Word for knowledge of plants

Are you a nature lover?

If you are, being able to talk about nature in English would certainly be beneficial.

Since there are over 160 nature words on this list, regardless of your language level, you’ll definitely pick up some beautiful nature vocabulary!

You’ll learn how to describe landscapes, weather conditions, various types of plants, geological features and climate change patterns.

Let’s get started!

Contents

• Describing Landscapes and Geological Features
• Describing Weather Conditions
• Describing Plants, Flowers and Trees
• Gardening Tools Used to Take Care of Plants
• Beautiful Landscapes in Nature
• Ancient Geological Features in Nature
• Climate Change Vocabulary
• The Best Way to Practice Nature Words in English

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Describing Landscapes and Geological Features

Geological features are landscape characteristics found in nature that are not plants or animals.

• Lush — used to describe plants and flowers that are healthy and growing well
• Grassy — used to describe meadows and fields that have a lot of grass or green plants
• Floral — used to describe gardens or landscapes that have a lot of flowers
• Vivid — something that’s bright or colorful
• Abloom — used to describe flowers or groups of flowers that are blooming
• Vibrant — something that’s bright and eye-catching
• Dense — used to describe plants that are growing close together and are hard to see through because they’re so thick
• Earthy — something that contains or looks like soil or dirt
• Diversified — used to describe a garden or landscape that has a lot of different plants
• Dry — without water
• Bare — without plants
• Dead — used to describe plants that are no longer living
• Oversaturated — used to describe plants that have had too much water or rain
• Flooded — used to describe landscapes that are covered in water due to overflowing rivers or lakes
• Flowering — used to describe when flowers first start appearing on plants
• Budding — used to describe the first stage of flowering
• Hilly — a landscape containing a lot of hills
• Mountainous— a landscape containing lots of mountains
• Wavy — used to describe water with rough waters
• Rolling — used to describe a landscape with a lot of hills that resembles (looks like) ocean waves
• Stormy — used to describe a lot of rain, lightning, thunder and wind
• Misty — a landscape that has a light haze of rain in the air; oceans and waterfalls often produce mist
• Frigid — extremely cold
• Desolate — a bare landscape where few plants are growing
• Untouched — a landscape that has not been changed by human beings
• Pristine — a lush landscape that appears untouched or “picture-perfect”
• Tropical — a landscape that’s warm with jungle plants and palm trees; common on islands near the equator
• Arid — a dry landscape that receives very little rain

Describing Weather Conditions

• Sunny — a lot of sunshine
• Humid — a lot of moisture in the air
• Stifling — so hot that one is uncomfortable
• Gloomy — cloudy and gray weather
• Rainy — a lot of continuous (ongoing) rain
• Dry — little to no rain
• Cloudy — a sky mostly covered in clouds
• Foggy — used to describe a landscape with a lot of fog (a light cloud at the ground level)
• Clear — no clouds or rain
• Crisp — describing a cool temperature
• Cool — slightly cold or chilly
• Windy — a lot of wind
• Breezy — a similar meaning to windy, but a breeze is less strong than wind
• Wet — the landscape after a lot of rain
• Fair — weather that’s clear and warm
• Mild — pleasant or not too warm
• Still — no wind
• Overcast — a lot of clouds in the sky, but little to no rain

Describing Plants, Flowers and Trees

Small and Skinny Plants

• Bush — a plant that grows close to the ground; it expands widely and has leaves
• Shrub — another word for bush
• Hedge — similar to bush but often trimmed to be rectangle-like; these often surround houses or are used to create a boundary or fence
• Grass — a plant that grows widely in fields and meadows; it’s also common on household lawns
• Moss — a soft plant that grows on rocks and trees; it looks like a green carpet
• Mushroom — a fungus that grows in dark places; some can be eaten and others are poisonous
• Herb — a variety of plant that’s used for flavoring food (basil, cilantro, mint, etc.) or as medicine or tea
• Fern — an ancient (very old) plant whose leaves look like feathers
• Reed — a plant that looks like tall grass and grows in wetlands and swamps
• Bamboo — a plant that looks like long stalks of wood and grows in tropical places
• Ivy — a plant with five-pointed leaves that grows close to the ground and climbs trees and buildings
• Poison Ivy — a type of ivy that causes extreme itching and a rash, if touched

