BIOL 410 - Anthophyta

What is phylum Anthophyta also known as?

The flowering plants.

What are characteristics/derived traits of phylum anthophyta?

• seeds inside of a carpel/ovary

• hardwoods (XVMs that evolved from tracheids, and fibers). tracheids are also present

• flowers arise at shoot meristems (AM receives a floral signal, the AM stops producing: leaves, buds, and stem)

What does the AM widen into?

A receptacle.

What does the receptacle start producing?

Starts producing sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels.

The indeterminate AM changes into what?

A determinate receptacle. This means no more flowers can grow in the spot where the flower is at.

Where are terminal flowers produced?

At shoot tips.

Where are axillary flowers produced?

All along the side of the plant (leaf axis).

Where do all flowers begin their growth?

At the tissue at the base of the flower (receptacle). This vegetative part grows all the female floral parts out of it by mitosis.

Where are the developing seeds at?

The ovary.

What are the female flower parts? (carpel)

• stigma (tip, traps pollen)

• style (path for pollen tube)

• ovary (at base, protects the eggs/developing seeds)

  All part of carpel.

What are the male floral parts?

Stamen

• anthers (contains pollen sacs, for pollen production)

• filament

What do the sepals do?

Protect the developing floral parts. All sepals = calyx.

What is the function of petals?

Attracts pollinators. All petals = corolla.

What is the function of stamens?

Make pollen. All stamens = androecium.

What is the function of the carpel?

Protect eggs and developing seeds. All carpels = gynoecium.

What is the locule?

The cavity within the ovary that the seeds develop in.

The ovule grows out of the ovary wall. What attaches the ovule to the ovary wall?

The placenta.

The plant placenta is highly vascularized, just as in humans. So what 2 tissues run through this?

Xylem and phloem.

What defines superior ovary?

The ovary is attached ABOVE sepals, petals, and stamens. The other floral parts are attached BELOW the ovary = hypogynous).

What defines inferior ovary?

The ovary is attached BELOW the other floral parts. The other floral parts are epigynous (above the ovary).

Are the earliest flowers hypogynous or epigynous?

Hypogynous.

What allowed for the changes in ovary types?

Mutations and selection pressure by pollinators.

What does it mean for a flower to have radial symmetry?

Cutting it through the middle in ANY direction provides mirror images.

What does it mean for a flower to have bilateral symmetry?

Cutting it through the middle in ONLY ONE direction to get mirror images.

What is connation?

Fusion of like parts.

What did petals evolve from?

Leaves (megaphylls) and they evolved pigments inside of them.

What is adnation?

Fusion of unlike parts.

What do perfect flowers contain?

Both stamens AND carpels.

What do imperfect flowers contain?

Stamens OR carpels.

What do complete flowers have?

All 4 whorls: sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels.

What do incomplete flowers lack?

Lack at least 1 of the 4 whorls.

What are monoecious plants?

PLANTS (not flowers) that have both the male and female flowers on one plant.

What are dioecious plants?

PLANTS (not flowers) that have male and female flowers on separate plants.

The pollen tube grows down the style to the egg inside the ovule. It carries two sperm. What do these sperm do?

One sperm fertilizes the egg to make the zygote. The other sperm fertilizes the central cell (in the middle of gametophyte) to make endosperm.

All floral parts abscise (to stop attracting pollinators) except the carpels. Why?

The carpel contains the ovary and it remains intact to protect the developing seeds.

What is parthenocarpy?

The development of a fruit without fertilization of the ovules.

Mature seeds release hormones that stimulate the ripening of a fruit. What do we do commercially to get bananas if there aren’t any seeds?

Cut pieces of the underground rhizome from large banana plants and we plant them. They grow into a new plant w/ flowers and fruits without fertilization or pollination.

Where do the hormones come from that cause ripening?

Ethylene, which is produced in the plant itself.

What is the danger when plants can only make fruits by asexual reproduction (rhizomes) and not by seeds?

Lack of genetic diversity, which increases vulnerability to environmental changes, pests, and diseases.

Why is tomato a fruit?

It develops from an ovary.

How did the tomato develop from the flower?

The flower’s ovary grows post-fertilization, transforming it into a fruit while other floral parts apcise.

The nitrogen fixing corn in Oaxaca Mexico has been cultivated in an Indigenous community for years. What are social justice issues around scientists obtaining knowledge from indigenous communities and how do we ensure compensation/permission?

Exploitation, cultural appropriation, lack of recognition for cultural knowledge. Ensuring compensation/permission includes collaboration, property rights, and equitable sharing of benefits with Indigenous communities.

Why do cashew apples not have a shell when they come to this country?

Cashews are related to Poison Oak and Ivy. They have a caustic nutshell liquid (CNSL) that causes severe dermititis with blisters.

What is the cashew shell used for commercially?

• brake linings

• paints

• varnish

• pharmaceuticals

What part of chocolate do we eat?

Seed is grinded for chocolate in chocolate fruits.

Why can chocolate be ecologically devastating? What are we doing to combat this?

Tropical rainforest trees are often cut down to make chocolate plantations. The nature conservancy has purchased old sugarcane plantations to plant chocolate on.

Describe how a fungus is making chili peppers get hotter.

A fungus infects chili peppers, stimulating increased production of capsaicinoids, leading to higher spiciness.

What are the dangers of growing Palm Oil unsustainably?

Can lead to deforestation, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and climate change.

Do pollen grains in anthrophyta contain wings? Why or why not?

No. Animals disperse the pollen grains, not wind.