Botany II Key Terms
Aggregate Fruit: A fruit that develops from the merger of several ovaries that were separated in a single flower.
Androecium: The aggregate of stamens in the flower of a seed plant.
Anther: The part of a stamen that contains pollen.
Apomoxis: Asexual reproduction in plants.
Asexual Reproduction: A mode of reproduction in which new offspring is produced by a single parent.
Axillary Inflorescence: An inflorescence that arises from a leaf axil.
Biodiversity: The variety of life in the world or or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
Bloom: A flower, particularly one cultivated for its beauty. Also, a delicate, powdery substance on the surface of certain fresh fruits, leaves, or stems.
Blossom: A flower or mass of flowers, especially on a tree or bush.
Bud: A compact growth on a plant that develops into a leaf, flower or stem.
Calyx: The sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in a bud.
Capitulum: A compact head of a structure, in particular a dense flat cluster of small flowers or florets.
Carbohydrates: A group of organic compounds that include sugars, starch and cellulose and that contain hydrogen and oxygen in the same ratio as water.
Carbon: A nonmetallic element found more or less pure in nature or as a part of coal and petroleum and of the bodies of living things or obtained artificially.
Carbon Dioxide: A colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in air and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis.
Catkin: A flowering spike that is typically downy, pendulous, composed of flowers of a single sex, and wind-pollinated.
Chlorophyll: A green pigment present in all green plants responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis.
Chloroplast: A plastid that contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place.
Collective Fruit: Also called a Multiple Fruit; a fruit that forms from a mass of flowers.
Corolla: The petals of a flower, typically forming a whorl within the sepals and enclosing the reproductive organs.
Cross-Pollination: Pollination of a flower or plant with pollen from another flower or plant.
Cuticle: A protective and waxy or hard layer covering the epidermis of a plant, invertebrate, or shell.
Egg Nucleus: The heart of an egg cell, containing most of the genetic information of the cell.
Egg: The female reproductive cell in plants; an ovum.
Endosperm: The part of a seed which acts as a food store for the developing plant embryo, usually containing starch with protein and other nutrients.
Endosperm Nucleus: The triploid nucleus formed formed in the embryo sac of a seed plant by fusion of a sperm nucleus with two polar nuclei or with a nucleus formed by the prior fusion of the polar nuclei.
Epidermis: The outermost cells of a stem covering the stem, roots, leaf, flower, fruit and seed that provides a protective barrier against injury, water loss and infection.
Fertilization: The action or process of fertilizing an egg, involving the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote.
Filament: The thin stalk that supports the anther in the male portion of the flower.
Flower: The seed-bearing part of a plant, consisting of reproductive organs that are typically surrounded by a brightly colored corolla and a calyx.
Fruit: A mature, ripened ovary, along with the contents of the ovary.
Glucose: A simple sugar which is an important energy source in organisms and is a component of many carbohydrates.
Guard Cell: Each of a pair of curved cells that surround a stoma, becoming larger or smaller according to the pressure within the cells.
Gynoecium: The female part of a flower.
Humidity: A quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or in a gas.
Imperfect Flower: A flower that does not have both male and female structures.
Inflorescence: The complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks, bracts and flowers.
Modified Stem: Either above- or below-ground (or aerial) stems that have evolved to enable plants to survive in particular habitats and environments.
Multiple Fruit: Also called a Collective Fruit; a fruit that forms from a mass of flowers.
Nectar: A sugary fluid secreted by plants, especially within flowers to encourage pollination by insects and other animals. This is what is collected by bees to create honey.
Ovary: A female reproductive organ in which ova or eggs are produced; the hollow base of the carpel of a flower, containing one or more ovules.
Ovules: The part of the ovary of seed plants that contains the female germ cell and after fertilization becomes the seed.
Oxidation: A chemical reaction that that takes place when a substance comes into contact with oxygen or another oxidizing substance.
