When you want to understand an obscure part.... search for a diagram

Regular reader Remmij made an interesting comment in yesterday's discussion of the Tarweed flower, Hemizonia congesta.  She wrote: 

     Ray flowers 5–13; ligules 5–11 mm,

Now, I'm reasonably up on my botanical terminology, but I admit that I didn't know what a "ligule" was.  BUT... I do know how to find out.  

Here's what I did.... 

My first move was to do a define... like this:  

Note the little tag in the gray box?  It says it's "Botany"--meaning this is a technical term used in that field.  You'll see these from time to time whenever you're looking up a term that's strongly identified in a given area.  (They're part of the new release of the upgraded dictionary service, which I'm happy to say was one of the projects I worked on this year.)  Try looking up the definitions of amniocentesis, drupe, or fiduciary.  You'll see the tags there. 

But, while this is a perfectly fine definition, it's kind of lacking something.  After I read this, I STILL didn't really know what it was. 

So I did an Image search with: 

     [ ligule diagram ] 

And got these results.... 

I was looking for a diagram that shows the ligule in context.  What I especially like about this Images results page is that I can see a ligule in both a diagram form (with all the extraneous bits removed) and in an actual picture, so I can see the difference between the diagram and reality.  

I ALSO picked up that ligules are relatively common in grasses.  They appear on flowering plants as well, just not as often.  

To tell the truth, I learned more than that... I also learned that ligules exist in the first place.  I'd always assumed that they were just an extra little bit of the leaf sheath--I never dreamed that they'd be an independent part of the plant and used to pin down the identity!  

You never know what you'll pick up along the way.  

Search lesson:  Using the [ diagram ] trick is a great way to see how parts of a larger whole fit into place in context.  This is useful for bicycle parts-- [ bicycle derailleur diagram ], ships [ clipper ship sails diagram ], as well as plants [ plant ovary diagram ] 

Thanks, Remmij! 

Search on!