Plant Vocabulary 

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

Bark - All tissues external to the vascular cambium in a plant growing in thickness, consisting of phloem, phelloderm, cork cambium, and cork.

Chlorophyll - A green pigment located within the chloroplasts of plants; chlorophyll a can participate directly in the light reactions, which convert solar energy to chemical energy. 

Conifer - A gymnosperm whose reproductive structure is the cone. Conifers include pines, firs, redwoods, and other large trees.

Deciduous - Refers to plants that shed their leaves at a certain season.

Dicot - A subdivision of flowering plants whose members possess two embryonic seed leaves, or cotyledons.

Flower - The reproductive structure of angiosperms; a complete flower includes sepals, petals, stamens (male structures), and carpels (female structures).

Fruit - A mature ovary of a flower that protects dormant seeds and aids in their dispersal.

Gymnosperm - A vascular plant that bears naked seeds not enclosed in any specialized chambers.

Leaf - The main site of photosynthesis in a plant; consists of a flattened blade and a stalk (petiole) that joins the leaf to the stem.

Monocot - A subdivision of flowering plants whose members possess one embryonic seed leaf, or cotyledon.

Perennial - A plant that lives for many years.

Phloem - The portion of the vascular system in plants consisting of living cells arranged into elongated tubes that transport sugar and other organic nutrients throughout the plant.

Photosynthesis - The conversion of light energy to chemical energy that is stored in glucose or other organic compounds; occurs in plants, algae, and certain prokaryotes.

Root - The descending axis of a plant, normally below ground and serving both to anchor the plant and to take up and conduct water and dissolved minerals.

Seed - The fertilized ripened ovule of a flowering plant containing an embryo and capable normally of germination to produce a new plant

Stem - The aboveground part of the axis of vascular plants, as well as anatomically similar portions below ground (such as rhizomes).

Stoma - 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.

Xylem - The tube-shaped, nonliving portion of the vascular system in plants that carries water and minerals from the roots to the rest of the plant.