Oxygen: A colorless, odorless reactive gas that forms about 21% of the atmosphere.
Palisade Mesophyll: One or more layers of cells located directly under the epidermal cells of the adaxial leaf blade surface.
Panicle: A loose branching cluster of flowers.
Peduncle: The stalk bearing a flower or fruit, or the main stalk of an inflorescence.
Perfect Flower: A flower that has male and female structures in one flower.
Petal: Each of the segments of the corolla of a flower, which are modified leaves and are usually colored.
Phloem: The vascular tissue in plants that conducts sugars and other metabolic products downward from the leaves.
Photosynthates: A sugar or other substance produced by photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.
Pistil: The female organ of a flower, comprised of a stigma, style, and ovary.
Polar Nuclei: Two nuclei that migrate toward the center of the embryo sac and fuse with a male nucleus (sperm) to form the primary endosperm nucleus which divides and sometimes forms the endosperm.
Pollen Grain: Microscopic particles, typically single-celled, of which pollen is comprised. They have a tough coat.
Pollen Sac: One of the pouches of a seed plant anther in which pollen is found.
Pollen Tube: The hollow tube that develops from a pollen grain when deposited on the stigma of of a flower. It penetrates the style and conveys the male gametes to the ovule.
Pollination: The transfer of pollen to a stigma, ovule, flower or plant to allow fertilization.
Pollinator: An insect or other agent or animal that conveys pollen to a plant and so allows fertilization.
Raceme: A flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem; the flowers at the base of which open first.
Receptacle: The part of a flower stalk where the parts of the flower are attached.
Respiration: A process in living organisms involving the production of energy, typically with the intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide from the oxidation of complex organic substances.
Rhizome: A continuously growing underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.
Seed: A flowering plant's unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another such plant.
Seed Coat: The protective outer coat of a seed.
The A young plant, especially one raised from seed and not from a cutting.
Self-Pollination: The pollination of a flower by pollen from the same flower or from another flower on the same plant.
Sepals: Each of the parts of a calyx of a flower, enclosing the petals and typically green and leaflike.
Sexual Reproduction: The production of new living organisms by combining genetic information from two individuals of differing sexes.
Simple Fruit: One that develops from a single ovary.
Single Flower: A flower in which a single row of petals is arranged around the center of the flower head.
Spadix: A spike of minute flowers closely arranged around a fleshy axis and typically enclosed in a spathe.
Spathe: A large, sheathing bract enclosing the flower cluster of certain plants.
Sperm: The male sex cell of a plant.
Spike: An unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence, bearing sessile flowers.
Spongy Mesophyll: A complex, porous tissue found in plant leaves that enables carbon capture and provides mechanical stability.
Stamen: The male fertilizing organ of a flower, typically consisting of a pollen-containing anther and a filament.
Stigma: The part of the pistil where pollen germinates.
Stolon: A creeping horizontal plant stem or runner that takes roots at points along its length to form new plants.
Stoma/stomata: (plural: stomata) A minute pore in the epidermis of the leaf or stem of a plant which allows movement of gases in and out of cellular spaces.
Style: A structure found within a flower that is a slender stalk connecting the stigma and the ovary.
Terminal Inflorescence: A type of inflorescence that rises above the leaves of a plant.
Transpiration: The exhalation of water vapor through the stomata of the leaves of a plant.
Turgor Pressure: The pressure exerted by fluid against a cell wall.
Tuber: A much-thickened underground part of a stem or rhizome.
Umbel: A flower cluster in which stalks of nearly equal lengths spring from a common center and form a flat or curved surface.
Vegetative Reproduction: A form of asexual reproduction in plants in which multicellular structures become detached from the parent plant and develop into new individuals that are identical to the parent plant.
Vein: Small channel or capillary that transports water and minerals to and from the leaf of a plant.
Xylem: Vascular tissue in plants that that conducts water and dissolved nutrients upward from the root and helps form woody elements of stems.
