FLORA (florae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: florae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flora mean? 

• FLORA (noun)
  The noun FLORA has 2 senses:

1. all the plant life in a particular region or period

2. (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion

  Familiarity information: FLORA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLORA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

All the plant life in a particular region or period

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

botany; flora; vegetation

Context example:

the botany of China

Hypernyms ("flora" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Domain category:

flora; plant; plant life ((botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion)

Domain member category:

cut; mown ((used of grass or vegetation) cut down with a hand implement or machine)

uncut; unmown ((used of grass or vegetation) not cut down with a hand implement or machine)

sprouted ((of growing vegetation) having just emerged from the ground)

dried-up; sear; sere; shriveled; shrivelled; withered ((used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flora"):

browse (vegetation (such as young shoots, twigs, and leaves) that is suitable for animals to eat)

brush; brushwood; coppice; copse; thicket (a dense growth of bushes)

growth (vegetation that has grown)

bush; chaparral; scrub (dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes)

stand (a growth of similar plants (usually trees) in a particular area)

forest; wood; woods (the trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area)

shrubbery (a collection of shrubs growing together)

garden (the flowers or vegetables or fruits or herbs that are cultivated in a garden)

brier; brier patch; brierpatch (tangled mass of prickly plants)

ground cover; groundcover (low-growing plants planted in deep shade or on a steep slope where turf is difficult to grow)

Holonyms ("flora" is a member of...):

biology; biota (all the plant and animal life of a particular region)

Antonym:

fauna (all the animal life in a particular region or period)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

flora; plant; plant life

Hypernyms ("flora" is a kind of...):

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

Meronyms (parts of "flora"):

cap; hood (a protective covering that is part of a plant)

plant part; plant structure (any part of a plant or fungus)

Domain category:

botany; phytology (the branch of biology that studies plants)

Domain member category:

botanical medicine; herbal therapy; phytotherapy (the use of plants or plant extracts for medicinal purposes (especially plants that are not part of the normal diet))

micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)

parasite (an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); it obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host)

coca (dried leaves of the coca plant (and related plants that also contain cocaine); chewed by Andean people for their stimulating effect)

fugaciousness; fugacity (the lack of enduring qualities (used chiefly of plant parts))

circulation (free movement or passage (as of cytoplasm within a cell or sap through a plant))

botany; flora; vegetation (all the plant life in a particular region or period)

squamule (a minute scale)

nitrification (the oxidation of ammonium compounds in dead organic material into nitrates and nitrites by soil bacteria (making nitrogen available to plants))

perennation (the process of living through a number of years (as a perennial plant))

photosynthesis (synthesis of compounds with the aid of radiant energy (especially in plants))

alder blight (a disease of alders caused by the woolly alder aphid (a plant louse))

peroxidase (any of a group of enzymes (occurring especially in plant cells) that catalyze the oxidation of a compound by a peroxide)

tenderiser; tenderizer (a substance (as the plant enzyme papain) applied to meat to make it tender)

propagate (cause to propagate, as by grafting or layering)

etiolate (bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight)

bruise (damage (plant tissue) by abrasion or pressure)

cultivate; domesticate; naturalise; naturalize; tame (adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment)

accrete (grow together (of plants and organs))

deaden; girdle (cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients)

acid-loving (thriving in a relatively acidic environment (especially of plants requiring a pH well below 7))

alkaline-loving (thriving in a relatively alkaline environment; (especially of plants requiring a pH above 7))

apocarpous ((of ovaries of flowering plants) consisting of carpels that are free from one another as in buttercups or roses)

syncarpous ((of ovaries of flowering plants) consisting of united carpels)

sedgy (covered with sedges (grasslike marsh plants))

floccose ((of plants) having tufts of soft woolly hairs)

hispid ((of animals or plants) having stiff coarse hairs or bristles)

pappose ((of plants such as dandelions and thistles) having pappi or tufts of featherlike hairs or delicate bristles)

carnivorous ((used of plants as well as animals) feeding on animals)

saprophytic ((of some plants or fungi) feeding on dead or decaying organic matter)

insectivorous ((of animals and plants) feeding on insects)

blanched; etiolate; etiolated ((especially of plants) developed without chlorophyll by being deprived of light)

tender ((of plants) not hardy; easily killed by adverse growing condition)

dicotyledonous ((of a flowering plant) having two cotyledons in the seed)

monocotyledonous ((of a flowering plant) having a single cotyledon in the seed as in grasses and lilies)

evergreen ((of plants and shrubs) bearing foliage throughout the year)

deciduous ((of plants and shrubs) shedding foliage at the end of the growing season)

campylotropous ((of a plant ovule) curved with the micropyle near the base almost touching its stalk)

orthotropous ((of a plant ovule) completely straight with the micropyle at the apex)

anatropous; inverted ((of a plant ovule) completely inverted; turned back 180 degrees on its stalk)

amphitropous ((of a plant ovule) partly inverted; turned back 90 degrees on its stalk)

epiphytotic ((of plants) epidemic among plants of a single kind especially over a wide area)

