Glossary of Silviculture

Afforestation- It may be defined as the establishment of a forest by artificial means on an area from which forest vegetation has always or long been absent.

Advance Growth/Advanced Regeneration/ Advanced Reproduction- The seedlings, saplings and poles of specie of the overwood that establishes naturally in a forest before regeneration felling started.

Broad-leaved Tree- Tree with hardwood and belonging to botanical group Dicotyledons.

Budding- It is the method of vegetative reproduction in which a bud with some portion of the bark of a genetically superior plant is grafted on  an inferior plant so that it may produce shoot when the old shoot of the stock is cut off.

Clone- All cuttings and grafts derived from one tree by asexual reproduction are collectively called a clone.

Cover Crop-  The subsidiary crop of low plants introduced in a plantation to afford soil cover between or below the main crop.

 Conifer- Tree bearing cones and generally needle shaped or scale like leaves, usually evergreen and belonging to the order Coniferales of the botanical group, Gymnospermae.

Coppice- It is the method of vegetative reproduction in which the trees, plants or the seedlings of a species when cut from near the ground level, produce coppice shoots. The coppice shoots are the shoots arising from an adventitious bud at the base of a woody plant that has been cut near the ground or burnt back.

Damping off- The killing of the young seedling by certain fungi that causes the decay of the stem or roots.

Die-back- The progressive dying, usually backwards from the tip, of any portion of the plant. It is caused by the adverse climatic and edaphic factors as well as adverse weed conditions.

Frost Hardy Species- The species which possess power to withstand frost without being damaged are called frost-hardy.

Frost Tender- The species which are killed back by the frost are called Frost-tender species.

Germinative Capacity- It is defined as the percentage, by number of seeds in a given sample that actually germinate irrespective of time.

Germinative Energy- It is defined as the percentage by number of seeds in a given sample that have germinated up to the time when the rate of germination reaches its peak.

Girdling- It may be defined as the cutting through the bark and  outer living layers of wood in a continuous incision all- around the bole of the tree.

Lopping- The cutting of a branch of a tree.

Mulch- Plant residues and other materials used as a covering for the soil.

Reforestation- The restocking of a felled or otherwise cleared woodland by artificial means. It is the raising of a forest artificially in an area which had forest vegetation before.

Regeneration- It may be defined as “the renewal of the forest crop by natural or artificial means.”

Seed Dormancy- It is a condition of mature viable seed in which germination is considerably delayed even though external conditions favors germination.

Shelterbelt- It is a wide belt of trees, shrubs, grasses, planted in rows which go right across the land at right angles to the direction of prevailing winds to deflect air current, to reduce wind velocity and to give general protection to cultivated areas against wind erosion and desiccating effect of hot winds.

Weeding- The tending operation done in the seedling stage in nursery or in a forest crop that involves the removal or cutting back of all the weeds.

Thinning- The felling made in an immature stand for the purpose of improving the growth and form of the trees that remain, without permanent breaking of the canopy.

Viability- It is defined as the potential capacity of a seed to germinate.