Plants

What is a plant?

• They have eukaryotes that contain many cells.
• In addition, all plants are surrounded by a cell wall.
• It is an autotroph. It can make its own food.
• It has a nucleus, so it is a eukaryote.

Plant adaptation

• Obtaining water and other nutrients.
• Retaining water.
• Transporting materials.
• Support.
• Reproduction.

Nonvascular plants

• There are three major groups of nonvascular plants: mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
• These low-growing plants live in moist areas where they can absorb water and other nutrients
• directly from their environment.

Mosses

• With more then 10,000 species, mosses are the most diverse group of nonvascular plants.
• Thin, rootlike structures called RHIZOIDS anchor the
• water, and nutrients from the soil.
• The familiar green, fuzzy moss is the gametophyte generation of the plant.

Liverworts

• There are more that 8,000 species of liverworts.
• Liverworts are often found growing as a thick crust on moist rocks or soil along the
• sides of a stream.

Hornworts

• There are fewer that 100 species of hornworts.
• Unlike mosses, and liverworts, hornworts are seldom found on rocks or tree trunks.

Seedless vascular plants

• They are seedless plants that have vascular tissue.
• Also produced by spores.

Ferns

• There are more that 12,000 species of ferns alive today.
• The ferns leaves or FRONDS, are divided into many smaller plants that look like
• small leaves.

Horsetails

• Long, course, needle-like branches grow in a circle around each joint.
• Small leaves grow flat against the stem just above each joint.

Club mosses

• Like ferns, club mosses have true stems, roots, and leaves.
• That also have a similar life cycle.
• Unlike true mosses, club mosses have true vascular tissue.

Seed plants

• They share two important characteristics.
• They have vascular tissue, and they use pollen and seeds to reproduce.

Vascular tissue

Phloem

• The vascular tissue through which food moves.
• When food is made in the leaves, it enters the phloem and travels to another
• part of the plant.

Xylem

• The roots absorb water and minerals from the soil.
• The materials enter the root's xylem and move upward into the stems and leaves.

Pollen

• Seed plants don't need water for sperm to swim the eggs.
• Instead, seed plants produce pollen, tiny structures that obtain the cells that
• will later become sperm cells.

Seeds

• After sperm cells fertilize the eggs, seeds develop.
• A seed, is a structure that contains a young plant inside a protective covering.
• Seeds protect the young plant from drying out.

Seed structure

• A seed has three major parts- an embryo, stored food, and a seed coat.
• The young plant that develops from the zygote, or fertilized egg, is called the embryo.
• The embryo already has the beginnings of roots, stems, and leaves.

Seed dispersal

• After seeds were preformed they are often scattered farther then where
• they were produced.
• The force can scatter the seed in many directions.
• Dispersal could also mean water.

Germination

• Germination begins to grow when the embryo begins to grow again and
• pushes out of the seed.
• Then the embryo uses its food to begin to grow.

Roots

• Roots anchor a plant in the ground, absorb water and minerals from the
• soil, and sometimes store food.
• The more root area a plant has, the more water and minerals it can absorb.

Stems

• The stem carries substances between the plants roots and leaves.
• The stem also provides support for the plant and holds up the leaves so
• they are opposed to the sun.

Leaves

• Leaves capture the suns energy and carry out the food-making process of
• photosynthesis.

Gymnosperms

• A seed plant that produces naked seeds.
• Plants that produce seeds are known as seed plants.

Cycads

• Grow mainly in tropical and subtropical areas.
• Cycads look like palm trees with cones.
• A cycad cone can grow as large as a football.

Conifers

• Conifers, or cone-bearing plants, are the largest and most diverse
• Group of gymnosperms today.

Ginkgoes

• They grew hundreds of years ago.
• There is only only one type of ginkgoes that exists today.
• Today, ginkgoes trees are planted along city streets because they can
• tolerate air pollution.

Gnetophytes

• They live in hot desserts and in tropical rain forests.
• Some are known as trees, shrubs, and vines.

Angiosperms

• All angiosperms, or flowering plants, share two important traits.
• First. They produce flowers.
• Second. In contrast to gymnosperms, which produce uncovered seeds,
• angiosperms produce seeds that are enclosed in fruits.

Sepals

• When a flower is still a bud, it is enclosed by leaflike structures.
• Sepals protect the developing flower and are often green in color.

Petals

• When the sepals fold back, they reveal the flowers colorful,
• leaflike petals.
• The petals are often the most colorful parts of a flower.
• The shape, size, and number do petals vary greatly from
• flower to flower.

Stamens

Stamens

• The male reproductive parts.
• Locate the stamens inside the flower.
• The thin stalk of the stamen is called the filament.
• Pollen is produced in the anther, at the top of the filament.

Pistils

• The female parts.
• They can be found in the center of most flowers.
• Some flowers have two or more pistils; others have only one.

Pollinators

• The colors and shapes of most petals and the scents produced
• by most flowers attract insects and other animals.
• These animals ensure that pollination occurs.
• Pollinators include birds, bats, and insects such as bees and flies.

Monocot

• Grasses, including corn, wheat, and rice, and plants such as lilies and tulips.
• The flowers of a monocot usually have either 3 or multiple petals.
• The stems of monocots are usually scattered.

Dicots

• Includes roses and violets, as well as dandelions.
• Often have four or five petals.

Touch

• As the vines grow, they coil around any object that they touch.
• Some plants, such as bladderworts, show a response to touch.

Light

• All plants exhibit to light.
• By growing toward the light, plants receive more energy.

Gravity

• Plants also respond to gravity.
• They grow downward.