Glossary

Alluvium Material, usually fine sand or silt with larger, rounded particles up to boulder size, deposited by a river, having been transported from elsewhere in suspension.

Annual Of plants that complete their life cycle from seed to reproduction, to death in one year.

Anticline The arch or crest of a fold in rock strata.

Bamboo A perennial grass with woody culms from rhizomes. The term is used loosely to cover a number of genera other than just Bambusa.

Bedding The layers of sedimentary rocks, as they were laid down. The layers are separated by 'bedding planes'.

Bio-engineering The use of living plants for engineering purposes.

Bolster A tube, usually of small-mesh gabion wire, containing stones. They are installed as scour checks or french drains, or both.

Botanical name The international system for the scientific naming of plants. These normally consist of two words: first the genus name and then the species name. For example, utis is the species nepalensis of the Alnus genus (which contains all alders): hence Alnus nepalensis.

Breast wall A wall provided to protect a soil slope without considering retaining properties.

Broadcasting Where seed is thrown over the surface in as even a way as possible, but forming a totally random, loose cover.

Brash layering Live cuttings of plants laid into shallow trenches with the tops protruding. They are usually made to form a thick hedge and erosion barrier across the slope. This is different from a layering (see below).

Canopy The top layer of a forest, consisting of the crowns of trees.

Cataclasis A geological term to describe a process of dislocation-metamorphism where bands are formed through the distortion of minerals within the rock.

Check dam A physical obstruction provided in water courses to control gully erosion.

Chevron A pattern like the stripes of an army sergeant: <<<<< Grasses are sometimes planted in this pattern to lead water into rills or drains. It is a form of localised diagonal grass planting.

Clay Mineral material < 2 µm. Also applied to a class of soil texture, and used to describe the silicate clay minerals.

Climax community A plant community that has reached stability under the prevailing climate.

Cloche A temporary tunnel of clear polythene sheeting used in nurseries and horticulture farms during the winter. The tunnel produces a warm, sheltered micro-climate over young plants.

Colluvium Angular debris, usually loose and unconsolidated, found on slopes below rock outcrops. Other names are scree and talus, although these are normally of pure fragmented rock while colluvium can also contain fine material.

Colonise The establishment of the first plants on bare ground

Community development The involvement of people in development activities at the local level. Often this takes the form of awareness-raising and the formation of user groups to manage common resources.

Compost Decomposed plant matter used as an organic fertiliser.

Continental drift The very slow, long term horizontal movement of sections (plates) of the Earth's crust relative to each other and their position in relation to the poles.

Coppice A treatment in which the trunk of a tree is cut off about 30 cm above the ground to allow new shoots to come from the stump.

Cotyledon Part of the embryo of a seed plant. The cotyledon often becomes the first photosynthetic (green, light-gathering) organ of the young seedling.

Crust The thin upper layer of the Earth, consisting of solid silicate rocks. The continental sections are between 20 and 40 km thick. Crust rocks have a lower density (about 2.8 or 2.9) than the molten mantle rocks below.

Culm The stem of a grass.

Cutting Any part of a plant (stem, rhizome or root) that is used for vegetative propagation. See also Grass slip, Hardwood cutting and Slip cutting.

Deciduous Of plants which shed their leaves at least once a year and remain leafless for weeks or months.

Dendritic A pattern like the branches and stem of a tree. It is often used to describe a drainage system where branch drains feed into a main drain.

Dentition The filling of cavities, usually on steep cut slopes.

Dip The line of maximum slope lying in a rock plane. The angle of dip is measured with a clinometer and the bearing of dip is measured with a compass. The bearing can be any figure from 000° to 360°, always expressed with three digits, e.g. 048, to distinguish it from the inclination, which cannot exceed 90°. Conventionally the bearing of dip is written first, followed by the angle of dip, e.g. 115/35.

Direct seeding Where seeds are sown carefully by hand into specific locations in a slope, such as in gaps between fragmented rock.

Drill When grasses are propagated using vegetative parts, the planting drill consists of one or more grass slips or cuttings. See also Planting drill.

Erosion The gradual wearing away of soil (or other material) and its loss, particle by particle.

Evaporation The loss of water from the soil or another surface into the air in the form of water vapour.

Evapotranspiration The total loss of water from the soil in the form of water vapour, either by direct evaporation or from plants by transpiration.

Exotic Of a plant that has been introduced from another area.

