Vegetation is a term used to describe the assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term that does not refer to any specific botanical or geographic characteristics, and it is broader than the term flora, which refers to species composition. Vegetation can refer to a wide range of spatial scales, including scales as large as the global. The vegetation type is defined by characteristic dominant species or a common aspect of the assemblage, such as an elevation range or environmental commonality. Vegetation can be thought of as the mosaic of plant communities across the landscape.

Vegetation is a broader term than flora, which refers specifically to the plant diversity of an area. The contemporary use of vegetation approximates that of ecologist Frederic Clements term earth cover, an expression still used by the Bureau of Land Management. Vegetation integrates the combined influence of a variety of environmental factors, including soil parent material and time since either vegetation establishment or significant disturbance of existing vegetation.

Vegetation can range from natural to cultural, and examples of vegetation include primeval redwood forests, coastal mangrove stands, sphagnum bogs, desert soil crusts, roadside weed patches, wheat fields, cultivated gardens, and lawns. Vegetation can also refer to the growth process of a plant, and it can apply to people who are in a state of inactivity.