• Achene: a small, dry, indehiscent fruit with a single locule and a single seed (ovule) attached to the ovary wall at a single point.

  • Acrid: strongly bitter to the taste.

  • Afebrile: without fever.

  • Agalactia: failure to secrete milk.

  • Alternate: leaf arrangement when only one leaf is at any one level on the stem.

  • Anemic: deficient in either hemoglobin or red blood cells.

  • Annual: a plant completing its entire life cycle in one growing season.

  • Anorexia: loss of appetite for food.

  • Anoxia: absence or deficiency of oxygen.

  • Anthelmintic: chemical that destroys intestinal worms.

  • Anuria: decrease in urinary secretion to 100 ml or less in 24 hours.

  • Arthrogryposis: persistent flexure of a joint; retention of a joint in a fixed position.

  • Asphyxia: death due to insufficient oxygen in the blood.

  • Astringent: a chemical that shrinks tissues.

  • Ataxia: lack of coordination.

  • Atony: lack of normal tone (vigor and tension).

  • Berry: a type of fruit that is usually fleshy throughout.

  • Biennial: a plant which lives two years.

  • Blade: the broad and flat portion of a leaf.

  • Bloat: abnormal amount of gas in the first stomach of cattle.

  • Bradycardia: abnormally slow heart rate and pulse.

  • Capsule: a type of fruit that is dry and splits along two or more lines.

  • Cardiac: pertaining to the heart

  • Cathartic: a purging medicine intermediate in action between a laxative and purgative.

  • Catkin: an inflorescence crowded with small, unisexual flowers lacking petals; usually pendant.

  • Cholestasis: retention and accumulation of bile in the liver.

  • Coma: a condition of insensibility.

  • Conjunctivity: inflammation of the membrane lining the eye and eyelids.

  • Convulsions: a violent uncontrolled series of muscular contractions.

  • Corolla: a collective term for the petals of a flower.

  • Cyanosis: turning blue or purple due to a lack of oxygen in the blood.

  • Cystitis: inflammation of the urinary bladder.

  • Delirium: a state of frenzied excitement.

  • Demulcent: a substance, such as oil or lard, that can soothe or protect inflamed mucous membranes.

  • Diarrhea: abnormal and frequent discharge of a liquid substance from the intestines.

  • Dilated pupils: enlarged pupils.

  • Diuretic: a chemical that increases the secretion and discharge of urine.

  • Drupe: a fruit type with a fleshy outside and a stony pit in the center that contains the seed.

  • Dyspnea: shortness of breath; difficulty or labored respiration.  Dyspneic, adj.

  • Dysuria: painful urination.

  • Ecchymotic: discolored skin or soft tissue due to invasion of blood.

  • Edema: excessive accumulation of body fluid in tissues and cavities.

  • Emetic: a chemical or substance that causes vomiting.

  • Enteritis: inflammation of the intestinal tract.

  • Entire: a leaf margin that is smooth, not toothed or wavy.

  • Epistaxis: hemorrhage from the nose.

  • Floret: the individual flower of the grasses.

  • Follicle: a type of fruit that is dry and opens by only one slit.

  • Friable: breaks easily into small pieces.

  • Gastritis: inflammation of the stomach.

  • Gastroenteritis: inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

  • Glabrous: devoid of hairs or scales.

  • Glaucous: covered with a whitish or bluish, waxy coating.

  • Heinz-bodies: round aggregates of precipitated, denatured hemoglobin attached to red blood cell membranes.

  • Hematuria: blood in the urine.

  • Hemoglobinuria: having hemoglobin in the urine.

  • Hemolysis: distintegration of elements in the blood.

  • Hemoptysis: saliva containing blood from bronchial and/or pulmonary hemorrhage.    

  • Hemorrhage: a copious discharge of blood from the vessels; excessive bleeding.

  • Herbaceous: a plant that is nonwoody and that dies back to the ground each year.

  • Hyperemia: distention of the blood vessels due to increased blood in a body part.

  • Hyperkalemic: with excess potassium in the blood.

  • Hypocalcemia: low amount of calcium in the blood.

  • Hypoplasia: incomplete development of an organ or tissue.

  • Hypoxia: an abnormally decreased supply or concentration of oxygen.

  • Icterus: jaundice; a yellowish coloration of skin, tissues, and body fluids.

  • Inflorescence: the arrangement or grouping of flowers in a branch system.

  • Keratitis: inflammation of the cornea.

