Angiosperm Reproduction and Biotechnology Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the Angiosperm Reproduction and Biotechnology lecture.

Angiosperm

A flowering plant; key features include flowers, double fertilization, and fruits.

Complete Flowers

Flowers that contain all four floral organs (sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels).

Incomplete Flowers

Flowers that lack one or more floral organs (e.g., stamens or carpels).

Inflorescence

Clusters of flowers.

Pollination

The transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma.

Double Fertilization

A process unique to angiosperms where one sperm fertilizes the egg, and the other combines with the two polar nuclei to form the endosperm.

Endosperm

A triploid (3n) tissue in angiosperm seeds that provides food storage for the developing embryo.

Seed Dormancy

A condition in which a seed does not germinate even when environmental conditions are favorable; it increases the chances that germination will occur at a time and place most advantageous to the seedling.

Fruit

A mature ovary that protects enclosed seeds and aids in seed dispersal.

Simple Fruits

Develop from a single or several fused carpels.

Aggregate Fruits

Result from a single flower with multiple separate carpels.

Multiple Fruits

Develop from a group of flowers called an inflorescence.

Asexual Reproduction

Reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes; also called vegetative reproduction.

Apomixis

Asexual production of seeds from a diploid cell.

Self-Incompatibility

A plant's ability to reject its own pollen.

Totipotent Cells

Cells that can divide and asexually generate a clone of the original organism; common in plants.

Vegetative Propagation

Vegetative reproduction that is facilitated or induced by humans, using plant fragments called cuttings.

Grafting

A process where a twig or bud (scion) is attached to a stock, providing a root system.

Plant Biotechnology

Innovations in the use of plants to make useful products.

Transgenic Organisms

Organisms that have been engineered to express a gene from another species.

Biofuels

Fuels derived from living biomass.