Zygote: A fertilized ovum.
Androecium: The aggregate of stamens in the flower of a seed plant.
Anther: The part of a stamen that contains pollen.
Apomoxis: Asexual reproduction in plants.
Asexual Reproduction: A mode of reproduction in which new offspring is produced by a single parent.
Axillary Inflorescence: An inflorescence that arises from a leaf axil.
Biodiversity: The variety of life in the world or or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
Bloom: A flower, particularly one cultivated for its beauty. Also, a delicate, powdery substance on the surface of certain fresh fruits, leaves, or stems.
Blossom: A flower or mass of flowers, especially on a tree or bush.
Bud: A compact growth on a plant that develops into a leaf, flower or stem.
Calyx: The sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in a bud.
Capitulum: A compact head of a structure, in particular a dense flat cluster of small flowers or florets.
Carbohydrates: A group of organic compounds that include sugars, starch and cellulose and that contain hydrogen and oxygen in the same ratio as water.
Carbon: A nonmetallic element found more or less pure in nature or as a part of coal and petroleum and of the bodies of living things or obtained artificially.
Carbon Dioxide: A colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in air and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis.
Catkin: A flowering spike that is typically downy, pendulous, composed of flowers of a single sex, and wind-pollinated.
Chlorophyll: A green pigment present in all green plants responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis.
Chloroplast: A plastid that contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place.
Collective Fruit: Also called a Multiple Fruit; a fruit that forms from a mass of flowers.
Corolla: The petals of a flower, typically forming a whorl within the sepals and enclosing the reproductive organs.
Cross-Pollination: Pollination of a flower or plant with pollen from another flower or plant.
Cuticle: A protective and waxy or hard layer covering the epidermis of a plant, invertebrate, or shell.
Egg Nucleus: The heart of an egg cell, containing most of the genetic information of the cell.
Egg: The female reproductive cell in plants; an ovum.
Endosperm: The part of a seed which acts as a food store for the developing plant embryo, usually containing starch with protein and other nutrients.
Endosperm Nucleus: The triploid nucleus formed formed in the embryo sac of a seed plant by fusion of a sperm nucleus with two polar nuclei or with a nucleus formed by the prior fusion of the polar nuclei.
Epidermis: The outermost cells of a stem covering the stem, roots, leaf, flower, fruit and seed that provides a protective barrier against injury, water loss and infection.
Fertilization: The action or process of fertilizing an egg, involving the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote.
Filament: The thin stalk that supports the anther in the male portion of the flower.
Flower: The seed-bearing part of a plant, consisting of reproductive organs that are typically surrounded by a brightly colored corolla and a calyx.
Fruit: A mature, ripened ovary, along with the contents of the ovary.
Glucose: A simple sugar which is an important energy source in organisms and is a component of many carbohydrates.
Guard Cell: Each of a pair of curved cells that surround a stoma, becoming larger or smaller according to the pressure within the cells.
Gynoecium: The female part of a flower.
Humidity: A quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or in a gas.
Imperfect Flower: A flower that does not have both male and female structures.
Inflorescence: The complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks, bracts and flowers.
Modified Stem: Either above- or below-ground (or aerial) stems that have evolved to enable plants to survive in particular habitats and environments.
Multiple Fruit: Also called a Collective Fruit; a fruit that forms from a mass of flowers.
Nectar: A sugary fluid secreted by plants, especially within flowers to encourage pollination by insects and other animals. This is what is collected by bees to create honey.
Ovary: A female reproductive organ in which ova or eggs are produced; the hollow base of the carpel of a flower, containing one or more ovules.
Ovules: The part of the ovary of seed plants that contains the female germ cell and after fertilization becomes the seed.
Oxidation: A chemical reaction that that takes place when a substance comes into contact with oxygen or another oxidizing substance.
Oxygen: A colorless, odorless reactive gas that forms about 21% of the atmosphere.
