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The following definitions use current terminology in plant morphology; the examples illustrate the structures named in the historical paper.

A rhizome is a persistent plant stem, usually growing horizontally at or beneath the ground surface. Like other plant stems, a rhizome has stem nodes separated by internodes, with buds and often reduced, scale-like leaves. It can produce upward-growing shoots and adventitious roots. These features identify it as a plant stem, even though it is underground: a root does not bear leaves at stem nodes. The fleshy, branched part of ginger used as a spice is a rhizome, rather than a root.^[ref][ref]

A spathe is an enlarged, sheathing bract that encloses, at least initially, a flower or inflorescence. A bract is a modified leaf associated with a flower or inflorescence. A familiar example is the pale green hood surrounding the spadix in Arum maculatum, or cuckoo-pint. The spadix is the thickened axis bearing the small flowers; the surrounding hood is the spathe. The spathe therefore belongs to the covering of the inflorescence, rather than being a large petal of one flower.^[ref][ref]

The perianth is the floral envelope: the calyx and corolla considered together, or whichever of these is present. The calyx comprises the sepals, and the corolla comprises the petals. When the two sets look alike and are not differentiated into a recognizable calyx and corolla, their individual members are called tepals. A lily provides an example: its six conspicuous tepals form the perianth. The word is especially useful for such an undifferentiated envelope, but its collective meaning also includes a distinct calyx and corolla. The stamens and carpels are separate reproductive organs and are excluded from the perianth.^[ref][ref]

An involucre is a ring, or several rings, of bracts surrounding a flower or inflorescence. In the common daisy, the small green bracts underneath and around the base of the flower head together form its involucre. That apparent single blossom is actually a flower head containing many small flowers, called florets. Its involucre surrounds this entire cluster; it is distinct from the calyx belonging to an individual flower.^[ref][ref]

A sepal is one of the parts making up the calyx, the outer floral envelope. Sepals are commonly green and protect the other parts of a flower while it is in bud. They may remain separate or be joined into a calyx with free lobes or teeth. In a typical buttercup, the five outer sepals surround the inner, usually yellow petals. Thus one part is a sepal, the whole outer set is the calyx, and the calyx plus corolla is the perianth.^[ref][ref]

An umbel is an inflorescence in which the flower stalks arise together from one point at the top of a common stalk. The stalk of each individual flower is a pedicel; the common supporting stalk is the peduncle. The pedicels spread out like umbrella ribs and are often of roughly equal length, producing a rounded or relatively level cluster. A flowering onion is an example of a simple umbel, with individual flowers at the ends of its pedicels. In a compound umbel, the primary branches instead end in smaller umbels, called umbellets, each carrying its own flowers. The defining feature is where the stalks join: a rounded outline alone does not establish that a cluster is an umbel.^{[ref][ref][ref]}

An inflorescence with stalks arising together at the top of a peduncle.^[ref]