Download PLANTS

PLANTS
Scientists believe that plants originated from green algae because of the similarities that they share.
Plants share certain characteristics:
1. PHOTOSYNTHESIS: process by which plants use sunlight to make food from carbon dioxide
and water.
2. Cuticles: a waxy layer that coats most of the LEAVES of plants that are exposed to AIR and
keeps plants from drying out.
3. CELL walls: plant cells are surrounded by a rigid cell WALL that helps to protect and support
the plant cell.
4. Reproduction: have to stages in their life – the sporophyte and gametophyte.
ALL PLANTS:
MAKE THEIR OWN _______________
HAVE EUKARYOTIC PLANT CELLS  with a cell wall, chloroplast, and large vacuole
HAVE A WAXY COATING CALLED A CUTICLE
Plants are broken down into two groups – vascular and non vascular
Non-vascular plants: have no ‘pipes’ or vascular system to transport food and water – they
rely on diffusion/osmosis for water – examples are mosses and liverworts
These plants are usually seedless, live in damp places and don’t have stems, roots or
leaves. They are important because they are usually the first plants to live in a new
environment. When they die they form a soft layer of new soil. Animals eat these plants
or use them for nesting and humans use them for fuel and fertilizer.
Vascular plants: have xylem to transport water from roots – phloem moves food particles to
roots for storage and to leaves in Spring – examples are ferns, pine trees, flowers
Vascular plants are then further broken down into seedless and seed plants.
Seedless vascular plants are usually larger than seedless non-vascular plants.
They are important because they help form soil and prevent soil erosion. They
are popular houseplants, some are edible, and ones that lived millions of years
ago formed our coal that we use today. Examples of seedless vascular plants are
ferns, horsetails, and club mosses.
Seed vascular plants can be flowering and non-flowering. Pollen is carried by
wind or animals, and lands on female plant parts – this is called pollination, and
allows the plant to reproduce. The pollen fertilizes the egg, which grows into a
fruit with seeds. This group of plants is then broken down into two groups,
gymnosperms and angiosperms. Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants, whose
seeds are in cones. Examples are conifers, ginkgoes, and cycads.
Angiosperms are flowering plants. They are the most abundant plants
today. The seeds of angiosperms are surrounded and protected by a fruit.
Angiosperms are further broken down into monocots or dicots.
Monocots
o have parallel veins in their leaves
o flower parts are in multiples of 3’s
o one cotyledon or seed leaf
o vascular tissue is scattered
o examples are grasses, orchids, onion, corn
Dicots
o have branching veins in their leaves
o flower parts are in multiples or 4 or 5
o 2 cotyledons of seed leaves
o Vascular tissue in a ring
o Examples are roses, cacti, sunflowers, peas, peanuts etc.