| Name | Structure/ Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Capitulate | collected into small capitula | |
| Capitulum | a simple racemose inflorescence in which the primary axis is shortened and dilated forming a rounded or flattened cluster of sessile flowers (as in the buttonbush and in all composite plants) -- called also head | |
| Capsule | [Fruits] {type} | A dry fruit that opens (dehisces) in any of various ways at maturity to release few to many seeds. |
| Carnivorous | [Plants] {carnivory} | Capturing animals (usually insects), digesting their tissues and assimilating the digested substances as nourishment, especially nitrogen. [ |
| Carpel | The basic ovule-bearing unit of flowers, thought to be evolutionarily derived from an infolded leaf-like structure; equivalent to a simple pistil or a division of a compound pistil. | |
| Carpophore | a slender often forked prolongation of a receptacle or pistil or both which develops as the fruit ripens and from which the ripened carpels are suspended (as in members of the genus Geranium and in the Umbelliferae) | |
| Caryopsis | [Fruits] {type} | A more or less small, dry fruit that does not split open at maturity (indehiscent), with a thin wall surrounding and fused to the single seed, as the fruits of the grass family (Poaceae); a grain. |
| Catkin | [Inflorescences] {type} | A pendent, more or less flexible, spike-like inflorescence with numerous small flowers, typically of only one sex (unisexual), lacking petals and subtended by scaly bracts, as in willows (Salix) and birches (Betula); catkins are often wind pollinated and fall as a unit after flowering or fruiting. |
| Caudate | [Leaf apices, Leaflet apices, Petal apices, Phyllary apices, Sepal apices] {shape} | |
| Caudex | This is a spheroid enlargement at the base of a plant that is usually below the surface of the soil (in herbaceous plants). A caudex is woody and functions as a storage organ for nutrients and water. One or more stems develop from the top of a caudex, while coarse roots radiate below. See line drawing of a Caudex. |
