Plants (Botany) - High School

Whether you have a green thumb or not, you'll be an expert on plants once you study this list of words related to botany. Your vocabulary will blossom as you learn about plant cells, leaf structure, photosynthesis, and more.
77 words 766 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. angiosperm
    plants having seeds in a closed ovary
  2. annual ring
    an annual formation of wood in plants as they grow
  3. anther
    the part of the stamen that contains pollen
  4. autotroph
    an organism capable of synthesizing its own food
  5. auxin
    a plant hormone that promotes root formation and bud growth
  6. bark
    tough protective covering of trees
  7. bulb
    a tear-shaped plant structure from which a new plant grows
  8. cambium
    a formative one-cell layer of tissue between xylem and phloem in most vascular plants that is responsible for secondary growth
  9. carbon dioxide
    a colorless, odorless greenhouse gas essential for photosynthesis
  10. cell
    the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms
  11. cell wall
    a rigid layer of polysaccharides enclosing a plant membrane
  12. chlorophyll
    any of green pigments found in photosynthetic organisms
  13. chloroplast
    organelle in which photosynthesis takes place
  14. cone
    tapering mass of ovule- or spore-bearing scales or bracts
  15. conifer
    a type of tree or shrub bearing cones
  16. cotyledon
    embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants
  17. dicot
    flowering plant with two cotyledons
  18. dormancy
    a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction
  19. embryo
    a minute rudimentary plant contained within a seed
  20. eukaryote
    an organism of one or more cells with membrane-bound nuclei
  21. eukaryotic
    having cells with `good' or membrane-bound nuclei
  22. fern
    a flowerless, seedless plant with fronds that uncurl upward
  23. filament
    the stalk of a stamen
  24. flower
    reproductive organ of plants especially if showy or colorful
  25. frond
    compound leaf of a fern or palm or cycad
  26. fruit
    the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant
  27. gametophyte
    the gamete-bearing individual or phase in the life cycle of a plant having alternation of generations
  28. germinate
    cause to grow or sprout
  29. germination
    the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow
  30. glucose
    a monosaccharide sugar that has several forms
  31. gymnosperm
    plants of the class Gymnospermae having seeds not enclosed in an ovary
  32. herbaceous
    characteristic of a nonwoody herb or plant part
  33. hornwort
    any aquatic plant of the genus Ceratophyllum
  34. leaf
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
  35. liverwort
    any of numerous small green nonvascular plants of the class Hepaticopsida growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mosses
  36. megaspore
    larger of the two types of spore produced in heterosporous plants; develops in ovule into a female gametophyte
  37. microspore
    smaller of the two types of spore produced in heterosporous plants; develops in the pollen sac into a male gametophyte
  38. monocot
    a monocotyledonous flowering plant
  39. moss
    tiny leafy-stemmed flowerless plants
  40. multicellular
    consisting of many basic structural and functional units
  41. nonvascular plant
    any of numerous plants of the division Bryophyta
  42. ovary
    the organ that bears the ovules of a flower
  43. ovule
    a small body that contains the female germ cell of a plant
  44. oxygen
    a colorless, odorless gas that is essential for respiration
  45. phloem
    plant tissue that conducts synthesized food substances
  46. photosynthesis
    formation of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy
  47. phototropism
    an organism's orienting response to light
  48. pollen
    fine spores produced by flowers to fertilize other flowers
  49. pollination
    transfer of the fine spores that contain male gametes
  50. respiration
    process converting nutrients into energy in a cell
  51. rhizoid
    any of various slender filaments that function as roots in mosses and ferns and fungi etc
  52. rhizome
    a horizontal plant stem with shoots above and roots below serving as a reproductive structure
  53. root
    underground plant organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes
  54. root cap
    thimble-shaped mass of cells covering and protecting the growing tip of a root
  55. root hair
    thin hairlike outgrowth of an epidermal cell just behind the tip; absorbs nutrients from the soil
  56. seed
    small, hard part of a plant from which a new plant can grow
  57. seedling
    young plant or tree grown from a seed
  58. seed plant
    plant that reproduces by means of seeds not spores
  59. sepal
    one of the green parts that form the calyx of a flower
  60. spore
    a small usually single-celled asexual reproductive body produced by many nonflowering plants and fungi and some bacteria and protozoans and that are capable of developing into a new individual without sexual fusion
  61. sporophyte
    the spore-producing individual or phase in the life cycle of a plant having alternation of generations
  62. stamen
    the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower
  63. stem
    a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant
  64. stigma
    the apical end of the style where pollen enters the pistil
  65. stoma
    a pore in a plant through which gases and vapor can pass
  66. stroma
    the dense colorless framework of a chloroplast
  67. style
    the narrow part of the pistil between the ovary and stigma
  68. taproot
    main root of a plant growing straight downward from the stem
  69. thorn
    a small sharp-pointed tip resembling a spike on a stem or leaf
  70. tissue
    part of an organism consisting of an aggregate of cells
  71. transpiration
    the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants
  72. tropism
    an involuntary orienting response
  73. tuber
    a fleshy underground stem or root, often used as food
  74. vacuole
    a tiny cavity filled with fluid in the cytoplasm of a cell
  75. vascular plant
    green plant having a vascular system: ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms
  76. vascular tissue
    tissue that conducts water and nutrients through the plant body in higher plants
  77. xylem
    plant tissue that conducts water and dissolved nutrients
Created on Wed Jan 18 12:55:26 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 10:20:20 EDT 2017)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.