Main Parts of Plants

• Seed — what plants grow out from
• Root — the part of the plant that remains underground and absorbs water
• Stem — the part of the plant that grows upward and holds the flower up
• Stalk — another word for a stem
• Leaf — the green part of the plant that absorbs sunlight
• Petal — the colorful parts of the flower
• Bud — the first stage of plant growth that’ll flower and bloom
• Thorn — a part on the stem of a flower or plant that’s prickly and sharp
• Branch — the part of the tree that grows out from the trunk
• Twig — a small branch
• Bark — the outer skin of a tree

Pretty and Common Flowers

• Daffodil — a flower with small yellow petals
• Rose — flowers with thorns and bright red petals
• Dandelion — a weed that has yellow flowers
• Daisy — a flower that has white petals around a yellow top
• Lily — a medium-sized flower whose petals can be all different colors
• Tulip — common in many gardens, and famous in Holland; they can be multiple colors and are associated with Easter
• Sunflower — a big flower with bright yellow petals and a brown center

Now that you know all the basics, try practicing your plant vocabulary!

Typical Tall Trees

Two common types of trees are deciduous and evergreen.

Deciduous trees shed (get rid of) their leaves during a specific part of the year, typically autumn or fall, and evergreen trees keep their leaves all year.

Not all trees fall into these two categories though, as you’ll see in this shortlist. 

• Palm tree — (neither deciduous or evergreen) a tropical tree with large, featherlike leaves and sometimes coconuts
• Cactus — (neither deciduous or evergreen) a plant that grows in the desert with thorns or thistles (pointy, sharp spines)
• Maple — a deciduous tree with three-pointed leaves
• Oak — a deciduous tree with acorns
• Birch — a deciduous tree with thin, white bark
• Willow — a large deciduous tree with thin leaves and curtain-like branches
• Poplar — a medium-sized deciduous tree with teardrop-shaped leaves
• Pine — an evergreen tree with needle-like leaves and pinecones

Gardening Tools Used to Take Care of Plants

• Gardener — someone who maintains a garden
• Flower pot — a container where one or more flowers grow
• Vegetable garden — a garden that specifically grows vegetables
• Weed — a plant in a garden that’s not desired
• To weed — (action verb) to pick and remove the weeds from the garden
• Shovel — a tool used to dig in the ground
• Pail — a cylindrical (circular) container for carrying water
• Watering can — a container specifically used to water plants
• Shears — a tool used to cut through or trim plants
• Rake — a tool used to gather trimmed plants or fallen leaves from the ground
• Hoe — a single-bladed tool used to dig out weeds
• To sow — (action verb) to plant seeds
• To mow — (action verb) to trim the grass, often with a lawnmower
• Lawnmower — the machine used to mow the lawn; it can be gas-powered or hand-pushed
• Wheelbarrow — a single-wheeled cart for carrying gardening materials
• Shed — a small shelter in a yard that stores gardening materials or other outdoor objects and tools

Beautiful Landscapes in Nature

• Bay — where the sea curves inward to create a body of water with the coast on three sides
• Lake — a small body of water inland; lakes are often freshwater
• Sea — a large body of saltwater
• Ocean — a larger body of salt water; there are five oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern
• River — a flowing stream of water
• Creek — a thin river
• Waterfall — when water falls from a higher point like a cliff to a lower point
• Canyon — an arid and rocky valley surrounded by cliffs
• Glacier — a large expanse (area) of ice around the polar regions of the Earth
• Meadow — a large field with grasses and flowers
• Forest — a landscape with dense plants and trees
• Mountain — a big elevation in the Earth; mountains are often rocky, snow-covered or volcanic
• Hill — a small elevation in the Earth
• Plain — a flat expanse of land; plains are often grassy
• Marsh — an expanse of land that regularly floods and remains saturated
• Island — an expanse of land surrounded by water on all sides
• Peninsula — an expanse of land surrounded by water on three sides
• Savanna — an arid field in a tropical region; there are a lot in Africa
• Valley — an expanse of land between mountains or hills
• Desert — a dry landscape often covered in sand or rocks; not many plants grow here
• Tundra — a dry landscape in cold climates
• Cliff — a steep mountain-like formation; these are common along coasts
• Cave — a tunnel or chamber underground
• Beach — a sandy expanse of land near bodies of water
• Field — an expanse of land where grasses and other plants are common

Don’t forget to practice your landscape vocabulary!

