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Individual sugars are called monosaccharides. Two sugars linked together chemically are called disaccharides; three are trisaccharides; four are tetrasaccharides, and so on. A generic term for several sugars linked together is oligosaccharide. Molecules with many sugars linked together to form a polymer are called polysaccharides. Sucrose (table sugar) is the most abundant disaccharide and is comprised of glucose and fructose. A large amount of sucrose is formed in plant leaves from photosynthetic products. Sucrose is translocated over long distances in plants in specialized conductive tissue known as phloem. Sucrose can be broken down, and its components (glucose and fructose) metabolized for energy and as the initial raw material for building cellular components in plant cells distant from photosynthetic leaves. Sucrose also can be stored. High concentrations are found in storage organs such as fruits, sugarcane stems, and enlarged roots of sugar beets. The latter two are commercial sources from which sucrose is refined.

Two important plant polysaccharides, cellulose and starch, are composed exclusively of glucose units bonded together. Cellulose is the most abundant polysaccharide in plant cell walls, and thus, the most abundant polysaccharide on Earth. In cell walls, cellulose occurs along with other complex polysaccharides, each of which is composed of more than one type of sugar. Because of the way glucose is linked in cellulose, individual chains, hundreds of glucose molecules long, are able to bond together by hydrogen bonding in a crystalline arrangement to form a cable-like structure known as a microfibril. These microfibrils are interwoven and give cellulose its strength in plant cell walls and in cotton fabric and paper.

Starch and cellulose differ in the way the glucose molecules are bonded together. Starch is a storage compound in plants, and is broken down as needed into glucose for metabolic use.

Carbohydrates are important in human nutrition, often constituting the major source of calories in the diet. Glucose, fructose, sucrose, and starch are readily digested by humans. Cellulose and the other complex carbohydrates of the plant cell wall are not readily digested, but constitute useful dietary fiber.

Cellulase, an enzyme that can degrade cellulose, is made by many different fungi and some microorganisms. This enzyme allows these organisms to decompose plant material, an important step in the recycling of materials in food webs.