Glossary
Allelopathic -the effects of released organic chemicals by one plant on the gemination, growth or metabolism of a different plant.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) - A statistical analysis by which variance ratios are compared in such a manner as to determine the probability that differences among populations or treatments are too large to be due to chance.
Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (BLUP) - Values for terms specified as random effects in a mixed-effects model.
Breast height - A standard height from ground level at 1.3 m for recording stem diameter (dbh), circumference or basal area of a tree.
Breeding Seedling Orchard (BSO) - a method based on the integration, first of testing and later, breeding of improved seed-producing populations in a single trial.
Bud burst - see Flushing.
Bulked seedlots - Seedlots made up by mixing together seeds from different mother trees.
Burr - An irregular, commonly round growth on a tree stem or branch resulting from the entwined growth of a cluster of adventitious buds and having contorted grain.
Clonal Orchard - a genetic test designed to evaluate a collection of clones. These may have been reproduced by grafting, vegetatively or by micro-propagation (in vitro).
Coppice - A plant derived by coppicing (the cutting of the main stem at the base to stimulate the production of new shoots).
Crown - The part of a tree or woody plant bearing live branches and foliage.
Cultivar - A clone, race or product of breeding selected from a population of plants because it has desirable characteristics and is generally more or less uniform.
Diameter at Breast Height (dbh) - see Breast Height.
Die-back - The progressive dying from the extremity of any part of a plant, which may or may not result in the death of the entire plant.
Drupe - A more or less fleshy fruit with one compartment and one or more stony seeds, having the pericarp differentiated into a thin epicarp, a fleshy mesocarp, and a hard stony endocarp.
Family - A group of individuals directly related by descent from at least one common ancestor.
Flushing - The opening of buds and appearance of leaves. see also Phenology.
Genotype - The genetic composition of an organism.
Genotype Environment Interaction (GEI) - The differential response by genotypes to the environments in which they are grown.
Gibberellins (GA) - A group of substances affecting plant growth, believed to act as natural growth hormones.
Half-sib - Trees with one parent (usually the female) in common.
Heritability - The proportion of variability of a character due to heredity, the remainder being due to environment. In a broad sense, that portion of the total variance due to all genetic factors. In a narrow sense, that portion of the total variance due to genes with additive effects and most indicative of the superiority that can be transmitted by sexual propagation.
Heritability, family - That portion of the total variance due to differences among families, and applicable only to family means.
Heritability, single tree - That portion of the total variance due to genetic differences among individuals, and applicable to data from single trees.
Incomplete block design - A design with a blocking structure where the number of plots within a block is less than the total number of seedlots or treatments.
Land race - A population of plants, usually exotic, that has become adapted to a specific environment.
Multiple-tree plot - An experimental plot consisting of more than one tree, either as a line plot or a two-dimensional arrangement.
Natural range - The geographical and elevational limits within which an organism occurs naturally.
Nitrogen-fixing - the ability of some plants to fix atmospheric nitrogen to organic forms of nitrogen, often by root nodules.
Non-contiguous plots - When the trees that form a plot are not planted together but are scattered at random throughout a replicate.
Nurse - A tree, group, or crop of trees, shrubs or other plants, used to nurture, improve survival, or improve the form of a more desirable tree of crop when young by protecting it from frost, insolation, wind, or insect attack.
Occlusion - the closing over (healing) of a wound on a tree stem.
Phenology - The study of the timing of periodic phenomena such as flowering, flushing , growth cessation etc., especially related to seasonal changes in temperature and photoperiod.
Phenotype - The observable characteristics of an organism due to the interaction between the genotype and the environment.
Plus tree - a tree selected for its outstanding phenotype but not yet tested.
Progeny - The offspring of a particular tree or mating combination.
Provenance - The original geographic area from which seeds or other propagules were obtained.
Randomised Complete Block (RCB) - An orthogonal design where seedlots or treatments are randomised to the plots in each replicate.
Residual Maximum Likelihood (REML) - A method of parameter estimation where variance components are estimated before fixed effects.
Rootstock - The root-bearing plant or plant-part, usually stem or root, onto which another plant part (scion) is grafted.
Seedlot - A convenience term denoting a group of seeds or their offspring considered as a unit in an experiment.
Seed source - The geographic location from which seed or other propagules were harvested.
Silviculture - The control of the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands as a sustainable resource.
Shake - a crack in a tree stem which follows the annual rings ('ring shake') or rays ('star shake').
Single-tree plot - An experimental plot consisting of just one tree.
Split-plot design - A factorial design where treatment structures are tested at different strata.
Stumping - The practice of cutting back a plant stem either at planting time, or within the early years of establishment, to stimulate a vigorous new shoot.
Sympodial - A type of branching in which an apparent main axis is made up of many lateral branches, each arising from the branch before.
Tap root - The dominant root of a seedling or tree root system that is a direct continuation of the radicle.
Thinning - A cultural treatment made to reduce stand density of trees, primarily to improve growth.
Transplant - A seedling after it has been lifted and replanted, one or more times, in the nursery to improve its development before forest planting. The type of transplant is described by two numbers indicating length of time in years, both prior to lifting and after replanting, whilst an intermediate symbol indicates any cultural practice undertaken between these two growing periods (e.g. 1+1 indicates one growing season prior to lifting followed by one year after replanting in the nursery, 2u2 indicates two growing seasons both prior to undercutting (u) and after lifting).
Treeshelter - An individual guard, made of various materials and to differing heights, designed to enclose a young seedling or transplant in order to protect the plant from herbivorous grazing and herbicide drift, and to provide micro-climatic benefits to the plant by providing shelter from the wind.
Veneer - a thin sheet of wood of uniform thinkness (typcically 2 - 3 mm) produced by slicing or peeling the timber.
