plant: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

Oct. 18, 2026

Facts

Also Known As	Plantae • Metaphyta • Embryophyta

Photos and Videos

Tall baobab trees with thick, cylindrical trunks and broad canopies line a dirt road in Madagascar, surrounded by green vegetation under a blue sky.

Dense cluster of small, round green duckweed (Lemna minor) floating on the surface of water.

Diagram of a tree leaf illustrating photosynthesis, with arrows showing sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide entering the leaf and sugars and oxygen being produced. A person is shown beside the tree to demonstrate the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between plants and animals.

Woman in patterned dress gathers large bundles of teff grass in a sunlit field on the Hawzien Plateau, Tigray, Ethiopia, with scattered harvested piles and distant trees.

Cutaway illustration of a plant cell showing labeled internal structures including the nucleus, nucleolus, chloroplast, mitochondrion, vacuole, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, Golgi apparatus, cell wall, and other key organelles.

Stemsucker flower

A timeline chart shows major events in plant evolution alongside the geologic time scale, with illustrations of algae, mosses, ferns, ginkgoes, conifers, cycads, and flowering plants marking their first appearances from the Ordovician to the Cenozoic era. Key milestones such as the emergence of early vascular plants and seed plants are labeled with approximate millions of years ago.

Cluster of red carpet moss, Bryoerythrophyllum columbianum, with green mossy base and numerous slender red stalks topped with small capsules.

Temperate rainforest

Why plant diversity is so important

Understanding adaptations in the evolution of plants

Compare and contrast liverworts and mosses in their reproduction, water absorption, and energy generation

Study spore-producing liverworts and their anatomic features such as gametes, thalli, and rhizoids

Why do ferns prefer the shade?

See All Videos, Images, Interactives and Podcasts →

Topics

angiosperm transport aquatic plant plant movement Progymnospermophyta vegetation medicinal plant woody plant plant development fern fungus Animal protist Moneran Bacteria Biology virus taxonomy endangered species Archaea

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt

German explorer and naturalist

Ynes Enriquetta Julietta Mexia

Ynes Enriquetta Julietta Mexia

American botanist

Jagadish Chandra Bose

Jagadish Chandra Bose

Indian plant physiologist and physicist

Sloane, detail of an oil painting by S. Slaughter, 1736; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet

British physician

David Douglas

David Douglas

Scottish botanist

default image

Henry Chandler Cowles

American botanist

Title page of Flora Boreali-Americana by Andre Michaux (1746-1802), printed in 1803,

André Michaux

French botanist

default image

Julius von Sachs

German botanist

David Fairchild

David Fairchild

American botanist

default image

Dennis Robert Hoagland

American botanist

Burbank, Luther

Luther Burbank

American plant breeder

Stephen Hales

Stephen Hales

English scientist

default image

Edward Murray East

American scientist

Vavilov inspecting citrus trees at Maykop, Russian S.F.S.R., in 1935

Nikolai Vavilov

Russian geneticist

Strasburger, Eduard Adolf

Eduard Adolf Strasburger

German cytologist

default image

Kenneth V. Thimann

American plant physiologist

default image

Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming

Danish botanist

default image

Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg

Austrian botanist

default image

Wilhelm Hofmeister

German botanist

Thomas Nuttall, engraving by Thomson, 1825, after a drawing by W. Derby

Thomas Nuttall

British naturalist

Mushrooms growing in forest. (vegetable; fungus; mushroom; macrofungi; epigeous)

Science at Random Quiz

Flower. Day lily, Day Lilies.Daylily. Daylilies. Garden. Close-up of pink daylilies in bloom.

(Not) All in the Family

Plant. Flower. Nymphaea. Water lily. Lotus. Aquatic plant. Close-up of three pink water lilies.

Plants with Religious Meaning

Fruit. Grapes. Grapes on the vine. White grape. Riesling. Wine. Wine grape. White wine. Vineyard. Cluster of Riesling grapes on the vine.

Scientific Names of Edible Plants

Lager beer.

Plants and Booze

Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap

Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous

Photosynthesis diagram showing how water, light, and carbon dioxide are absorbed by a plant and that oxygen and sugars are produced. Also show a person to illustrate the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle between plants and animals.

Pop Quiz: 13 Things to Know About Photosynthesis