Fallow Where land is cultivated but left unplanted to restore its fertility.

Fascine Bundles of branches laid along shallow trenches and buried completely. They send up shoots and can be used to form a thick hedge and erosion barrier across the slope, or a living subsoil drain.

Fault A fracture in the Earth's crust along which movement has taken place, and where the rock strata on the two sides therefore do not match. The movement can be in any direction, but in the Himalaya the main faults are all thrust faults: this is where two rock masses have been pushed together and one has ridden over the other. In places this occurs when the rocks fracture as a result of extreme folding.

Field capacity The total amount of water remaining in a freely draining soil after the excess has flowed into the underlying unsaturated soil.

Fold A bend in rock strata caused by movements in the Earth's crust. The strata are bent into a series of arches (anticlines) and troughs (synclines).

Frankia Actinomycetes (micro-organisms) that form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain species, and which fix nitrogen.

Friable A term applied to soils that when either wet or dry crumble easily between the fingers.

Gondwanaland The southerly of the two ancient continents which once comprised the Earth's two big land masses (the other was Laurasia). The continents broke apart and, through the process of continental drift, have re-formed into the land masses seen today. The Indian Shield continental plate was once part of Gondwanaland.

Grass A plant of the family Gramineae, characterised by long, thin leaves and multiple tubular stems. It is a very large family and contains all the cultivated cereals (rice, wheat, etc.).

Grass slip This term is used loosely to describe any parts of grasses used for vegetative propagation, including fibrous roots, rhizomes, and stem or stolon cuttings. See also Slip cutting.

Hardwood cutting A woody stem from a shrub or tree, inserted in the ground for vegetative propagation.

Herb A small plant without wood in the stems or roots.

Herringbone A pattern like the bones of a fish, with a spine and ribs: ®®®®® It is often used in slope drainage, where there is a main drain running straight down the slope, with feeder arms coming in at 45°.

Humus The more-or-less stable level of the fraction of soil organic matter remaining after the major portion of added plant and animal residues have decomposed.

Igneous rocks Rocks that have solidified from molten or partly molten material originating from magma

Isostasy The state of equilibrium that is thought to exist in the Earth's crust, where equal masses of matter underlie equal areas, whether of continental or oceanic crust rocks, to a level of hydrostatic compensation. An analogy is in wooden blocks floating in water: the bigger the block, the higher it rises above the surface and the deeper it goes below the surface: the thicker continental plates rise higher than the thinner oceanic plates.

Joints Cracks in rock masses, formed along a plane of weakness (the joint plane) and where there has been little or no movement, unlike a fault.

Klippen A series of nappes; a term derived from Alpine geology.

Lapse rate The cooling of air with altitude. The topographic environmental lapse rate is the reduction of the temperature of static air with height. It is generally considered to be 6.5°C per 1000 metres of altitude. However, the exact rate is determined partly by atmospheric moisture, as well as by the movement of air. It also varies seasonally.

Laterite A reddish rock material produced by long-term, intensive weathering, usually in humid tropical conditions. It contains the hydrated oxides of iron and aluminium and sometimes has enough iron to be used as a source of that metal. It hardens on exposure to the atmosphere sufficiently to be used as a building material. The rato mato of Nepal are not fully developed laterites. True laterites are found, however, in some older landform areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Layering A plant that forms from the stem, stolon or rhizome of another plant. This can be used as a means of propagation. This is different from brush layering (see above).

Leaching The removal of soil materials and nutrients in solution or suspension.

Leat An irrigation channel (kulo in Nepali).

Loam A soil with moderate amounts of sand, silt and clay, and which is therefore intermediate in texture and best for plant growth.

Lop Where the branches of trees are cut to provide fodder or small firewood.

Magma The molten material that exists below the solid rock of the Earth's crust, and sometimes reveals itself on its emission from a volcano. It does not always reach the surface, however, and may cool and solidify underground, among older rocks.

Mantle The layer of viscous, molten rocks underlying the crust of the Earth, and extending to about 2,900 km below the surface. Mantle rocks have a higher density (about 3.3) than the solid crust rocks above.

