Plant Kingdom Notes

Classification of Living Things

  • 4 Kingdoms:
    • Protista
    • Fungi
    • Plantae
    • Animalia
  • Domains:
    • 3 domains represent the broadest group in the classification of living things.

Kingdom Plantae Review

  • Multicellular: Plants are composed of multiple cells.
  • Autotrophic: Plants produce their own food through photosynthesis.
  • Cell Walls: Plant cells have cell walls made of cellulose.
  • Examples: Rose and oak tree.

What Plants Need to Survive

  • Energy: Plants require energy to carry out life processes.
  • Carbon Dioxide (CO_2): Used in photosynthesis.
  • Water (H_2O): Essential for various processes, including photosynthesis.
  • Chlorophyll: A pigment that captures light energy for photosynthesis.
  • Glucose (C6H{12}O_6): A sugar produced during photosynthesis, serving as food for the plant.
  • Oxygen (O_2): Released as a byproduct of photosynthesis.
  • Photosynthesis: The process by which plants convert light energy, water, and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen.

Vascular Tissue

  • Xylem: Transports water and minerals upward from the roots, contributes to the woody structure of the stem.
  • Phloem: Carries sugars/food downward from the leaves to other parts of the plant.

Cladogram of Plant Groups

  • Green Algae (ancestor)
  • Mosses and their relatives
  • Ferns and their relatives
  • Cone-bearing plants
  • Flowering plants
  • Key Evolutionary Features:
    • Water-Conducting (Vascular) Tissue
    • Seeds
    • Flowers; Seeds Enclosed in Fruit

Overview of the Plant Kingdom

  • Plants are divided into five groups based on these four features:
    • Embryo formation
    • Specialized water-conducting tissues
    • Seeds
    • Flowers
  • Embryos that develop within a plant are protected from harsh land elements.
  • Plants with water-conducting tissue:
    • Can draw water to greater heights than is allowed by simple diffusion allowing them to grow much larger.
    • roots allow plants to live above water
  • Seeds:
    • Provide food for the developing embryo.
    • Protect it from drying out.
  • Flowers: Give plants a reproductive advantage and fruits for around their seeds.

Mosses and Bryophytes

  • Mosses have a waxy coating and rhizoids that anchor them to the soil and absorb water and nutrients from the environment.
  • Mosses belong to the bryophytes phylum.
  • They are small and found in damp soil because they lack vascular tissue which limits their heights to just a few centimeters.
  • Mosses do not have roots!
    • Which means they cannot hold much water and they are able to absorb it from their surroundings.

Ferns

  • Ferns contain vascular tissue.
  • Do not produce seeds.
  • Can survive with little light.
  • Like abundantly wet environments.
  • Reproduce by releasing spores (microscopic cells capable of becoming new organisms) into the environment.

Seed Plants

  • A seed is a plant embryo and its food supply encased in a protective covering.
  • Gymnosperms: Bear their seeds directly on the scales of cones (pine, spruce, and fir trees).
  • Angiosperms: Bear their seeds within a layer of tissue that protects the seed (flowering plants, food crops).
  • Pollen: The male gametophyte of a seed plant. Pollen grains are carried to the female reproductive structure of plants through pollination.

Flower Structure

  • Stamen – “men”/male parts, anther produces pollen
    • Anther
    • Filament
  • Pistil/Carpel – Female parts
    • Stigma
    • Style
    • Ovary
    • Carpel
  • Other Parts
    • Petal
    • Sepal
    • Ovule
    • Receptacle

Seeds and Fruit

  • Seeds (ovules): structures in seed cones in which the female gametophytes (plant sex cells) develop.
  • Fruit (ovary): the structure that surrounds and protects the seeds.