Botany

Botany – study of plants

Characteristics

• Multicellular eukaryotes

Characteristics

• chlorophyll – green pigment that captures energy from sunlight

But not everything that is green is a plant…

Characteristics

• Perform photosynthesis (autotrophs)

Other organisms that photosynthesize

Euglena

bacteria

Characteristics

• cuticles – waxy layer that coats surfaces of plants – keep from drying out

Cuticle

Anything else have cuticles?

Characteristics

• cell walls – supports and protects the plant cells

Characteristics

• Multicellular Eukaryotes

• Chlorophyll

• Perform photosynthesis

• Cuticles

• Cell walls

Classifying Plants

Nonvascular plants

• Lack tubes to carry water and nutrients throughout plant

Use osmosis because most plants are only a couple cells thick

Nonvascular plants

• Reproduce with spores

Examples

• mosses, liverworts, hornworts

Size

• Small and short, stems can’t support weight and have no way to transport water up

Rhizoids

• Hair like structures to anchor the plant

Diecious

• Mosses have sexes in two separate plants, require water for fertilization

Sphagnum (peat moss)

• Burned as fuel, super absorbent and holds moisture

Seedless Vascular Plants

Seedless Vascular plants

• Have tubes but still reproduce with spores

Examples

• ferns, horsetails, club mosses

Size

• Larger in size, vascular tissue strengthens stem and carry water upward

Frond

• Fern leaf that unrolls as it grows

Rhizomes

• Underground horizontal root

Monoecious

• Contain both sexes on one plant, require water for fertilization

Seed Plants

Seed Plants

• Have vascular tissue and seeds instead of spores

Seeds

• Have a protective seed coat and stored food

Pollen

• Male gamete, allowed the transfer to another plant without water

Classifying Plants

Gymnosperms-

• “naked seeds”, seeds are not enclosed in a fruit

conifers cycads ginkgoes

Gymnosperms

• seeds usually develop in cones

Different Cones

Gymnosperms

• Mostly wind pollination

Conifers – “cone bearing”

• Examples – pines, spruces, firs, cedars, redwoods

Records – among all living things

• Tallest – redwood trees (367.5 feet)

Records

• Oldest – bristle cone pine (over 5000 years)

Cycads – Jurassic plants that resemble palms

Ginkgo trees – living fossils, may be linked to fruiting plants

Angiosperms

Angiosperms

• “covered seeds” – have flowers and fruit

Angiosperms

• Most abundant plants

ADVANTAGES

Flowers

• More efficient pollination – wind, water, insects, or other animals

Fruit

• Scatter seeds better

Two major groups:

Monocots

Dicots

Monocots - most of our food supply

• Examples: grasses, wheat, corn, rice

Dicots

• Most flowering plants

• Examples: maples, oaks, magnolias

Seed Leaves

Monocots Dicots

Leaf Veins

Monocots• usually parallel

Dicots• Usually

branched

Stems

Monocots• Scattered

bundles

Dicots• Bundles in rings

Flowers

Monocots• Parts in

multiples of 3

Dicots• Parts in

multiples of 4 or 5

Roots

Monocots• Fibrous roots

Dicots• Taproot

Monocot or Dicot?

Monocot or Dicot?

Monocot or Dicot?

Monocot or Dicot?

Monocot or Dicot?

Monocot or Dicot?