Download plant anatomy lab

LAB: PLANT ANATOMY AND PHSYIOLOGY
Plant Anatomy Prelab Questions
1. How can determine whether a plant from Phylum Anthophyta is a monocot or
dicot plant?
2. Describe the structure of a pollen grain of a typical plant from phylum
Anthophyta.
3. Describe the life cycle of a plant from Phylum Anthophya. Indicate which parts of
the life cycle are gametophyte and which parts are sporophyte.
4. Describe the structure of a seed. What are the benefits of a seed?
5. Describe the structure of a flower. What are the functions of each of these
structures?
Station #1: Stoma Structure
1. Take clear nail polish. Paint a thin coat of the clear nail polish on the underside of
one of the leaves of the provided plant.
2. Allow the polish a minute to dry before carefully peeling the polish layer from the
leaf.
3. Put the layer of polish on a clean microscope slide with a drop of water and a
cover slip.
4. First focus on the slide in one of the low power lenses. Then, move the 40x
objective lens into view to analyze the imprints left by the stomata in the nail
polish.
5. Draw what you see and include in your lab notebook.
Station #2: Monocot or Dicot
1. Examine the array of plants provided.
2. Which plants are monocots? How do you know?
3. Which plants are dicots? How do you know?
4. Look at the slides on the two microscopes. They are showing slides of crosssections of stems from a dicot or a monocot. Draw each stem and label:
epidermis, cortex (if present), vascular bundles, pith (if present), ground tissue (if
you can’t tell cortex from pith
5. Which cross-section is from the monocot plant? The dicot plant? How do you
know?
Station #3: Seeds
1. Examine the seed samples.
2. Select two seeds. Dissect the seeds by opening the seed coats.
3. Can you find the embryo and the endosperm inside the seed? What is the
function of each of these structures?
4. Are the seeds from monocot or dicot plants? How do you know?
Station #4: Fruits or Vegetables
1. There is a tray of items displayed. Examine each of those items and decide
whether that item biologically qualifies as a fruit or not.
2. Which items are fruit?
Station #5: Pollen
1. There is a microscope slide with pollen grains in view.
2. Examine the slide and draw what you see:
3. Do any of the pollen grains have pollen tubes? Why or why not?
Station #6: Flower Structure
One reason botanists study flower parts is that these structures help to classify plants.
Angiosperms are classified into several evolutionary branches. Monocots and dicots are
two groups of angiosperms (= Phylum Anthophyta). One way to recognize monocots is
to count the number of sepals, petals and stamen. If this number is a multiple of three, the
plant is a monocot. Monocot leaves are strap-like with parallel veins. If the number of
flower parts is a multiple of four or five, and if the leaves contain branched veins, the
plant is a dicot. (There are other evolutionary branches but we will deal only with these 2
large groups). Station 2 demonstrates differences in the arrangement of vascular bundles
in the stems.
1. Take one flower off of one of the stems of snapdragon and one Alstromeria. Set
each flower on a cutting board.
2. Use a scalpel to open the flower to expose all of the floral parts.
3. Draw the flower and include your drawing in your lab notebook. Label all of the
important floral parts. Count the number of each part and indicate if there is a
scent.
Station 7:
Station 7: Flower Shape and Pollinators
Another reason to study flowers is to ask questions about how pollination occurs in
different flowers. Studying the shape of a flower leads to questions about how that shape
aids in pollen from an anther becoming attached to a pollinator and then being transferred
to another flower’s stigma. Pollinators include bats, ants, flies, many types of birds and a
huge variety of other insects. The following table gives some general information about
3 typical modes of pollination:
Flower Feature
Shape
Hummingbirds
Prefer flowers with
a tubular shape that
fit their long,
slender beaks
Color
Are most attracted
to red flowers, but
will also drink
nectar from flowers
with colors that
contain red such as
orange or pink (also
true for most birds)
Respond to color
and shape, rather
than patterns
Pattern
Scent
Have limited sense
of smell. Smell has
little impact on food
choice.
Bees
Prefer cup-shaped
flowers in which
they can nestle
while gathering
pollen or nectar
Respond mostly to
blue and yellow
flowers – cannot
detect red (also true
for most other
insects)
Wind
Flowers must be
open with stamen
and stigmas exposed
Are attracted to
petals with
“runway” lines or
dashes that lead the
bee to pollen or
nectar
Have a strong sense
of smell and are
attracted to fragrant
flowers.
Not relevant– so
flower does not
expend energy to
produce showy
patterns
Not relevant – so
flower does not
expend energy to
produce showy
colors
Not relevant– so
flower does not
expend energy to
produce fragrance
1. Study the plants available with a variety of flower shapes. Design a table, which
includes these plants. Columns will also include: monocot or dicot; pollinator
type; evidence
2. Collect information on each flowering plant. By looking at the leaves and/or
flowers, determine if it is a monocot or a dicot. Then smell to see if it has a scent.
Look for shape and patterns of the flowers. Predict how that flower is pollinated.
Questions:
Station 1:
1. Were more of the stomata closed or exposed? Why?
2. Explain how the guard cells regulate the opening and closing of the stomata?
3. Why was the nail polish applied to the under side of the leaf?
4. In what tissue layer of leaves are guard cells most prominent?
Station 2:
5. Describe the difference in stem structure between a monocot and a dicot.
6. Which type of stem can produce wood and therefore become a tree?
7. Explain what an annual ring is. Why are some rings wide and some very narrow
in the same tree trunk?
Station 3:
8. What is the function of the seed? Why is it important for the success of flowering
plants?
9. If a flower has 8 ovules and the egg cell in each is fertilized, how many seeds will
the flower produce?
Station 4:
10. How do you know which item is a fruit?
11. How does the fruit develop in the plant?
12. What is the function of the fruit?
Station 5:
13. How does the pollen tube develop? Why does it develop?
14. How is pollen transferred from one plant to another?
Station 6:
15. What are the functions of each of the floral parts that you labeled?
Station 7:
16. A woman wearing a blue and yellow dress and strong perfume attends a party
outside on a warm summer day. What problem do you anticipate that she may
encounter?
17. A bird watcher wants to attract more hummingbirds to a feeder. He decides to add
fragrance to the hummingbirds’ food supply. Do you think this will attract more
hummingbirds to the feeder? Explain your response.