Terms such as wild, native or alien are often used by botanists but what exactly do they mean? How long does a plant have to have occurred here to count as native? Is a wildflower still wild if you sowed seeds from a wildflower seed mix in your garden? What about when a garden plant 'jumps the fence' and spreads outside your garden? And what exactly is a weed?

Under general terms, we set out some clear definitions, point you to papers and pages where you can find out more, and explain how these definitions can help you when taking part in projects.

Under parts of plants we have provided some initial terminology that you might come across in trying to use a key or understand a botanical text or description of a plant. There are a huge number of botanical descriptive terms, and most books will include a glossary; our Identiplant course is an excellent place to develop your knowledge of terminology with real world exercises and specific units on terminology.