| TERM | GROUP | DEFINITION | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FALSE BRANCHING | NP | BACTERIA | Pronunciation: Etymology: False branching occurs in certain taxa of Cyanobacteria which form hormogonia that continue to grow (in both directions) thus they erupt through the original sheath and create a branch-like structure. |
| FALSE INDUSIUM (FALSE INDUSIA) | NP | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A false indusium is a covering for the sporangia that is produced by the leaf margin folding over. the marginal sori. |
| FALX (FALCES) | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A falx is a specialized region of pellicle in opalinids. It seems to be a region of kinetid formation as the cell enlarges. |
| FAMILY | N | SYSTEMATICS | Pronunciation & Etymology: Family is a common English word. Family is the taxonomic level that contains one or more genera. The family endings are fairly standard. In traditional animal groups, family names end in -idae. In traditional botanical groups, family names end in -aceae. |
| FERTILE PINNA (FERTILE PINNAE) | NP | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A fertile pinna is a segment of a compound leaf that bears sporangia. |
| FILAMENT | N | PLANTS, PROTISTS, FUNGI, BACTERIA | Pronunciation: Etymology: A filament is a linear array of cells. In the Cyanobacteria, a filament is the linear array of cells (trichome) plus the surrounding mucilaginous sheath. |
| FLAGELLAR POCKET | NP | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A flagellar pocket is an invagination of the cell within which the flagellar insertions occur. Extensions of the flagellar pocket form the undulating membrane in trypanosomatids. This is sometimes called the reservoir, the crypt, the cytostome (inappropriately), or gullet. |
| FLAGELLAR ROOTS | NP | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Flagellar roots are microtubular structures that arise from the basal bodies and elaborate to the inside of the cell. They may connect to the nucleus (as part of a karyomastigont) or course their way into the cell such that they form other structures like axostyles. |
| FLAGELLAR SWELLING | NP | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A flagellar swelling is a portion of the base of a flagellum that usually is light sensitive (as in the eyespot apparatus of euglenoids). |
| FLAGELLUM (FLAGELLUM) | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS, FUNGI, BACTERIA | Click here |
| FLAME CELL | NP | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Ciliated cell that is part of the excretory system in Platyhelminthes, Rotifera, and Annelida. |
| FLAT CRISTA (FLAT CRISTAE) | NP | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS, FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Flat cristae (crista, sing.) are wall-like cristae within certain mitochondria. |
| FLORIDEAN STARCH | NP | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Floridian starch is polysaccharide storage product characteristic of red algae and very similar to cyanophycean starch. |
| FLOWER | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The reproductive organ of angiosperm plants. |
| FOLIOSE | ADJ | FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Leaf-like. |
| FOLLICLE | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A dry fruit formed from a single carpel, containing more than 1 seed and splitting open along the suture. |
| FOOT | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A foot is the muscular locomotory organ whose structure defines, in part, the molluscan classes. |
| FOREGUT | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The foregut (also called the stomodaeum) is the anterior portion of the gut that is lined with ectoderm. |
| FORM-TAXON (FORM-TAXA) | NP | SYSTEMATICS, FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Binomial name given based on morphology rather than phylogeny. |
| FOUNDER POPULATION | NP | EVOLUTION | Pronunciation & Etymology: This is a phrase formed from two common English words. A founder population is a new colony formed by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. Such a group, when reproductively isolated, can lead to rapid speciation. The small founder population can have gene frequencies that are unlike those of the parent species. Mitochondrial DNA evidence suggests that our species was reduced to a small founder population of no more than 10,000 individuals in eastern Africa between 80,000-10,000 years ago, after which characteristics of culture and language suddenly began to appear. See bottleneck. |
| FRENULUM (FRENULA) | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A frenulum is a raised raised glandular ridge on the surface of certain pogonophorans. |
| FROND | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A frond is a leaf that emerges by unrolling (as in the fiddleheads of ferns). This type of leaf emergence is called circinate vernation. |
| FRUTICOSE | ADJ | FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Shrub-like. |
| FRUIT | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Mature ovary with its enclosed seeds and sometimes external structures. |
| FRUSTULE | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A frustule is the wall or valve of a diatom. |
| FUCOXANTHIN | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid secondary photosynthetic pigment that occurs in many of the photosynthetic eukaryotes like the heterokonts and haptotists. |
| FUNGI IMPERFECTI | NP | SYSTEMATICS, FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Diverse group of fungi comprising forms for which no sexual stage is known. |
| FURROWING | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Furrowing is the means of cytokinesis in which the cell membrane pinches in from the outside to the center. Note that this is the opposite of cell plate formation in phragmoplastic plants. |
