Plant Glossary

Question 1

Abscisic acid (ABA)

Answer 1

A plant hormone that slows growth, often antagonising the actions of growth hormones. Two of its many effects are to promote seed dormancy and facilitate drought adaptation

Question 2

Alternation of generations

Answer 2

A life cycle in which there is both a multicellular diploid form, the sporophyte, and a multicellular haploid form, the gametophyte; characteristic of plants and some algae

Question 3

Angiosperm

Answer 3

A flowering plant, which forms seeds inside a protective chamber called an ovary

Question 4

Anther

Answer 4

In an angiosperm, the terminal pollen sac of a stamen, where pollen grains containing sperm-producing male gametophytes form

Question 5

Antheridium (plural, antheridia)

Answer 5

In plants, the male gametangium, a moist chamber in which gametes develop

Question 6

Apical bud

Answer 6

A bud at the tip of a plant stem; also called a terminal bud

Question 7

Apical meristem

Answer 7

A localised region at a growing tip of a plant body where one or more cells divide repeatedly. The dividing cells of an apical meristem enable the plant to grow in length.

Question 8

Apoplast

Answer 8

Everything external to the plasma membrane of a plant cell, including cell walls, intercellular spaces, and the space within dead structures such as xylem vessels and tracheids

Question 8

Aquaporin

Answer 8

A channel protein in a cellular membrane that specifically facilitates osmosis, the diffusion of free water across the membrane

Question 9

Archegonium (plural, archegonia)

Answer 9

In plants, the female gametangium, a moist chamber in which gametes develop

Question 10

Axillary bud

Answer 10

A structure that has the potential to form a lateral shoot, or branch. The bud appears in the angle formed between a leaf and a stem.

Question 11

Bryophytes

Answer 11

An informal name for a moss, liverwort, or hornwort; a nonvascular plant that lives on land but lacks some of the terrestrial adaptations of vascular plants.

Question 12

Calvin Cycle

Answer 12

The second of two major stages in photosynthesis (following the light reactions), involving fixation of atmospheric CO2 and reduction of the fixed carbon into carbohydrate

Question 13

C4 plant

Answer 13

A plant in which the Calvin Cycle is preceded by reactions that incorporate CO2 into a four-carbon compound, the end product of which supplies CO2 for the Calvin Cycle

Question 13

C3 plant

Answer 13

A plant that uses the Calvin Cycle for the initial steps that incorporate CO2 into organic material, forming a three-carbon compound as the first stable intermediate

Question 14

CAM plants

Answer 14

A plant that uses crassulacean acid metabolism, an adaptation for photosynthesis in arid conditions. In this process, CO2 entering open stomata during the night is converted to organic acids, which release CO2 for the Calvin cycle during the day, when stomata are closed.

Question 15

Capsule

Answer 15

The sporangium of a bryophyte

Question 16

Carpel

Answer 16

The ovule-producing reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of the stigma, style, and ovary

Question 17

Charophyte

Answer 17

Green algae most closely related to land plants

Question 18

Chlorophyll A

Answer 18

green pigment located in membranes within the chloroplasts of plants and algae and the membranes of certain prokaryotes. Chlorophyll A participates directly in the light reactions, which convert solar energy to chemical energy

Question 19

Chloroplast

Answer 19

An organelle found in plants and photosynthetic protists that absorbs sunlight and uses it to drive the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide and water

Question 20

Collenchyma cell

Answer 20

A flexible plant cell type that occurs in strands or cylinders that support young parts of the plant without restraining growth

Question 21

Cotyledon

Answer 21

A seed leaf of an angiosperm embryo. Some species have one cotyledon, others two

Question 22

Cork cambium

Answer 22

A cylinder of meristematic tissue in woody plants that replaces the epidermis with thicker, tougher, cork cells

Question 23

Cortex

Answer 23

In plants, ground tissue that is between the vascular tissue and dermal tissue in a root or eudicot stem

Question 24

Cotyledon

Answer 24

A seed leaf of an angiosperm embryo. Some species have one cotyledon (monocot) and others have two (eudicots)

Question 25

Cuticle

Answer 25

Waxy covering on the epidermis of plants that reduces water loss Dermal tissue The outer protective covering of plants

Question 26

Double fertilisation

Answer 26

A mechanism of fertilisation in angiosperms in which two sperm cells unit with two cells in the female gametophyte (embryo sac) to from the zygote and endosperm

Question 27

Embryophyte

Answer 27

Alternative name for land plants that refers to their shared derived trait of multicellular, dependent embryos

Question 28

Gametangium (plural, gametangia)

Answer 28

Multicellular plant structure in which gametes are formed. Female gametangia are called archegonia, and male gametangia are called antheridia.

