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Kingdom Plantae - Chapters 12 and 13

Kingdom Plantae: General Characteristics

Kingdom Plantae (Chapter 12) (Write today’s date here)

A. General Characteristics

1. Plants are producers. They make their own food

a. Chlorophyll absorbs light energy that the plant uses to make food

b. Chlorophyll is found in a special organelle in the plant cell called a chloroplast

2. Plants have a cuticle.

a. A cuticle is a waxy layer that keeps the plant from drying out.

b. A cuticle is an adaptation that allows plants to live on land

3. Plants cells have cell walls that help support and protect the plant

4. Plants reproduce with spores and sex cells

a. The spore-producing stage is called the sporophyte. Spores can grow directly into new plants.

b. The stage that produced egg cells and sperm cells is called a gametophyte. The egg and sperm cell must join together (fertilization) for a new plant to grow.

B. Classification of Plants

1. Nonvascular plants depend on diffusion and osmosis to transport water and nutrients

2. Vascular plants have tissues that deliver needed materials throughout the plant. Along with the specialized tissues, they use diffusion and osmosis to get water and nutrients into the cell

a. Seedless, vascular plants are the ferns, horsetails and club mosses

b. Vascular plants that produce seeds are the Gymnosperms (nonflowering) and the Angiosperms (flowering)

C. Nonvascular plants – mosses and liverworts

1. Mosses and liverworts are small plants that grow on soil, the bark of trees, and rocks

2. They lack a vascular system so they live in places that are usually wet.

3. Mosses live together in large groups covering soil or rocks.

a. Each plant has a rhizoid – a slender, hairlike thread of cells that help hold the plant in place

4. Liverworts can be leafy and moss-like or broad and flattened

5. Mosses and liverworts are usually the first plants to inhabit a new environment and help to form the soil in the new area.

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Vascular Plants

Kingdom Plantae (Chapter 12) (Write today’s date here)

D. Vascular, seedless plants – ferns, horsetails, and club mosses

1. Ferns

a. Ferns can grow in a variety of climates

b. Ferns have an underground stem called a rhizome

c. Leaves are called fronds

1.) Young leaves are tightly coiled and called fiddlebacks

d. Ferns produce spores in cases on the underside of the frond.

2. Horsetails

a. Common millions of years ago but only about 15 species are still alive.

b. They grow in wet, marshy places.

3. Club Mosses

a. Club mosses grow in woodlands

4. Importance of ferns, horsetails and club mosses

a. They help form the soil and help prevent erosion

b. The remains of ancient ferns, horsetails, and club mosses formed coal – a fossil fuel

E. Vascular plants that form seeds.

1. Importance of seeds – protection and nourishment for the young plant

a. Three parts to the seed

1.) A young plant

2.) stored food

3.) a tough seed coat

b. When a seed germinates or begins to grow, the young plant is nourished by the food stored in the seed.

2. Gymnosperms: Seed plants without flowers

a. There are four groups – conifers, ginkgoes, cycads and gnetophytes

b. Seeds are not enclosed in a fruit.

c. Conifers have male and female cones.

1.) The male cone produces pollen which is carried by the wind to the female cones.

2.) The transfer of pollen is called pollination.

3. Angiosperms: Seed plants with flowers

a. Flowering plants are the most abundant plant today.

b. After fertilization, angiosperms produce seeds within fruits.

1.) Fruits ensure that the seed will survive as it is transported to a place where it will grow.

c. Flowers help attract animals that transfer pollen from one plant to another.

d. Monocots (one cotyledon) and Dicots (two cotyledons) differ in the number of cotyledons in their seeds.

1.) A cotyledon is a seed leaf found inside a seed.

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The Root System of Plants

Kingdom Plantae (Chapter 12) (Write today’s date here)

F. Review:

1. Three organelles found in a plant cell but not an animal cell are the chloroplast, a large vacuole and a cell wall.

2. The chloroplast is an energy converting organelle. It contains chlorophyll which gives plants their green color. The energy of sunlight is trapped by chlorophyll and used to make sugar in a process called photosynthesis.

