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EnchantedLearning.com Botany and Paleobotany Dictionary

Plants

EARTH The Earth is the third planet from the Sun.	ECOSYSTEM An ecosystem is the interrelationships between all of the living things in an area.	EDICARA FAUNA Ediacara fauna is the animal life that lived during the Vendian or Ediacaran period (roughly 650 to 544 million years ago). The Vendian is when the earliest-known animals evolved. Vendian biota (Ediacara fauna), included soft-bodied multi-cellular animals, like sponges, cnidarians, worms, and soft-bodied relatives of the arthropods. The Ediacara was named for the Ediacara Hills in Australia, north of Adelaide, where these early animal fossils were first found (in 1946, by the Australian mining geologist Reginald C. Sprigg). Other Vendian Period fossils have been found in Mistaken Point, Newfoundland and the White Sea off the northern coast of Russia.
EMBRYO An embryo is a developing plant still inside the seed. The embryo has cotyledons (embryonic leaves), a root cap, a food source and a plumule (shoot), all located inside the protective seed coat.	EMERGENTS Emergents are giant trees in a rainforest that are much higher (up to 270 feet or 81 m) than the average canopy height. The emergents house many birds and insects in a very dry environment.	ENDANGERED SPECIES An endangered species is a group of organisms that is dwindling in numbers and may go extinct soon. Many species of plants are endangered.
ENDEMIC Endemic plants are native to an area and are only found in that area.	ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a network of membranes in plant cells (and all eukaryotic cells) that control protein synthesis and cellular organization.	ENTIRE An entire leaf has smooth edges (margins) (with neither teeth nor lobes).

EPICORMIC SHOOT An epicormic shoot (also called a coppice shoot, sap shoot, water shoot, or water sprout) is a shoot (new growth) that arises from an adventitious or dormant bud on a branch or a stem of a plant (usually near the base of the plant). This fast-growing shoot often starts to grow when part of a forest canopy is removed or thinned (allowing light in).	EPICOTYL The epicotyl is the part of the stem that is above the first leaves.	EPIDERMIS The epidermis is the outer protective layer of a plant. This tissue helps prevent injury and minimizes water loss by evaporation.
EPIGYNOUS OVARY An epigynous ovary (also called an inferior ovary) is an ovary located below the flower parts (the calyx, corolla, and androecium). The flower parts are attached to the top of the ovary.	EPIPHYTE Epiphytes are plants that live attached to a plant (or other structure like a rock, telephone pole or a building) and not in the ground). Epiphytes include many orchids and bromeliads. Epiphytes are not parasites; they get water and nutrients from the air (and not their host).	EPOCH An epoch is a division of a geologic period; it is the smallest division of geologic time, lasting several million years.
EQUATORIAL RAINFOREST Tropical rainforests are warm, very wet forests that do not freeze (the temperature remains over 75°F=24°C) and do not get extremely hot. Tropical rainforests cover about 7% of the Earth's surface, in a band around the equator. They are also called tropical rainforests.	EQUISETUM Equisetum (a modern genus of horsetail) is a primitive, spore-bearing plant (a sphenopsid) with rhizomes. Its side branches are arranged in rings along the hollow stem. Other genera of horsetail were common during the Mesozoic Era, like Neocalamites, Calamites etc. Horsetails date from the Devonian period 408-360 million years ago, but are still around today and are invasive weeds.	ER ER stands for endoplasmic reticulum. The ER is a network of membranes in plant cells (and all eukaryotic cells) that control protein synthesis and cellular organization.
ERA Two or more geological periods comprise an Era, which is hundreds of millions of years in duration.	ETHNOBOTANY Ethnobotany is the science which studies how plants are used in various cultures.	EUKARYOTE A eukaryote (which means "true nucleus") is an organism whose cells have internal membranes (which divide the cell into regions that have different functions) and a structurally-discrete nucleus. They also have a cytoskeleton which controls their shape. Eukaryotes include plants, animals, fungi, and protists (they do not include blue-green algae, bacteria, viruses, and other primitive microorganisms).
EURASIA Eurasia is the combined, joined land masses of Europe and Asia.	EUTROPHICATION Eutrophication is when the concentration of nutrients in a waterway increases; this occurs when sewage, fertilizers, or sediments enter the water. This increase in the concentration of nitrogen and/or phosphorous may result in an algal bloom (an overabundance of blue-green algae that depletes the water of oxygen, killing other organisms).	EVAPORATION Evaporation is the process in which a liquid is transferred into gaseous form.
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION Evapotranspiration is the process in which rain water evaporates from trees and returns to the atmosphere.	EVERGLADES The Everglades is a swamp located in southwestern Florida. It contains over 2,000 different types of plants, including saw grass (Cladium jamaicense), mangroves (including the red, black and white mangroves), alligator flag (Thalia geniculata), strangler fig (Ficus aurea), gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), saw palmetto, pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), moonvine (a morning glory), coontie, and various willows, slash pine (Pinus elliottii densa) and other pines, and oaks with Spanish moss hanging form the limbs. Many epiphytes (air plants) like the night-blooming epidendrum (Epidendrum nocturnum) also live in trees.	EVERGREEN Evergreen plants do not lose their leaves seasonally. Pines and firs are examples of evergreens. (Compare with deciduous plants.)
EVOLUTION Evolution is a process in which the gene pool of a population gradually (over millions of years) changes in response to environmental pressures, natural selection, and genetic mutations. All forms of life came into being by this process.	EVOLVE To evolve is to develop by the process of evolution, changing in some way as an adaptation to the environment.	EXTINCT An animal species that is extinct has died out. Most animal species that ever existed have gone extinct, including all the dinosaurs.
EXTINCTION Extinction is the process in which groups of organisms (species) die out.	EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT An Extinction-Level Event is a catastrophic event (such as a large asteroid or comet hitting the Earth, a large change in the Earth's temperature/sea level, tremendously increased volcanism, etc.) that is capable of causing a mass extinction. This event would greatly damage the ecosphere of Earth, causing many groups of organisms to die.	EXTRACTIVE RESERVE An extractive reserve is an area in a rain forest in which people are allowed to harvest crops, such as rubber or Brazil nuts.
EYE An eye is an axillary bud on an underground plant part such as a tuber (e.g., potato) or in the area where the stem joins the tuberous root (e.g., dahlia).

Plant Printouts

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Plants

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