Biology: Plant Kingdom Practice Flashcards

A comprehensive set of practice flashcards covering classification systems, algae classes, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms based on the lecture notes.

Five Kingdom classification

A classification system proposed by Whittaker (1969) including Monera, Protista, Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae.

Artificial classification systems

Earliest systems based on gross superficial morphological characters like habit, color, and number of leaves, often utilizing vegetative characters or androecium structure as seen in the system given by Linnaeus.

Natural classification systems

Systems based on natural affinities among organisms considering external features as well as internal features like ultra-structure, anatomy, embryology, and phytochemistry, such as the system given by George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker.

Phylogenetic classification systems

Systems based on evolutionary relationships between various organisms, assuming that organisms in the same taxa have a common ancestor.

Numerical Taxonomy

A method easily carried out using computers that is based on all observable characteristics, where numbers and codes are assigned to characters and data are processed.

Cytotaxonomy

Taxonomy based on cytological information like chromosome number, structure, and behavior.

Chemotaxonomy

The use of chemical constituents of the plant to resolve confusions in classification.

Algae

Chlorophyll-bearing, simple, thalloid, autotrophic, and largely aquatic organisms.

Isogamous

Sexual reproduction through the fusion of two gametes that are similar in size, which can be flagellated (Ulothrix) or non-flagellated (Spirogyra).

Anisogamous

Fusion of two gametes dissimilar in size, such as in species of Eudorina.

Oogamous

Fusion between one large, non-motile (static) female gamete and a smaller, motile male gamete, as seen in Volvox and Fucus.

Hydrocolloids

Water-holding substances produced by marine algae, such as algin (from brown algae) and carrageen (from red algae).

Chlorophyceae

Commonly called green algae, these members possess chlorophyll a and b and store food in bodies called pyrenoids.

Pyrenoids

Storage bodies located in the chloroplasts of green algae that contain protein besides starch.

Phaeophyceae

Commonly called brown algae, found primarily in marine habitats and possessing chlorophyll a, c, carotenoids, and xanthophylls (specifically fucoxanthin).

Laminarin or Mannitol

The complex carbohydrates used as stored food in Phaeophyceae (brown algae).

Algin

A gelatinous coating found on the outside of the cellulosic wall of vegetative cells in brown algae.

Holdfast, Stipe, and Frond

The components of a brown alga's plant body: the attachment organ, the stalk, and the leaf-like photosynthetic organ, respectively.

Rhodophyceae

Commonly called red algae due to the predominance of the red pigment r-phycoerythrin.

Floridean starch

The stored food in red algae, which is structurally very similar to amylopectin and glycogen.

Bryophytes

Known as the amphibians of the plant kingdom, these plants live in soil but are dependent on water for sexual reproduction.

Gametophyte

The haploid, gamete-producing main plant body characteristic of bryophytes.

Antheridium

The multicellular male sex organ in bryophytes that produces biflagellate antherozoids.

Archegonium

The flask-shaped multicellular female sex organ in bryophytes that produces a single egg.

Sporophyte

A multicellular body that is not free-living but attached to and nourished by the gametophyte; it undergoes meiosis to produce haploid spores.

Sphagnum

A moss that provides peat used as fuel and as packing material for trans-shipment of living material due to its water-holding capacity.

Gemmae

Green, multicellular, asexual buds in liverworts that develop in small receptacles called gemma cups.

Protonema

The first stage of the moss gametophyte life cycle; it is creeping, green, branched, and frequently filamentous.

Pteridophytes

The first terrestrial plants to possess vascular tissues (xylem and phloem), including horsetails and ferns.

Prothallus

The inconspicuous, small, multicellular, free-living, mostly photosynthetic thalloid gametophyte of pteridophytes.

Homosporous

Plants that produce spores of similar kinds.

Heterosporous

Plants like Selaginella and Salvinia that produce two kinds of spores: macro (large) and micro (small) spores.

Gymnosperms

Plants in which the ovules are not enclosed by any ovary wall and remain exposed both before and after fertilization; literally 'naked seeds.'

Mycorrhiza

A fungal association found in the roots of certain gymnosperms, such as Pinus.

Coralloid roots

Small specialized roots in Cycas associated with $N_2$-fixing cyanobacteria.

Pollen grain

The highly reduced male gametophyte in gymnosperms, confined to a limited number of cells.

Angiosperms

Flowering plants in which pollen grains and ovules are developed in flowers and seeds are enclosed in fruits.