• 10 parts
  • Checked October 2026

Unlabeled Diagram of Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum

Smooth ER as a net of plain tubes, rough ER as dotted sacs, and a blank line to every part.

Unlabeled Diagram of Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum

Name Date

Blank diagram

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Rough ER
  2. Smooth ER
  3. Nuclear envelope
  4. Transport vesicle
  5. Golgi apparatus
  6. Ribosomes
  7. Cisterna
  8. ER lumen
  9. ER membrane
  10. Tubule

Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Read every name on the labeled ER

All 10 parts on the diagram

Show the list

Whole ER 5

  1. Rough ER Flattened sacs studded with ribosomes. Proteins for the cell membrane and for export are made here.
  2. Smooth ER A network of tubules with no ribosomes. Lipids are made here.
  3. Nuclear envelope The double membrane round the nucleus. Its outer membrane runs on into the membrane of the ER.
  4. Transport vesicle A small membrane bubble that leaves the ER. It carries new proteins on to the Golgi apparatus.
  5. Golgi apparatus The next stop for proteins made in the ER. Transport vesicles carry them here.

Cut open 5

  1. Ribosomes Ribosomes are where proteins are built. On the rough ER they sit on the outer face of the membrane.
  2. Cisterna One flattened sac of the ER. Rough ER is built of many of them, often stacked.
  3. ER lumen The space inside the ER. New proteins pass into it and are folded there.
  4. ER membrane The membrane that walls off the ER. Sacs and tubules all share this one membrane.
  5. Tubule A tube of smooth ER. Tubules branch and join up into a network.

How this list was compiled: Every name was checked on 2026-10-01 in at least two places, for facts only and with nothing copied. (1) University of Vigo, Atlas of Plant and Animal Histology: The cell, Endoplasmic reticulum, https://mmegias.webs.uvigo.es/02-english/5-celulas/5-reticulo.php, and From endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi apparatus, https://mmegias.webs.uvigo.es/02-english/5-celulas/5-reticulo-golgi.php. (2) Wikipedia, text only: Endoplasmic reticulum, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endoplasmic_reticulum. (3) National Human Genome Research Institute, Talking Glossary: Endoplasmic Reticulum (Rough), https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Endoplasmic-Reticulum-Rough, and Endoplasmic Reticulum (Smooth), https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Endoplasmic-Reticulum-Smooth. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

Here is the endoplasmic reticulum not labeled. The upper drawing is the whole organelle beside its nucleus; the lower is two flattened sacs and a branching tube, enlarged. Ten lines lead off, five from each drawing.

Read the full guide

Endoplasmic reticulum, no label: the ten names

Upper drawing: rough ER, smooth ER, nuclear envelope, transport vesicle and Golgi apparatus. Lower drawing: ribosomes, cisterna, ER lumen, ER membrane and tubule.

Where the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is

It is the net of plain tubes at the lower right of the upper drawing, and the line above it takes smooth ER. The dotted, curved sacs beside the nucleus are rough ER, the double ring is the nuclear envelope, a small bubble is a transport vesicle and the plain stack is the Golgi apparatus. Below, a bead is a ribosome and the whole upper sac a cisterna. The cut sac shows the ER membrane as its wall and the ER lumen as the slot inside. The branching tube is a tubule.

  • Smooth ER and tubule name one structure at two sizes: the whole net above, one tube of it below.
  • The blob inside the nucleus is the nucleolus, and the arrow shows which way the vesicles travel. Neither takes a name.
  • A sheet that asks for the SER and the RER means the smooth and the rough ER.

Questions and answers

Is the smooth ER separate from the rough ER?

No. The two are one organelle: the tubules of the smooth ER run on from the sacs of the rough ER and share one lumen. That is why this unlabeled diagram of smooth endoplasmic reticulum shows both.

What does the smooth ER do?

It makes lipids, phospholipids and steroids, and it takes part in the metabolism of carbohydrates and in detoxification.

Which cells have a lot of smooth ER?

In most cells it is scarce. It is especially abundant in mammalian liver cells, and in cells that secrete lipids and steroids, such as those of the sebaceous glands.

Is the sarcoplasmic reticulum a smooth ER?

Yes. It is the smooth ER of a muscle cell. It stores calcium ions and pumps them out when the muscle fiber is stimulated. It is not drawn on this sheet.

Do all cells have an endoplasmic reticulum?

Most eukaryotic cells have one. Red blood cells and sperm cells lack it.

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