Download Document

Vascular Plants
 Largest group in the Plant Kingdom
 Well-developed system for transporting water and food
o True root system, stems, and leaves
 Tube-like structures that provide support and help circulate the water and food
o Xylem-transports water and minerals from roots to the rest of the plant (comes from the
ground)
o Phloem-transport food from leaves to the rest of the plant (during photosynthesis)
1. Plants can be 300 ft. tall
2. Vascular tissue provides stiffness and allows some plants such as sequoias to grow to amazing
heights
Examples: trees, shrubs with
woody stems that grow very tall,
dandelions, tomato plants
sequoia trees
Nonvascular Plants
 Do NOT have a well-developed system for transporting water and food; therefore, they do not have
a true root system, stems, or leaves
 Must obtain nutrients directly from the environment and distribute it from cell to cell throughout
the plant
o As a result of this these plants are small in size and grow close to the ground
 Water is moved through osmosis (water is absorbed from cell to cell or from cell through cell
membrane)
 Plants are not very large, all parts of the plant must be near their water source
Transpiration
 The process where plants lose H2O (water) through leaves (becomes water vapor in atmosphere
and is part of the hydrologic cycle)
 Transpiration occurs after water is stored and used for photosynthesis
 Leaves use chlorophyll to make food (glucose-sugar) during the photosynthesis process (C6H12O6)
-Guard cells surround stomatas to open or close
them
-Stomatas are openings on underside of leaf
that control the loss of water (H2O)
Photosynthesis





Plants are autotrophic, so they make their own food using photosynthesis
Plants use solar energy, CO2 and water (H2O) to produce glucose (C6H12O6)
Plant cells have special organelles called chloroplast filled with chlorophyll to catch solar energy
Chlorophyll is why plants are green
Plants take in carbon dioxide (CO2) through their stomata (the same place plants lose water in
transpiration)
 Photosynthesis produces glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2) that all living things use