Ancient Geological Features in Nature

The word geology is a noun that means the study of the Earth and its physical processes.

This list of vocabulary also has words that describe significant events that impact human activity and are caused by the Earth.

• Bedrock — large expanses of flat rocks
• Sedimentary rock — rock that’s moved by water or wind
• Igneous rock — rock that’s made directly from lava or magma
• Metamorphic rock — sedimentary or igneous rocks changed by extreme heat
• Crater — a large, circular hole or indentation in the Earth; usually formed by a volcano
• Erosion — when water or air breaks away at rocks
• Fossil — old remains from a plant or animal that died a long time ago
• Gem — a precious stone often used for jewelry
• Geyser — when hot water sprays up from under the Earth
• Hot spring — a pool where water is warmed by underground Earth processes
• Mineral — a solid material made by the Earth
• Seismic activity — the movement of the Earth’s plates created by natural processes
• Earthquake — when seismic plates shift, causing the Earth to shake and split
• Volcano — a mountain formed by eruptions and lava
• Magma — hot fluid under the Earth
• Lava — when magma surfaces from underground
• Eruption — when lava or magma spews from the Earth at the top of a volcano
• Tsunami — a giant wave often caused by an underwater earthquake
• Fossil fuel — a natural fuel burned by humans to run things like cars, airplanes and electricity

Climate Change Vocabulary

Climate change is a noun that describes global weather patterns and temperatures that have changed due to the impact of human activity.

• Atmosphere — layers of gases in the sky that encase the Earth
• Ozone — a layer of oxygen above the Earth that protects us from the sun
• Carbon dioxide —what we exhale when we breathe; we also create this by burning fossil fuels
• Emissions — these are produced when we burn fossil fuels; they commonly come out of cars, power plants and factories
• Ecosystems — a community of plants and animals that depend on each other for survival
• Habitat — a place where an animal lives
• Extinction — when all members of an animal species die
• The Greenhouse Effect —when emissions get stuck under the Earth’s atmosphere and warm the planet
• Pollutant —something that pollutes or damages the Earth
• Non-renewable resource — a resource that can only be used once; an example would be natural gas
• Renewable resource — a resource that can be used over and over again; an example would be wind
• Coal — ancient plant matter now in rock form that can be burned for fuel
• Oil — a liquid found in the Earth that can be burned for fuel
• Solar energy — a form of energy that uses the sun’s rays
• Wind energy — a form of energy that uses wind
• Drought —when a landscape is dry for an extended period of time
• Ice caps — another word for glaciers in the polar regions of the Earth

While some of these words are pretty complicated, practicing climate change vocabulary is important if you want to take about current events that involve the environment.

And if you’re up for a challenge, try practicing all of the nature words together!

The Best Way to Practice Nature Words in English

Long-term memory is where knowledge and vocabulary words stay for long periods.

That means that once a word is in your long-term memory, you should be able to use that word a week from now, a month from now or even a year from now.

To move words from your short-term memory to your long-term memory, you should make words meaningful for you.

• When learning a new word, try using it in a full sentence and write that sentence down in a notebook. In many cases, you can use several words that are related to each other to help you remember their meaning.
• To take your practice a step further, try going for a walk in nature. As you’re walking, create sentences and descriptions of what you’re seeing.
• Better yet, write these sentences down or bring a voice recorder with you! This is a great way to use nature words and record the descriptions you’re creating to review again later.

Your English nature word vocabulary is growing into quite a beautiful garden!

Take care of the seeds you just planted, and watch your nature vocabulary flourish!

Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)