Botany Terms
Botany is the study of plants: how they capture light, move water and sugar, grow and reproduce. These terms cover photosynthesis, the tissues that carry water and sugar, plant hormones, pollination, and the cycles that link plants to the rest of life.
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- Alternation of generationsBotanyAlternation of generations is a life cycle in which a multicellular haploid gametophyte and a multicellular diploid sporophyte produce each other in turn.
- AngiospermBotanyAn angiosperm is a flowering plant, a seed plant whose ovules develop inside an ovary that ripens into a fruit enclosing the seeds.
- AuxinBotanyAuxin is a plant hormone, chiefly indole-3-acetic acid, that controls cell elongation, bending toward light and the overall shape of a plant.
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- Binomial nomenclatureZoologyBinomial nomenclature is the system of naming each species with two Latin-form words, a genus name followed by a specific epithet, as in Homo sapiens.
- BiomeEcologyA biome is a large region of Earth defined by its climate and its typical plants and animals, such as tundra, desert or tropical rainforest.
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- Carbon cycleEcologyThe carbon cycle is the movement of carbon among the air, oceans, living things, soils and rocks through processes like photosynthesis and respiration.
- Cell wallCell BiologyA cell wall is a rigid layer outside the plasma membrane of plant, fungal, algal and most bacterial cells that gives shape and stops them bursting.
- CelluloseBotanyCellulose is a strong, unbranched polysaccharide of glucose units joined by beta 1-4 bonds and the main structural material of plant cell walls.
- ChlorophyllBotanyChlorophyll is the green pigment in plants, algae and cyanobacteria that absorbs light energy to drive photosynthesis.
- ChloroplastCell BiologyA chloroplast is the green organelle in plant and algal cells that captures light energy and uses it to make sugars by photosynthesis.
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- GerminationBotanyIn botany, germination is the restart of growth by a seed's embryo, from the first uptake of water until the young root breaks out of the seed coat.
- GymnospermBotanyA gymnosperm is a seed plant whose seeds develop exposed on cone scales or similar structures rather than enclosed in an ovary, as in pines and cycads.
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- MeristemBotanyA meristem is a region of unspecialized, dividing plant cells, as at shoot and root tips, that supplies new cells for growth throughout a plant's life.
- MycorrhizaMycologyA mycorrhiza is a mutually beneficial partnership between a fungus and plant roots, trading water and soil minerals for sugars made by the plant.
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- PhloemBotanyPhloem is the living vascular tissue of plants that carries sugars and other organic nutrients from leaves to the parts that use or store them.
- PhotosynthesisBotanyPhotosynthesis is the process in which plants, algae and cyanobacteria capture light energy and store it in sugar built from carbon dioxide and water.
- PhototropismBotanyPhototropism is the growth of a plant or other organism toward or away from light, as when a seedling bends toward a sunny window.
- PhytoplanktonMarine BiologyPhytoplankton are microscopic photosynthetic organisms that drift near the surface of oceans and lakes and form the base of most aquatic food webs.
- PollinationBotanyPollination is the delivery of pollen to the female reproductive parts of a seed plant, the step that makes fertilization and seed formation possible.
- Primary producerEcologyA primary producer is an organism that makes its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy, and so forms the base of a food chain.
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- SporeMycologyA spore is a small, hardy reproductive cell made by fungi, plants and some microbes that can spread widely and grow into a new organism on its own.
- StomataBotanyStomata are tiny pores in the epidermis of leaves and stems, each opened and closed by two guard cells to control gas exchange and water loss.
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- TaxonomyZoologyIn biology, taxonomy is the science of describing, naming and classifying organisms into a nested hierarchy of groups such as genus, family and order.
- TranspirationBotanyTranspiration is the escape of water vapor from a plant, mostly through open stomata in its leaves, which pulls more water up through the xylem.
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