Glossary F

F

F1 HYBRID
A first generation offspring of two purebred strains. An Fl hybrid is generally more vigorous than an ordinary hybrid.

FAMILY
One genus or several genera which have a basically similar floral pattern make up a family.

FASCIATION/FASCIATE
A flattened or cockscomb-like growth - can be normal or not

FASTIGIATE
Having a narrowly columnar or pillar-like growth form

FEATHERING
Spreading out roots before planting a potted plant

FERTILE
Capable of producing seed - sometimes used to denote edible fruit

FERTILE QUEEN
A queen, inseminated instrumentally or mated with a drone, which can lay fertilized eggs.

FERMENTATION
A chemical breakdown of honey, caused by sugar-tolerant yeast and associated with honey having a high moisture content.

FERTIGATION
Mixing or puting fertilizer into the irrigation water so fertilizer is delivered with irrigation water.

FIELD BEES
Worker bees at least three weeks old that work in the field to collect nectar, pollen, water, and propolis.

FIDDLEHEAD
An unfurling fern frond that resembles the end of a violin

FILAMENT
The slender stalk or stem of the anther or pollen sac

FIREBLIGHT
A serious bacterial disease that kills members of the rose family

FERTILIZE
The act of or the actual substance added to soil to provide additional nutrients for plants. May also be used to describe the pollination process flowers undergo with the help of bees and other insects.

FIBROUS-ROOTED
A root system which contains many thin roots rather than a single tap root.

FLAT
A shallow box or tray used to start cuttings or seedlings.

FLORET
A small flower which is part of a much larger compound flower head; e.g Cineraria.

FLOWER SPIKE
A flower head made up of a central stem with the flowers growing directly on it.

FLASH HEATER
A device for heating honey very rapidly to prevent it from being damaged by sustained periods of high temperature.

FLAT
A low plastic or wooden tray used for propagation or transplanting

FLORICULTURE
A discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants. Flowering plants are cultivated all over the world both indoors and out. The development plant breeding of new varieties is a major occupation of floriculturists.

FLUORESCENT LIGHTING
Fluorescent lamps (also called tubes) use electricity to excite a gas in the glass tube. This causes ultraviolet light to be emitted and to strike the inside surface of the tube, which is coated with a special coating which fluoresces (the radiation causes it to emit visible light).

Fluorescent lighting is typically five times as efficient as incandescent lighting in converting electricity to light, and the lamps last about 8 times as long (8,000 hours compared with 1,000 hours). Tri-phosphor fluorescent lamps which produce about 20% more light for the same electricity consumption, have gained popularity in the early 1990s. In 1996 tri phosphor lamps were introduced with double the life (now 16,000 hours) and a much better performance maintenance over their life.

FLORIDA
A pl ant with abundant flowers. Cornus florida is the best known example.It has nothing to do with the state of Florida which was named for the same characteristic. A plant from Florida would be called floridana or floridanus in most cases.

FLORIFEROUS
Having many flowers compared to most cultivars or species

FOLLWER BOARD
A thin board used in place of a frame usually when there are fewer than the normal number of frames in a hive.

FOOD CHAMBER
A hive body filled with honey for winter stores.

FOILIAR FERTILIZER
A fertilizer applied in liquid form to a plant's foliage in a fine spray so that the plant can absorb the nutrients through its leaves.

FORBS
Flowering herbaceous plants that are not grasses and sedges. As grasses and sedges do produce (relatively inconspicuous) flowers, the term "forbs" is often used (instead of "flowering plants") to specify the plants with conspicuous flowers the grow among the grasses in a meadow or prairie. Technically, this use of the term excludes small shrubs (such as leadplant, Amorpha canescens) that may grow among the grasses and forbs, produce flowers, and have a form similar to herbaceous plants.

FORCING
The process of making a plant grow or flower before its natural season.

FOCAL PLANT
A plant with form or color calling attention or focus to an area

FOLIAGE
Leaves or vegetative tissue in the collective sense or mass'

FOLIAR
Of or concerning foliage or leaves - ie. foliar spray or foliar mass

FOLIAR SPRAY
A pesticide that is sprayed on the leaves of plants.

FORCING
Stimulation of flowers or growth by controlling light and temperature

FORM
A botanical variation of a variety differing in only 1 trait like color

FOUNDATION PLANT
A plant suitable for planting around houses and below windows

FROND
leaf-like portion of a fern - technically they are not true leaves

FRUTICOSA/FRUTICOSUM
Being fruticose or shrub-like - often in a genus of smaller form

FRUTICOSE
Being a shrub or shrub-like - a 'fruticose woody plant' is just a 'bush'. Potentilla fruticosa was named to distinguish it from the many herbaceous members of that large genus.

FUMIGATION
The use of gas or vapors that sterilize soils or containers

FRIABLE
Easily crumbled. Healthy soil is friable, so if you hold up a handful of soil and wiggle your fingers the particles of soil should fall out of your hand.

FRAME
Four pieces of wood designed to hold honey comb, consisting of a top bar, a bottom bar, and two end bars.

FRUIT
In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary—together with seeds—of a flowering plant. In many species, the fruit incorporates the ripened ovary and surrounding tissues. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds.

In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plant species they come from.

Technically classified as a species of fruit, the tomato is popularly considered a vegetable.

FRUITING BODIES
Complex fungal structures containing spores.

FRUCTOSE
The predominant simple sugar found in honey; also known as levulose.

FUMIDIL-B
The trade name for Fumagillin, an antibiotic used in the prevention and suppression of nosema disease.

FUME BOARD
A rectangular frame, the size of a super, covered with an absorbent material such as burlap, on which is placed a chemical repellent to drive the bees out of supers for honey removal.

FUNGICIDE
A chemical used to control diseases caused by fungi. A chemical or biological product applied to plants to prevent infection by disease-causing organisms.

FUNGUS
A microscopic organism lacking chlorophyll and the ability to manufacture its own food, with a body of spider web-like filaments.
A primitive form of plant life which is known to the house plant grower as the most common cause of infectious disease -- powdery mildew. sooty mould and area mould.