VALVATE: 1. Opening as if by doors or valves, as in certain capsules or anthers. 2. Meeting at the edges without overlapping, as in certain sepals or leaves.
VALVE: One of the segments into which a capsule or legume splits at maturity, or which opens like a lid, as in the barberry.
VARIEGATED: Varied in color; unevenly marked with contrasting colors.
VARIEGATION: The combination of two or more colors in the leaves, petals, or other parts of plants. Being variegated.
VARIETY: A subdivision of a species officially ranking between subspecies and forma. It is indicated in botanical terminology by its position following the species name, for example, Japanese Flowering Cherry, Prunus serrulata serrulata, or Bitter Almond, Prunus dulcis amara. A cultivar is a horticultural variety that is produced by selective breeding, rather than by natural selection, and continues only in cultivation (not found in the wild). Cultivars are indicated in botanical terminology by single quotes, such as Sunset Lily, Lilium pardalinum 'Giganteum'. Hybrids are created by crosses between two different species or two different forms of the same species. Hybrids may occur through natural selection or selective breeding. Hybrids are indicated in botanical terminology by a multiplication sign between the two parents, such as Abelia chinensis x A. uniflora or Abelia x grandiflora. These two examples are two ways of describing the same plant.
VASCULAR: Referring to a plant's circulatory system, which consists of, or relates to, the specialized conducting tissues of plants-xylem and phloem, which circulates sap.
VASCULAR PLANTS: These are plants in which the structure is made up in part of vascular tissue or vessels. They include the flowering plants (angiosperms), cone-bearing plants (gymnosperms, such as conifers, ginkgos, and cycads), and ferns and fern allies (spore-producing). Nonvascular plants include fungi, algae, lichens, mosses, and liverworts.