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This guide includes a lot of technical words that you might not be familiar with. I realize that unfamiliar words are annoying, but I find that using precise words makes it much easier to describe the sometimes minor differences between taxons. In addition, seeing the concepts behind the words should your understanding of the underlying biological concepts.
To that end, the guide includes multiple glossaries that define word and phrases that apply to specific portions of the taxon hierarchy. Many of the glossaries also include figures to help illustrate the concepts involved.
You can find a glossary page using either of these methods:
You can find the definition of a particular glossary term using either of these methods:
When you navigate to a specific glossary term, that term and its definition are highlighted in yellow. Consider also checking out any related words in the same glossary section as well as the associated figures.
Most terms are defined in dedicated glossary pages, but some terms are defined directly in a taxon page, especially where the terms are used only for a single genus.
Many terms recognize simple variations, e.g. “flower”, “flowers”, and “flowered”. Although these variations aren’t listed explicitly, they are recognized during search and are linked from wherever they occur in the guide.
A few terms explicitly list variations that are less obvious, e.g. “hypanthium (hypanthia)“.
Many glossary terms are defined in multiple glossaries. E.g. “head” is defined separately for flowering plants and for insects. When the word is linked from the guide, it links to the appropriate definition for its taxon.
A glossary term may also be redefined with greater detail for a lower-level taxon (vs. a more generic definition at a higher level). E.g. “head” is defined more specificially for the “sunflower family” than for “flowering plants in general”. In this case, the guide links to the lowest-level definition that applies. However, if there are other definitions that apply at higher or lower levels of the taxonomy, these are cross referenced at the end of the definition.
In many cases, Jepson eFlora also has a definition for a plant-related term. The Jepson eFlora definition is cross referenced at the end of a BAWG definition where applicable. You can also directly look up a term in the Jepson eFlora glossary by typing the term in the search bar followed by “Jepson eFlora glossary”.
The top of each glossary includes a table of contents with links to all other glossaries used in the BAWG. This may be useful to you if you just want to browse.