Metamorphic rocks Any rocks derived from pre-existing rocks by mineralogical, chemical or structural change, especially in the solid state, in response to marked changes in temperature, pressure and the chemical environment at depth in the Earth's crust; that is, below the zone of weathering and cementation. Metamorphosis may be from contact (usually with a hot magma), where changes are usually at high temperature but low pressure; or dislocation, where changes occur under high pressure but low temperature. Changes due to both high temperature and high pressure are known as regional metamorphism. Most metamorphism in the Himalayas is dislocation metamorphism.

Minerals The naturally occurring crystalline chemical compounds found in rocks. Rocks are composed of aggregations of minerals.

Molasse A Swiss geological term to describe certain depositional materials found in fold mountain belts. Molasses are a continental (i.e. non-marine) deposit formed in marginal troughs and inter-montane basins during and after major tectonic movements. They are often cemented with calcareous and clay-rich materials. These materials are common in the Churia range.

Monsoon The name is derived from the Arabic word mausim, meaning season, which explains its application to a climate with large-scale seasonal reversals of the wind regime. In Nepal, 'monsoon' is usually used to describe the period of the south-west monsoon rains, which occur between June and September.

Mulch A layer of material placed on the soil surface to conserve moisture.

Mycorrhizae A living arrangement produced between special fungi and the roots of a plant, which increase the growth of the plant considerably. This is a form of symbiosis, where two organisms live together for mutual benefit. Soils from pine forests contain the necessary fungi to bring this about.

Mylonite A fine-grained metamorphic rock formed through extensive cataclasis.

Naike (Nepali) A nursery foreman.

Nappe A French geological term which describes a sheet of rocks which has slid right over another series of rocks as a result of extreme folding due to a thrust fault.

Node The point on a stem from which a leaf or branch grows.

Nurse species A tough species planted initially on a site, to improve conditions for the desired final vegetation cover.

Orography Mountains, hills and ridges, or effects resulting from them. Orographic rain is caused by mountains in the path of moisture-laden air: the air is forced to rise, which cools it and causes the moisture to condense and precipitate.

Orthodox Seeds which need to be dried and kept dry during storage.

Palisade The placing of cuttings or seedlings across a slope to form a barrier against soil movement.

Perennial Of plants which grow and reproduce for many years.

Phraetophyte A plant with a high rate of water usage.

Physiography The study of the physical features of the earth, their causes and their relation to one another. Generally taken to be the same as geomorphology.

Piedmont Literally, 'the foot of the mountain'. Usually used to describe the piedmont alluvial plain (in Nepal the Bhabar and Terai).

Pioneer species The first plants to colonise bare ground.

Planar sliding A mass slope failure on a slip plane parallel to the surface (i.e. not rotational). It is the most common type of landslide and is usually relatively shallow (less than 1.5 metres deep). It is also called a debris slide or a translational landslide.

Planting drill When grasses are propagated using vegetative parts, the planting drill consists of one or more grass slips or cuttings. (see also Drill.)

Pollard A treatment in which the main trunk of a tree is cut off, usually two to three metres above the ground, to allow new, smaller, shoots to grow.

Precipitation In meteorology, the deposits of water, as rain, hail or snow, which reach the Earth from the atmosphere.

Prop wall A wall provided in a weaker portion of soil to give support to a stable portion above.

Prune To cut branches carefully in order to improve the shape of a plant or allow more light to penetrate.

Rato mato A red soil, normally of clay loam texture, formed from prolonged weathering (probably >100,000 years). It can be considered semi-lateritic, as it does not have all the characteristics of true tropical laterites. Because of the length it takes to form, the presence of rato mato indicates an old and stable landform.

Recalcitrant Seeds which must not be dried but have to be kept moist during storage.

Rhizobia The nitrogen-fixing bacteria that form nodules on the roots of many leguminous species.

Rhizome An underground stem that produces shoots and roots. Grasses naturally use rhizomes and stolons for vegetative propagation. Roots and shoots appear from the nodes on each and eventually they become individual plants.

Rill A small gully, up to about one metre deep.

Road neighbours People living close to roads, in the corridor of land where different uses of the land affect or are affected by the road.

Root collar On a seedling, the line below which the roots emerge. It normally corresponds with the surface of the soil and often shows a change of colour or a slight swelling.

Rupture plane The plane of failure in any mass movement. Sometimes there is no distinct plane of sliding, but instead a zone of failure due to a weakness in the material.

Sand Mineral or rock fragments in the diameter range of 2 to 0.02 mm. Also applied to a class of soil texture.