3. The large vacuole stores water and other liquids and helps to support the plant.

4. The cell wall is made of cellulose and provides strength and support to the cell membrane.

5. All plant cells are eukaryotic.

G. The structure of plants

1. Plant Systems

a. A plant’s root system and shoot system supply the plant with needed materials for survival

1.) The shoot system is made up of stems and leaves

2.) The root system is made up of roots

b. There are two kinds of vascular tissues

1.) Xylem transports water and minerals

2.) Phloem transports sugar molecules

2. Roots

a. Root Functions

1.) Roots supply plants with water and dissolved minerals that have been absorbed from the soil

2.) Roots support and anchor plants

3.) Roots often store surplus food made during photosynthesis

b. Root Structure

1.) The layer of cells that covers the surface of roots is called the epidermis

2.) Root hairs increase the amount of surface area through which roots can absorb water and minerals

3.) Vascular tissue is located at the center of the root

4.) The root cap protects the tip of a root

c. Root Types

1.) A taproot consists of one main root that grows downward, with many smaller branch roots coming out of it

2.) A fibrous root has several roots of the same size that spread out from the base of the stem.

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Stem and Leave Functions

Kingdom Plantae (Chapter 12) (Write today’s date here)

G. The structure of plants (continued)

3. Stem Functions

a. Stems support the plant body

b. Stems transport materials between the root system and the shoot system

c. Some stems store materials

4. Leaves

a. Leaf Function

1.) The main function of leaves is to make food for the plant.

a.) Leaves capture sunlight and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis

b. Leaf Structure

1.) Structure is related to their function – photosynthesis

2.) The epidermis is a single layer of cells on the top and bottom of leaves that allows sunlight to pass through

3.) Stomata are tiny pores that allow carbon dioxide to enter the leaf

4.) Guard cells open and close the stomata

5.) Cells in the palisade layer contain many chloroplasts

6.) The veins of the leaf contain xylem and phloem

5. Flowers

a. Flowers are adaptations for sexual reproduction

b. Flowers come in many different shapes, colors and fragrances that attract pollinators or catch the wind

c. Sepals make up the bottom ring of flower parts. Their main function is to protect the immature flower when it is a bud.

d. Petals are broad, flat, and thin but they vary in shape and color. Petals may attract insects or other animals to the flower. The insects transfer pollen from flower to flower.

e. Stamens are the male reproductive structures.

1.) Each stamen consists of a thin stalk called a filament.

2.) Each stamen is topped by an anther

f. Pistils are the female reproductive structure and is in the center of most flowers.

1.) The tip of the pistil is called the stigma. Pollen grains collect on the stigma.

2.) The long slender part of the pistil is the style

3.) The rounded base of the pistil is called the ovary.

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Reproduction in Flowering Plants/Photosynthesis

Kingdom Plantae (Chapter 13) (Write today’s date here)

H. The reproduction of flowering plants

1. Flowers are adaptations for sexual reproduction

a. Fertilization takes place in the flower

b. One or more seeds within a fruit are formed

2. Sperm cells are located in pollen grains

a. Pollination occurs when pollen grains are transported from anthers to stigmas

b. Pollen moves through a tube to the ovules where fertilization occurs

3. After fertilization, the ovule develops into a seed

a. The ovary develops into a fruit

4. When seed is fully developed, the young plant stops growing

a. The plant becomes dormant or inactive

b. When seed is dropped or planted in an environment that has water, oxygen and a suitable temperature, the seed sprouts.

I. Making Food – photosynthesis

1. Energy from sun is used to make sugar (glucose) from carbon dioxide and water

2. Chloroplasts – cell organelle used to capture light energy

a. Chlorophyll – a green pigment that absorbs light energy

3. Cellular Respiration – takes place in the mitochondria

a. Converts energy stored in food into a form of energy that cells can use – ATP

4. Gas exchange in plants

a. Stoma – opening in the leaf and cuticle of a plant

b. Guard cells surround the stoma and act as doorways

c. Transpiration – loss of water from leaves.

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Plant Responses to the Environment

Kingdom Plantae (Chapter 13) (Write today’s date here)

H. Plant responses to the environment

1. Plant tropisms

a. A tropism is growth in response to a stimulus

1.) Plant growth toward a stimulus is a positive tropism.

2.) Plant growth away from a stimulus is a negative tropism

b. Phototropism is a change in growth of a plant in response to light

c. Gravitropism is a change in the growth of a plant in response to gravity

1.) Shoot tips have negative gravitropism

2.) Roots have positive gravitropism

2. Seasonal responses

a. The difference between day length and night length is an important stimulus for plants

1.) Short day plants flower in late summer or early autumn

2.) Long day plants flower in the spring or early summer

b. Seasonal changes in leaves

1.) Evergreen trees have leaves that are adapted to survive throughout the year

2.) Deciduous trees lose all their leaves at the same time each year

a.) As autumn approaches the green pigment chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down and yellow and orange pigments are revealed.

b.) Loss of leaves helps trees survive low temperatures or long periods without rain

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