Meaning & use
endosperm
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountablebiology
The starchy or oily food-storage tissue packed around a plant embryo inside a seed, which feeds the young plant as it begins to grow.
Grammar: Usually uncountable when speaking of the tissue in general: the endosperm of wheat; countable when comparing types.
Patterns
- the endosperm of something
- endosperm in something
In a coconut, the white flesh and the liquid inside are both forms of endosperm.
The embryo uses the endosperm as its first meal after the seed germinates.
Flour is made mostly by grinding the endosperm of wheat grains.
Word forms
| plural | endosperms |
|---|
Common combinations
- starchy endosperm
- Rice is prized for its starchy endosperm, which is what remains after polishing.
- endosperm tissue
- The botanist sliced the seed to expose the pale endosperm tissue.
- nourish from the endosperm
- The seedling is nourished from the endosperm until its first leaves open.
- cereal endosperm
- Cereal endosperm supplies much of the world's calories.
- endosperm development
- Drought during endosperm development can lower grain weight.
Synonyms and how they differ
- albumen
- Albumen is an older botanical word for seed food reserves and is now mostly replaced by endosperm, while also meaning egg white in everyday talk.
- seed reserve
- Seed reserve is a loose everyday phrase for stored food, whereas endosperm names one specific tissue.
- cotyledon
- A cotyledon is a seed leaf that belongs to the embryo itself, while endosperm is separate tissue around the embryo, although in some seeds the cotyledons take over the storage role.
Word family
- endospermic adjective
- describing a seed that keeps its food store in endosperm
- perisperm noun
- a different food-storage tissue found in some seeds
- embryo noun
- the young plant that the endosperm feeds
Commonly confused: endosperm or endoderm? endosperm or epidermis?
endosperm vs endoderm
Endoderm is the innermost layer of cells in an animal embryo, not a plant tissue. Endosperm is only for seeds.
endosperm vs epidermis
The epidermis is the outer skin layer of a plant or animal, not the food store inside a seed.
Practice
Which part of a wheat grain is mostly ground into white flour?
Choose one answer.
The endosperm is the starchy food store inside the grain, and it makes up white flour. A stem, root or petal is not part of the grain's interior.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “endosperm”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.