LOAM: 1. The textural class named for soil containing equal amounts of sand, silt, and clay, which is usually well-structured, fertile, and moisture retentive, but also free draining. 2. A term referring to a mellow soil rich in organic matter.
LOAMY SOIL: A general term for a soil of intermediate texture.
LOBATE: 1. Having a lobe or lobes, such as a lobate leaf. Also lobated.
LOBE: A rounded projecting segment or part, forming part of a larger structure. A lobed leaf is one whose indentations are large, but don't reach the midrib as compound leaves do.
LOBELET: A little lobe; a lobule.
LODICULE: One of the two or three delicate scales that occur in the flowers of some grasses, at the base of the ovary and below the stamens.
LOESS: A geological deposit of fine material, mostly silt, transported by wind.
LOMENT: A leguminous fruit, which breaks up into many dry, one-seeded pieces when ripe. Also lomentum.
LONG-DAY PLANT: Any plant that needs many hours of sunlight to bloom; usually, plants that are natives to latitudes greater than 60ยบ both north and south of the equator. Long-day plants flower in late spring and early summer. Lettuce is an example, flowering when each day exceeds 17 hours of sunlight. Growers provide long-day plants with long hours of artificial light in greenhouses to force them into out-of-season bloom.
LOPPING: 1. The procedure by which all the branches of a tree, except the leading shoot, are cut off for the sake of the profit to be derived from them; this is in contrast to pruning, in which only some of the branches are cut off for the sake of the tree. 2. That which is cut off; severed branches.
LOW MAINTENANCE PLANTS: Plants that need little care.