- Perianth comprised of 1 series of parts, as in a single whorl of sepals or petals.
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monocot
- A flowering plant with embryos that produce only one seed leaf (compare "dicotyledon" or "dicot"); monocotyledon.
- monoecious
- A plant that bears some flowers with pollen-bearing organs (stamens) and separate flowers with ovule-bearing organs (carpels).
- monomorphic
- Having only one form.
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mouth
- Where a tubular structure such as a flower opens up into lateral lobes.
- mucilage
- A slimy or snot-like excretion, rich in heavy starches.
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mucro
- A short, abrupt projecting tip.
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mucronate
- Ending abruptly in a short, stiff point.
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muricate
- With small, pointed projections.
- myco-heterotrophic
- Plants with little or no chlorophyll that depend on fungi, not photosynthesis, for carbon and other nutrients.