  • Laminitis: inflammation of the laminae of a horse’s foot.

  • Laryngeal: pertaining to the larynx.

  • Laxative: a chemical that produces a mild intestinal discharge or evacuation.

  • Leaflet: the blade-like portion of a divided (compound) leaf.

  • Leukopenia: marked reduction in the numbers of circulating white blood cells.

  • Methemoglobinemia: oxidized hemoglobin; a condition in which the blood is incapable of carrying oxygen.

  • Mucous membrane: thin lining of many of the cavities and passages in the body.

  • Mydriasis: prolonged or excessive dilation of the pupil of the eye.

  • Myocarditis: inflammation of the muscular substance of the heart.

  • Narcotic: drug, which in moderate doses, causes insensibility and relieves pain; in large amounts produces stupor or convulsions.

  • Nausea: sickness of the stomach and an urge to vomit.

  • Necrosis: localized death of living tissue.

  • Nephrosis: a disease of the kidney.

  • Nut: a dry, hard, indehiscent, 1-seeded fruit, with or without an outer husk.

  • Oliguria: decrease in urinary secretion to 100-400 ml in 24 hours.

  • Opisthotonos: a violent spasm that flexes the head and feet backward.

  • Opposite: two leaves, opposing each other, at any one level on the stem.

  • Ovule: an immature seed; the megasporangium and surrounding integuments of a seed plant.

  • Panicle: rather broad and often many-branched inflorescence.

  • Parenteral: otherwise than through the alimentary canal.

  • Pedicel: stalk of an individual flower in an inflorescence.

  • Perennial: plants that continue to live year after year.

  • Perianth: collective term for the sepals and petals of a flower.

  • Petal: one unit of the inner whorl of sterile parts of the flower; usually colored and showy.

  • Petechial: minute, red spots due to the escape of small amounts of blood.

  • Petiole: the stalk of a leaf.

  • Pistil: the central structure(s) of a flower which develops into the fruit after fertilization.

  • Polyuria: excessive urination.

  • Proteinuria: protein in the urine.

  • Pubescent: hairy.

  • Purgative: a chemical causing a very strong intestinal evacuation.

  • Purging: an evacuation of the intestinal tract.

  • Raceme: a rather elongated and slender inflorescence in which the pedicels are attached to a simple central axis.

  • Rachis: the axis of an inflorescence or of a compound leaf.

  • Renal: pertaining to the kidney.

  • Respiratory: pertaining to the lungs and other breathing organs.

  • Rhizome: an underground stem.

  • Rootstock: an underground, rootlike stem.

  • Rosette: a dense radiating cluster of leaves (or other plant organs), usually at or near ground level.

  • Ruminotorics: compounds used in the treatment of rumen hypomotility; i.e., to stimulate rumen motility.

  • Salivation: an excessive discharge of saliva from the mouth.

  • Scurfy: scaly or rough to the touch.

  • Sedative: a chemical that eases excitement or pain.

  • Seed: a ripened ovule after fertilization; embryonic plant within a protective coat.

  • Sepal: one unit of the outer whorl of sterile parts of the flower; often green but sometimes colored.

  • Sessile: attached directly to the stem, without a petiole or pedicel.

  • Spasm: an uncontrolled and unnatural muscular contraction.

  • Spikelet: one of the small parts that form the head in grasses; containing one to many florets.

  • Sporangia: small containers of spores.

  • Spore: a minute structure, not a seed, which is capable of developing into a new individual; reproductive body in many primitive plants (e.g., ferns).

  • Stamen: the part of a flower in which the pollen is formed; the pollen-bearing organ of a flower.

  • Stasis: a stoppage of flow as of blood or other fluids, or intestinal contents.

  • Stimulant: a chemical that temporarily increases activity.

  • Stipules: two small leaves at the base of a leaf.

  • Stomatitis: inflammation of the oral mucous membranes.

  • Stupor: partial or complete unconsciousness.

  • Tachycardia: rapid heart action and pulse.

  • Tenesmus: ineffectual and painful straining at stool or in urination.

  • Tremor: an involuntary trembling, shivering, or shaking.

  • Umbel: an inflorescence in which all the flower pedicels arise from the same point at the tip of the stem.

  • Urethritis: inflammation of the urethra.

  • Vertigo: dizziness, often resulting in staggering.

  • Whorled: three or more leaves arising at any one level on a stem.


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Last updated Dec 2018