Pharmaceutical Botany with Taxonomy

Flashcards covering key concepts in pharmaceutical botany and taxonomy, focusing on plant groups, characteristics, classifications, and life cycles.

What are the four main groups of land plants in the Kingdom Plantae?

Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms.

What distinguishes Bryophytes from other plant groups?

They lack vascular tissues but have a water-conducting tube and their multicellular embryo remains attached to the mother plant.

Give examples of Bryophytes.

Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.

What is a defining characteristic of Pteridophytes?

They are vascular plants that are seedless, with their embryos nourished by a parent cell.

List some examples of Pteridophytes.

Ferns, horsetails, whiskferns, and Lycophytes.

What do Gymnosperms have that distinguishes them?

They have seeds that are not enclosed in an ovary.

Name some examples of Gymnosperms.

Ginkgo, conifers, cycads, and gnetophytes.

What is characteristic of Angiosperms?

They are vascular plants with seeds enclosed in ovaries and are flowering plants.

How are trees defined based on height?

Plants with a height greater than 5 meters, usually with a woody trunk or stem.

Define shrubs and how they differ from trees.

Shrubs are plants with a height less than 5 meters, having a short main trunk with lateral branches.

What are the characteristics of annual plants?

Plants that live for one year or complete their life cycle in one growing season, such as rice and corn.

What do biennial plants do in their two-year lifecycle?

Vegetative growth occurs in the first year and reproductive growth in the second year; examples include onion and carrot.

What defines perennial plants?

Plants that live for several years.

What is the water requirement classification for Mesophytes?

They require a moderate amount of water.

What type of plants are Hydrophytes?

Plants that require a large amount of water.

Define xerophytes.

Plants that require small or scant amounts of water.

Distinguish between autotropic and heterotropic plants.

Autotropic plants can manufacture their own food (e.g., green plants with chlorophyll) while heterotropic plants do not have chlorophyll and rely on other organisms for nourishment.

What is the difference between flowering and non-flowering plants?

Flowering plants produce flowers as their reproductive organs, while non-flowering plants do not produce flowers.