amentaceous; amentiferous ((of plants) bearing or characterized by aments or catkins)

half-hardy ((of plants) requiring protection from frost)

gregarious ((of plants) growing in groups that are close together)

clustered (growing close together but not in dense mats)

ungregarious ((of plants) growing together in groups that are not close together)

caespitose; cespitose; tufted ((of plants) growing in small dense clumps or tufts)

leggy; tall-growing ((of plants) having tall spindly stems)

endangered ((of flora or fauna) in imminent danger of extinction)

threatened ((of flora or fauna) likely in the near future to become endangered)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flora"):

houseplant (any of a variety of plants grown indoors for decorative purposes)

perennial ((botany) a plant lasting for three seasons or more)

escape (a plant originally cultivated but now growing wild)

hygrophyte (a plant that grows in a moist habitat)

neophyte (a plant that is found in an area where it had not been recorded previously)

embryo ((botany) a minute rudimentary plant contained within a seed or an archegonium)

monocarp; monocarpic plant; monocarpous plant (a plant that bears fruit once and dies)

sporophyte (the spore-producing individual or phase in the life cycle of a plant having alternation of generations)

gametophyte (the gamete-bearing individual or phase in the life cycle of a plant having alternation of generations)

biennial ((botany) a plant having a life cycle that normally takes two seasons from germination to death to complete; flowering biennials usually bloom and fruit in the second season)

garden plant (any of a variety of plants usually grown especially in a flower or herb garden)

tracheophyte; vascular plant (green plant having a vascular system: ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms)

poisonous plant (a plant that when touched or ingested in sufficient quantity can be harmful or fatal to an organism)

aerophyte; air plant; epiphyte; epiphytic plant (plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on another plant but not parasitic on it)

rock plant (plant that grows on or among rocks or is suitable for a rock garden)

autophyte; autophytic plant; autotroph; autotrophic organism (plant capable of synthesizing its own food from simple organic substances)

myrmecophyte (plant that affords shelter or food to ants that live in symbiotic relations with it)

annual ((botany) a plant that completes its entire life cycle within the space of a year)

cryptogam (formerly recognized taxonomic group including all flowerless and seedless plants that reproduce by means of spores: ferns, mosses, algae, fungi)

aquatic (a plant that lives in or on water)

apomict (a plant that reproduces or is reproduced by apomixis)

acrogen (any flowerless plant such as a fern (pteridophyte) or moss (bryophyte) in which growth occurs only at the tip of the main stem)

pot plant (a plant suitable for growing in a flowerpot (especially indoors))

ornamental (any plant grown for its beauty or ornamental value)

wilding (a wild uncultivated plant (especially a wild apple or crabapple tree))

plantlet (a young plant or a small plant)

non-flowering plant (a plant that does not bear flowers)

holophyte (an organism that produces its own food by photosynthesis)

endemic (a plant that is native to a certain limited area)

crop (a cultivated plant that is grown commercially on a large scale)

microflora (microscopic plants; bacteria are often considered to be microflora)

phytoplankton (photosynthetic or plant constituent of plankton; mainly unicellular algae)

Holonyms ("flora" is a member of...):

kingdom Plantae; plant kingdom; Plantae ((botany) the taxonomic kingdom comprising all living or extinct plants)

Derivation:

floral (of or relating to the plant life in a particular region)

 Context examples 

B. stercoris is commensal and part of the normal human gastrointestinal tract flora, but may become pathogenic in other body regions.

(Bacteroides stercoris, NCI Thesaurus)

C. gingivalis is part of the normal gingival flora in humans, but can cause periodontitis.

(Capnocytophaga gingivalis, NCI Thesaurus)

B. splanchnicus is commensal and part of the normal human gastrointestinal tract flora, but may become pathogenic in other body regions.

(Bacteroides splanchnicus, NCI Thesaurus)

B. ovatus is commensal and part of the normal human gastrointestinal tract flora, but may become pathogenic in other body regions.

(Bacteroides ovatus, NCI Thesaurus)

B. eggerthii is commensal and part of the normal flora of the human gastrointestinal tract, but may become pathogenic in other body regions.

(Bacteroides eggerthii, NCI Thesaurus)

B. nordii is commensal and part of the normal human gastrointestinal tract flora, but may become pathogenic in other body regions.

(Bacteroides nordii, NCI Thesaurus)

C. ochracea is a member of the normal gingival flora but can become pathogenic causing sepsis especially in immunocompromised individuals.

(Capnocytophaga ochracea, NCI Thesaurus)

C. sputigena is a member of the normal gingival flora but can become pathogenic causing sepsis especially in immunocompromised individuals.

(Capnocytophaga sputigena, NCI Thesaurus)

Maintaining the integrity of the gastrointestinal tract despite the continual presence of microbial flora and injurious agents is essential.

(Mucosal Healing Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

M. hominis is commensal in the urogenital flora of adults, but is an opportunistic pathogen implicated in female genital infections and may also cause infections in newborns, especially in those that are immunosuppressed.

(Mycoplasma hominis, NCI Thesaurus)