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Glossary

Abscission zone - an area of plants where leaves, flowers, or fruits detach


Active transport -movement of solutes across a membrane against their concentration gradient; requires energy from cellular metabolism


Adaxial meristem -tissue that thickens the leaf


Adventitious root -root that develops from a leaf or stem(not from another root)


Aerenchyma -tissue containing large amounts of intercellular spaces


Axil -the upper angle between twig or leaf and the stem from which it grows


Boundary layer - the thin, moist layer of air adjacent to a transpiring leaf


Casparian strip -the suberised layer covering the radial and transverse walls of endodermal cells


Cell membrane - the semi-permeable membrane that surrounds the cytoplasm and is next to the cell wall (also called the plasmalemma or plasma membrane)


Cellulose - most abundant polymer on Earth, a polysaccharide of glucose units that constitutes the main part of the cell wall


Cell wall - rigid wall that surrounds, protects and gives shape to plant cells


Collenchyma -type of cell that is elongated and has unevenly thickened primary cell wall; support growing regions of shoot


Cultivar - a variety that is selected for cultivation through hybridization and not found in nature


Cutin - the main waxy substance in the cuticle; consists of hydroxylated fatty acids


Cyanobacteria - a photosynthetic group of bacteria


Cytoplasm - all the material inside the cell membrane, but outside the nucleus


Dioecious - having pollen and ovule producing organs on different individuals of the same species


Electron transfer chain - a sequence of electron carriers that use the energy from electron flow to transport protons against a concentration gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane


Enzyme - a biological catalyst, usually a protein, that can speed up chemical reactions by lowering its activation energy


Epidermal tissue - the outermost layer of cells that cover a plant


F1 generation - the first generation of offspring


Fatty acid - a long, mostly hydrocarbon chain that has an organic acid group at one end


Genetic drift - random changes in gene frequencies within the gene pool of a population


Genotype - an organism's genes, either individually or collectively


Ground tissue - tissue that occurs throughout the plant and whose functions include storage, metabolism, and support; consists of Parenchyma, Collenchyma, and Sclerenchyma


Herbaceous - non-woody


Heterozygous - a condition in which a gene has two different alleles in a diploid individual


Hybrid vigour (Heterosis) - a condition where cross-bred organisms are more fit than inbred organisms because they have more heterozygous loci


Hybrid - the offspring of different parents with different traits


Leaf primordium - a lateral outgrowth from the apical meristem that will eventually form a leaf


Lenticel - spongy areas in the cork surfaces of stems and roots of vascular plants; allows gas exchange across the periderm


Lignin - a complex phenylpropanoid polymer that makes cell walls stronger, more water proof


Lipid - a polymer that forms water-repellent cell membranes; serves as long-term stores of C and energy


Meristematic tissue - regions of specialised tissue whose cells undergo cell division


Osmosis - the diffusion of water or other solvent through a differentially permeable membrane


Oxidation - the loss of electrons from an atom or molecule that is involved in a redox (REDuction-OXidation) reaction; oxidation removes energy from one substance, which is coupled to addition of energy to another


Parenchyma tissue - tissue type characterised by relatively simple, living cells having only primary walls


Passive transport - movement of a substance through a biological membrane that does not require energy from cell metabolism; moves down a concentration gradient


Phenotype - an organism's observable features, either individually or collectively; the phenotype results from the interaction of the genotype of an organism with its environment


Phospholipid - a lipid that has two fatty acids and a phosphate group bound to a molecule of glycerol; phospholipids are important components of membranes


Plasmodesma (plasmodesmata) - a tiny, membrane-lined channel between adjacent cells


Polymer - a molecule consisting of many identical or similar monomers linked by a covalent bond


Primary growth - growth derived from the activity of the apical meristem


Protoplast - the entire plant cell, from the cell membrane inward


Ray cell - transports water and dissolved minerals radially in the stem


Reduction - the gain of electrons by an atom or molecule that is involved in an redox (REDuction-OXidation) reaction; reduction involves the addition of energy to one substance, coupled to simultaneous removal; of energy from another substance by oxidation.


Scarification - the cutting, abrading, or otherwise soften the seed coat to induce germination


Sclerenchyma - a type of cell that is rigid and produces thick, non-stretchable secondary walls; these cells support and strengthen non growing, non extending regions of plants, such as mature stems.


Secondary growth - growth derived from lateral meristems (e.g. Vascular cambium, cork cambium)


Seed bank - the ungerminated but still viable seeds that occur in natural storage in the soil


Solute - a substance dissolved in a solution


Stratification - the exposure of seeds to extended cold periods before they will germinate at warm temperatures


Transpiration - loss of water from the stems and leaves; occurs mostly through the stomata


Transport protein - a type of membrane protein that enables the transport of specific solutes across the membrane


Turgor pressure - pressure on inside of cell wall created by water moving into the cell


Vascular tissue - tissue specialised for long-distance transport of water and minerals; xylem and phloem


Water potential - the potential energy of water to move down its concentration gradient


Xanthophyll - a yellow carotenoid, zeaxanthin is the blue-light photoreceptor in shoot phototropism

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