Plant Kingdom Classification and Characteristics

A set of vocabulary flashcards defining key taxonomic terms, reproduction types, and botanical groups from the Plant Kingdom chapter.

Five Kingdom Classification

The system proposed by Whittaker ($1969$) which includes Monera, Protista, Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae.

Artificial Systems of Classification

Early systems based on gross superficial morphological characters like habit and color, or on the androecium structure as given by Linnaeus.

Natural Classification Systems

Systems based on natural affinities including both external and internal features like ultrastructure, anatomy, embryology, and phytochemistry, proposed by George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker.

Phylogenetic Classification Systems

Current systems based on evolutionary relationships which assume that organisms in the same taxa share a common ancestor.

Numerical Taxonomy

A computer-based method where numbers and codes are assigned to all observable plant characteristics so every character is given equal importance.

Cytotaxonomy

Classification based on cytological information such as chromosome number, structure, and behavior.

Chemotaxonomy

Taxonomy that utilizes the chemical constituents of plants to resolve classification confusions.

Isogamous

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

Anisogamous

Fusion of two gametes that are dissimilar in size, as seen in species of $Eudorina$.

Oogamous

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

Hydrocolloids

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

Agar

A commercial product obtained from $Gelidium$ and $Gracilaria$ used to grow microbes and in the preparation of ice-creams and jellies.

Chlorophyceae

Commonly called green algae, they contain chlorophyll $a$ and $b$ and have cell walls made of an inner layer of cellulose and an outer layer of pectose.

Pyrenoids

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

Phaeophyceae

Commonly called brown algae, they possess chlorophyll $a$, $c$, carotenoids, and the pigment fucoxanthin.

Laminarin and Mannitol

The complex carbohydrates used as stored food in Phaeophyceae.

Holdfast, Stipe, and Frond

The parts of the brown algae body; the holdfast attaches to the substratum, the stipe is the stalk, and the frond is the leaf-like photosynthetic organ.

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 similar to amylopectin and glycogen.

Archegonium

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

Antheridium

The male sex organ in bryophytes which produces biflagellate antherozoids.

Gemmae

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

Protonema

The first stage in the life cycle of a moss, which is a creeping, green, branched, and filamentous stage developing from a spore.

Pteridophytes

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

Prothallus

The small, multicellular, green, heart-shaped, photosynthetic thalloid gametophyte of pteridophytes.

Heterosporous

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

Gymnosperms

Plants where the ovules are not enclosed by an ovary wall and remain exposed, resulting in 'naked' seeds.

Coralloid Roots

Specialised roots in $Cycas$ associated with $N_2$-fixing cyanobacteria.

Pollen Grain

The highly reduced male gametophyte in gymnosperms produced within microsporangia.

Angiosperms

Flowering plants where pollen grains and ovules develop in flowers and seeds are always enclosed in fruits.