Plant Kingdom

characteristics

• Eukaryotic

• Multicellular

• perform photosynthesis

• autotrophic

• Cell wall made of cellulose

• Sessile

• Alternation of generations

Alternation Of generations

• Life cycle that occurs in plants

• Multicellular gametophyte (n), alternates with multicellular sporophyte (2n)

• Depending on the plant one stage is more dominant than the other

Ancestor of Plants

Charophyte

Bryophytes

• Mosses (and allies)

• non-vascular

• reproduce using spores

• grow low to the ground

• require water for reproduction

Pteridophytes

• Ferns (and Allies)

• Vascular

• Vascular leaves called fronds

• reproduce using spores

• spores encased in packets under fronds called sori

• Require water for reproduction

Gymnosperms

• Conifers

• Vascular

• Reproduce using seeds

• Seeds are “naked” and develop on the scales of female cones

• male cones are small and grow in clusters on the tips of branches

• male cones are carried to female cones by wind

• egg + sperm = seed

• seed falls to ground and germinates into new plant

Angiosperms

• Flowering plants

• vascular

• reproduce using seeds

• Pollen is carried to plants by wind/animals

• Once the seed is produced, the flower becomes fruit

• Seeds are then dispersed to the ground by various mechanisms and germinate into new plants