Plant Kingdom Overview

Lateral Gram

• Diagram showing the evolutionary relationships between different groups of plants.

Plant Groups (in order of evolutionary advancement)

• Green algae
• Nonvascular plants (Bryophytes/mosses)
• Seedless Vascular plants (Ferns)
• Gymnosperms
• Angiosperms

Characteristics of Plants

• Multicellular
• Primarily terrestrial (live on land)
• Well-developed tissues
• Autotrophic (make their own food via Photosynthesis)
• Reproduction via alteration of generation
• Protection of the embryo (e.g., seed inside a fruit)

Plant Embryos

• Present in plants; protected and nourished (e.g., peach flesh protecting the seed)

Groups (revisited)

• Nonvascular plants
• Vascular but seedless plants
• Conifers
• Flowering plants

Alteration of Generation

• Two main players:
  • Sporophyte: Diploid ($2n$), produces spores.
  • Gametophyte: Haploid ($1n$), produces gametes.

Generic Plant Life Cycle

• Zygote (fertilized egg) becomes a diploid organism.
• Diploid organism undergoes mitosis to produce sporangium, which results in spores after meiosis.
• Spores (haploid) undergo mitosis to produce gametes.
• Diploid ($2n$) results in spores; haploid ($1n$) results in gametes.