Question 29

Gametophore

Answer 29

The mature gamete-producing structure of a moss gametophyte

Question 30

Ground tissue

Answer 30

Plant tissues that are neither vascular nor dermal, fulfilling a variety of functions like storage, photosynthesis, support, and short-distance transport.

Question 31

Gymnosperm

Answer 31

A vascular plant that bears naked seeds - seeds not enclosed in protective chambers

Question 32

Heterosporous

Answer 32

Referring to a plant species that has two kinds of spores: microscopes, which develop into male gametophytes, and megaspores, which develop into female gametophytes

Question 33

Homosporous

Answer 33

Referring to a plant species that has a single kind of spore, which typically develops into a bisexual gametophyte

Question 34

Hypocotyl

Answer 34

In an angiosperm embryo, the embryonic axis below the point of attachment to the cotyledon and above the radicle

Question 35

Integument

Answer 35

Layer of sporophyte tissue that contributes to the structure of an ovule of a seed plant

Question 36

Lateral meristem

Answer 36

A meristem that thickens the roots and shoots of woody plants, including vascular cambium and cork cambium.

Question 36

Internode

Answer 36

A segment of a plant stem between the nodes

Question 37

Lycophytes

Answer 37

An informal name for a member of the phylum Lycophyta which includes club mosses, spike mosses, and quill worts

Question 38

Megaspore

Answer 38

A spore from a heterosporous plant species that develops into a female gametophtye

Question 39

Micropyle

Answer 39

A pore in the integuments of an ovule

Question 40

Microspore

Answer 40

A spore from a heterosporous plant species that develops into a male gametophyte

Question 41

Monilophytes

Answer 41

an informal name for a member of the phylum Monilophyta, which includes ferns, horsetails, and whisk ferns and their relatives

Question 42

Node

Answer 42

A point along the stem of a plant at which leaves are attached.

Question 43

Ovule

Answer 43

A structure that develops within the ovary of a seed plant and contains the female gametophyte

Question 44

Parenchyma cell

Answer 44

A relatively unspecialised plant cell type that carries out most of the metabolism, synthesises and stores organic products, and develops into a more differentiated cell types.

Question 45

Peristome

Answer 45

A ring of interlocking, tooth-like structures on the upper part of a moss capsule (sporangium) often specialised for gradual spore discharge

Question 46

Petiole

Answer 46

The stalk of a leaf, which joins the leaf to a node of a stem.

Question 46

Phloem

Answer 46

Vascular tissue that transports sugars and other organic nutrients

Question 47

Pollen grain

Answer 47

In seed plants, a structure consisting of the male gametophyte enclosed within a pollen wall

Question 48

Pollen tube

Answer 48

A tube that forms after germination of the pollen grain and that functions in the delivery of the sperm to the ovule

Question 49

Primary growth

Answer 49

Growth produced by apical meristems, resulting in increased lengthening of stems and roots.

Question 50

Secondary growth

Answer 50

Growth produced by lateral meristems, thickening the roots and shoots of woody plants.

Question 51

Sorus (plural, sori)

Answer 51

A cluster of sporangia on a fern sporophyll. Sori may be arranged in various patterns such as parallel lines or dots, which are useful in fern identification.

Question 52

Sporangium (plural, sporangia)

Answer 52

A multicellular organ in fungi and plants in which meiosis occurs and haploid cells develop.

Question 53

Sporophyll

Answer 53

A modified leaf that bears sporangia and hence is specialised for reproduction

Question 54

Sporophyte

Answer 54

In organisms (plants and some algae) that have alternation of generations, the multicellular diploid form that results from the union of gametes. Meiosis in the sporophyte produces haploid spores that develop into gametophytes.

Question 55

Sporopollenin

Answer 55

A durable polymer that covers exposed zygotes of charophyte algae and forms the walls of plant spores, preventing them from drying out.

Question 56

Stoma (plural, stomata)

Answer 56

A microscopic pore surrounded by guard cells in the epidermis of leaves and stems that allows gas exchange between the environment and the interior of the plant.

Question 57

Strobilus (plural, strobili)

Answer 57

The technical term for a cluster of sporophylls commonly known as a cone, found in most gymnosperms and some seedless vascular plants.

Question 58

Vascular cambium

Answer 58

A cylinder of meristematic tissue in woody plants that adds layers of secondary vascular tissue called secondary xylem (wood) and secondary phloem.

Question 59

Vascular tissue

Answer 59

Plant tissue consisting of cells joined into tubes that transport water and nutrients throughout the plant body

Question 60

Xylem

Answer 60

Vascular tissue that transports water and dissolved minerals