Scour The physical removal of soil from the surface by erosion. In some text books it is used to describe erosion in broad, shallow rills which can coalesce to give sheet erosion.

Sedimentary rocks Rocks resulting from the consolidation of loose sediments, or from chemical precipitation from solution at or near the Earth's surface.

Seedling Any plant raised from seed.

Shoot The general name for any stem above the ground.

Shrub A small woody perennial plant with branches from ground level upwards.

Silt Mineral particles in the diameter range of 0.02 to 0.002 mm (20 to 2 µm). Also used loosely to describe any accumulation of fine material, and applied to a class of soil texture

Slip cutting A cutting made from a grass that has fibrous roots but no rhizome system. See also Grass slip.

Slumping A form of saturated flow of soil or debris. It occurs mostly in weak, poorly drained materials, when a point of liquefaction is reached following heavy rain. In effect, the addition of water to the material causes a reduction in cohesion to a point of limited friction. It is usually shallow (less than 500 mm deep).

Soil The collection of natural materials occupying parts of the Earth's surface that may support plant growth, and which reflect pedogenetic processes acting over time under the associated influences of climate, relief, living organisms, parent material and the action of man.

Soil capping The formation on the surface of a thin layer that is harder or less permeable than the soil below. In many bare soils in Nepal, cappings can be formed of clay through the effects of rain drops on surfaces unprotected by vegetation.

Stakeholder Any person, group or institution that has an interest in the activity in question. It applies to both beneficiaries and those who lose out, as well as those involved in or excluded from decision-making processes.

Stem The part of a plant with nodes, buds and leaves; usually above ground, but some (such as rhizomes) are underground.

Stolon A stem that grows along the ground, producing at its nodes new plants with roots and upright stems.

Stratum (pl. strata) A layer of rock, distinct from its neighbours, occurring as part of a series in rocks. It is usually applied only to sedimentary rocks, but some metamorphic rocks also have visible strata.

Strike The horizontal line contained in the plane of bedding, foliation, or jointing of rock. It is perpendicular to the dip, just as a contour is to the maximum slope of the ground. It is always expressed as a reading less than 180°.

Subsoil In a moderately or well developed soil, the layer(s) or horizon(s) below the topsoil. It is usually made up almost entirely of mineral constituents, and is less fertile than the topsoil. It is distinguished from weathered parent material by the absence of any structural characteristics of the parent material.

Sward An area of vegetation consisting mainly of grasses; a low, dense mass of ground-covering vegetation.

Syncline The trough or inverted arch of a fold in rock strata.

Synclinorium A huge trough, in form resembling a syncline, each limb of which consists of a number of small folds.

Tethys The ancient sea which separated two ancient continents. Marine deposits laid down in the Tethys Sea now form part of the Tibetan Plateau.

Texture In soils, the 'feel' of moist soil resulting from the mixture of different particle sizes and organic matter. Texture is classified into groups of soils with similar properties on the basis of the mineral component. For example, clay loam contains 27 to 40 percent clay, 15 to 55 percent silt and 20 to 45 percent sand.

Thin The removal of a proportion of the plants in a given area, to allow the others to grow bigger. This is a standard nursery and forestry procedure.

Thrust or thrust fault See under fault.

Toe wall A wall of low height provided to protect the toe of a soil mass.

Topography A detailed description or representation of the features, both natural and artificial, of an area, often with special reference to the relief (differences of altitude).

Topsoil In a moderately or well developed soil, the darker, more fertile and organically rich upper layer or horizon of soil. In a cultivated soil, it is often the plough layer.

Transpiration The process by which plants, having taken in moisture through their roots, return it to the atmosphere through the pores in their leaves in the form of water vapour. This can cause a major loss of soil moisture.

Tree A woody perennial plant that usually grows with only one or two stems rising from the ground, and branches out higher up.

Turf The surface layer of soil, usually the top 100 mm, matted with the roots of grasses.

Understorey The part of a forest underneath the canopy, consisting of shrubs, saplings and herbs.

Viability The length of time that the majority of seeds remain able to germinate. After a certain period of storage, seeds will not germinate once sown. This varies for each species.

Warp In weaving, the length-ways threads first placed on the loom.

Weathering The physical and chemical alteration of minerals into other minerals by the action of heat, water and air.

Weft In weaving, the cross threads woven into the warp by passing the shuttle across the loom.

Xerophyte A plant that lives in a desert or other dry habitat.