Palisade Mesophyll: One or more layers of cells located directly under the epidermal cells of the adaxial leaf blade surface.
Panicle: A loose branching cluster of flowers.
Peduncle: The stalk bearing a flower or fruit, or the main stalk of an inflorescence.
Perfect Flower: A flower that has male and female structures in one flower.
Petal: Each of the segments of the corolla of a flower, which are modified leaves and are usually colored.
Phloem: The vascular tissue in plants that conducts sugars and other metabolic products downward from the leaves.
Photosynthates: A sugar or other substance produced by photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.
Pistil: The female organ of a flower, comprised of a stigma, style, and ovary.
Polar Nuclei: Two nuclei that migrate toward the center of the embryo sac and fuse with a male nucleus (sperm) to form the primary endosperm nucleus which divides and sometimes forms the endosperm.
Pollen Grain: Microscopic particles, typically single-celled, of which pollen is comprised. They have a tough coat.
Pollen Sac: One of the pouches of a seed plant anther in which pollen is found.
Pollen Tube: The hollow tube that develops from a pollen grain when deposited on the stigma of of a flower. It penetrates the style and conveys the male gametes to the ovule.
Pollination: The transfer of pollen to a stigma, ovule, flower or plant to allow fertilization.
Pollinator: An insect or other agent or animal that conveys pollen to a plant and so allows fertilization.
Raceme: A flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem; the flowers at the base of which open first.
Receptacle: The part of a flower stalk where the parts of the flower are attached.
Respiration: A process in living organisms involving the production of energy, typically with the intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide from the oxidation of complex organic substances.
Rhizome: A continuously growing underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.
Seed: A flowering plant's unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another such plant.
Seed Coat: The protective outer coat of a seed.
The A young plant, especially one raised from seed and not from a cutting.
Self-Pollination: The pollination of a flower by pollen from the same flower or from another flower on the same plant.
Sepals: Each of the parts of a calyx of a flower, enclosing the petals and typically green and leaflike.
Sexual Reproduction: The production of new living organisms by combining genetic information from two individuals of differing sexes.
Simple Fruit: One that develops from a single ovary.
Single Flower: A flower in which a single row of petals is arranged around the center of the flower head.
Spadix: A spike of minute flowers closely arranged around a fleshy axis and typically enclosed in a spathe.
Spathe: A large, sheathing bract enclosing the flower cluster of certain plants.
Sperm: The male sex cell of a plant.
Spike: An unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence, bearing sessile flowers.
Spongy Mesophyll: A complex, porous tissue found in plant leaves that enables carbon capture and provides mechanical stability.
Stamen: The male fertilizing organ of a flower, typically consisting of a pollen-containing anther and a filament.
Stigma: The part of the pistil where pollen germinates.
Stolon: A creeping horizontal plant stem or runner that takes roots at points along its length to form new plants.
Stoma/stomata: (plural: stomata) A minute pore in the epidermis of the leaf or stem of a plant which allows movement of gases in and out of cellular spaces.
Style: A structure found within a flower that is a slender stalk connecting the stigma and the ovary.
Terminal Inflorescence: A type of inflorescence that rises above the leaves of a plant.
Transpiration: The exhalation of water vapor through the stomata of the leaves of a plant.
Turgor Pressure: The pressure exerted by fluid against a cell wall.
Tuber: A much-thickened underground part of a stem or rhizome.
Umbel: A flower cluster in which stalks of nearly equal lengths spring from a common center and form a flat or curved surface.
Vegetative Reproduction: A form of asexual reproduction in plants in which multicellular structures become detached from the parent plant and develop into new individuals that are identical to the parent plant.
Vein: Small channel or capillary that transports water and minerals to and from the leaf of a plant.
Xylem: Vascular tissue in plants that that conducts water and dissolved nutrients upward from the root and helps form woody elements of stems.
Zygote: A fertilized ovum.
