new plant flashcard set

What are plants?

Living things that make their own food using sunlight.

What does autotroph mean?

An organism that makes its own food.

What does sessile mean?

Stays in one place.

What is photosynthesis?

Using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar.

What are the four main plant groups?

Bryophytes, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.

What are bryophytes?

Nonvascular plants, like mosses.

What are seedless vascular plants?

Plants with transport tubes that reproduce without seeds, like ferns.

What are gymnosperms?

Plants that make seeds, often in cones, like pine trees.

What are angiosperms?

Flowering plants that make fruits and seeds.

What four things do plants need?

Light, water, nutrients, and space.

What is indeterminate growth?

The ability to keep growing throughout life.

What is phenotypic plasticity?

When a plant changes how it grows because of its surroundings.

What are roots?

Plant parts that absorb water and nutrients and hold the plant in place.

What are shoots?

Above-ground parts, like stems and leaves.

What do roots do?

Anchor the plant, absorb water and minerals, and sometimes store food.

What do shoots do?

Help the plant get sunlight and carbon dioxide.

Do nonvascular plants have true roots and leaves?

No.

What does more surface area help a plant do?

Collect more light and absorb more water, but it can also lose more water.

What is a taproot?

One large main root that can anchor the plant and store food.

What are lateral roots?

Smaller roots that spread out and absorb water and nutrients.

What are anchor roots?

Roots that hold a plant in place.

What are prop roots?

Roots that help support a plant.

What are pneumatophores?

Roots that help the plant exchange gases.

What are storage roots?

Roots that store food for later.

What are stems?

Plant parts that support the plant and contain transport tubes.

What are nodes?

Places on a stem where leaves attach.

What are internodes?

Stem sections between nodes.

What is a terminal bud?

A bud at the tip of a stem or branch.

What is a lateral bud?

A bud along the side of a stem.

What are stolons?

Above-ground runners that can grow into new plants.

What are rhizomes?

Underground stems that can store food and grow new shoots.

What are tubers?

Thickened stems that store carbohydrates, like potatoes.

What are tendrils?

Thin plant parts that help a plant climb.

What are succulent leaves?

Thick leaves that store water.

What is meristematic tissue?

Tissue that makes new cells so a plant can grow.

What is dermal tissue?

The plant's outer covering that protects it.

What is vascular tissue?

Tissue that moves water, minerals, and sugars.

What is ground tissue?

Tissue that fills space and helps with photosynthesis, storage, and support.

What is primary growth?

Growth that makes roots and shoots longer.

What is secondary growth?

Growth that makes roots and stems wider.

What is cambium?

A growth layer that helps a plant get wider.

How are monocot vascular bundles arranged?

They are scattered through the stem.

How are eudicot vascular bundles arranged?

They form a ring.

What are stomata?

Tiny leaf openings that let gases move in and out.

What do guard cells do?

Open and close the stomata.

What are trichomes?

Tiny plant hairs that can protect leaves and reduce water loss.

What is a hypertonic solution?

A solution with less water outside the cell, so water leaves the cell.

What is a hypotonic solution?

A solution with more water outside the cell, so water enters the cell.

What is turgor pressure?

Water pressure inside plant cells that keeps them firm.

What happens when a plant loses turgor pressure?

It wilts and becomes limp.

What does xylem carry?

Water and minerals from roots up to the shoots.

What does phloem carry?

Sugar from the leaves to the rest of the plant.

What do companion cells do?

Help sieve-tube cells move sugar.

What is the cohesion-tension theory?

Water evaporating from leaves helps pull water up from the roots.

What is a cuticle?

A waxy outer layer that helps stop water loss.

How do CAM plants save water?

They open their stomata at night.

What do C4 plants do well?

They collect and use carbon dioxide efficiently.

What are parenchyma cells?

Thin-walled cells used for photosynthesis and storage.

What are collenchyma cells?

Cells that give flexible support.

What are sclerenchyma cells?

Thick-walled cells that give strong support.

What is asexual reproduction?

One parent makes a new plant without sperm and egg joining.

What is one advantage of asexual reproduction?

The plant does not need to find a mate.

What is one disadvantage of asexual reproduction?

There is little genetic variety.

What is sexual reproduction?

Sperm and egg join to make a new organism.

What is one benefit of sexual reproduction?

It creates genetic variety.

What is alternation of generations?

A plant life cycle that switches between sporophyte and gametophyte stages.

What is a sporophyte?

The diploid stage that makes spores through meiosis.

What is a gametophyte?

The haploid stage that makes sperm or eggs through mitosis.

What does haploid (n) mean?

Having one set of chromosomes.

What does diploid (2n) mean?

Having two sets of chromosomes.

What is a spore?

A cell that can grow into a new plant stage.

What is a gamete?

A sperm or egg cell.

What is fertilization?

When sperm and egg join.

What is germination?

When a seed starts to grow.

What is pollen?

The male gametophyte of a flowering plant.

What is the ovary in a flower?

The part that holds ovules and later becomes fruit.

What is a perfect flower?

A flower with both male and female parts.

What is an imperfect flower?

A flower with only male parts or only female parts.

What does monoecious mean?

One plant has both male and female flowers or parts.

What does dioecious mean?

Male and female flowers are on separate plants.

What do sepals do?

Protect the flower bud.

What do petals do?

Attract pollinators with color and smell.

What is the stamen?

The male part of a flower.

What is the filament?

The stalk that holds up the anther.

What does the anther do?

Makes pollen.

What is the carpel?

The female part of a flower.

What does the stigma do?

Catches pollen; it is usually sticky.

What is the style?

The stalk between the stigma and ovary.

What are ovules?

Structures inside the ovary that contain the female reproductive cells.

What is the female gametophyte called?

The embryo sac.

What is the male gametophyte called?

Pollen.

What is pollination?

Pollen moving to a flower's stigma.

What is cross-pollination?

Pollen moving between different plants of the same kind.

What is a pollen tube?

A tube that carries sperm toward the ovule.

What is double fertilization?

Two sperm are used: one joins the egg and one joins the polar nuclei.

What does the first sperm make?

It joins the egg to make a zygote (2n).

What does the second sperm make?

It joins the polar nuclei to make endosperm (3n).

What is an embryo?

The baby plant inside a seed.

What is endosperm?

Stored food that feeds the developing plant.

What does the seed coat do?

Protects the seed.