What makes a plant?

•Photosynthesis– How plants eat

•Cell walls– Building blocks

PhotosynthesisProcess of using energy from the sun to make sugar

• Sunlight is electromagnetic

Radiant energy visible light

• Plants absorb RED and BLUE light

• Plants use CHLOROPLASTS to store energy from the sun in sugars – Chloroplasts are inside the leaves of plants

Photosynthesis

CO2

+

WATER

SUGAR

+

OXYGEN

CHLOROPLAST

Plant Cells• All cells have membranes, or flexible

containers that keep the cell together while letting certain stuff in and out

– Only plant cells also have walls made of CELLULOSE

– Walls are for shape, protection, and support

• Vacuoles

How do plants grow?

• Annual (an-you-al)- year

a plant that completes its life cycle in one growing season

1. Growing

2. Flowering

3. Setting seed

Tomatoes Marigolds

• Perennial (per-en-ee-al)= year to year

a plant that lives for 3 or more years– Every year it grows, flowers and seeds– Sometimes the plant’s roots re-grow new stems– Other plants have stems that keep living, like trees

Roses Spruces Daisies

How do plants grow?

How do plants grow?

• Biennial (by-en-ee-al)= two years

a plant that needs 2 growing seasons to complete its life cycle– The first year it only grows lots of leaves– Then it rests over winter– The next spring it grows flowers and will set seed

Carrots Foxglove

Plant Structure• Leaves

– Thorns and vines are special leaves!

• Stems

• Roots

• Special parts– Flowers– Cones

Basic Plant Forms• Tree

• Shrub/bush

• Vine

• Forb

• Grass

• Aquatic plant

Roots• Responsible for pulling up water and minerals

• Anchor the plant to one spot

Shoots• Stems and leaves

– Trunks and branches are kinds of stems

• Plants grow at special ends of stems call terminal buds

• Leaves grow at nodes along stems

Shoots• Problem: food is made at

the top and water is sucked up from the ground…– XYLEM (zy-lem): moves

water and minerals through the tree, helps support the plant

– PHLOEM (flow-em): moves food from leaves to other parts of plant

Special Structures• Different parts = different advantages

• Flowers

• Cones

• Fruit

• Storage

Flowers• Making seeds

• Attracting pollinators– petals

Fruits and Seeds• Plants build fruits to protect and help spread

their seeds

• Seeds contain tiny plants, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and grow– Coat– Food supply

What parts of a plant do we eat?

Lettuce

Peas

Beets

Blueberries

Pickles

Broccoli

Ketchup

Celery

Bread

Mustard

Baked Beans

Rhubarb

This project was partially funded by NOAA Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Funds administered by

the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund.