Kingdom Plantae

Adapting to Land

• Plants began in water & evolved to land

• Advantages to being on land:
1. more exposure to sunlight
2. increased CO2 supply
3. increased inorganic nutrient supply
• Adaptations for plants to live on land:
1. Preventing water loss
o Drying out due to evaporation due to the sunlight
o Cuticle: waxy outer layer
o Stomata: holes/pores on surfaces enabling O2 & CO2 gas exchange
2. Reproduce without water
o Seeds & spores
o Spore: haploid nuclei surrounded by hard shell
o Seed: embryo surrounded by protective coat that may contain an
endosperm which provides nutrients for embryo
3. Nutrient absorption
o Aquatic plants get nutrients from water
o Absorb nutrients from soil with root system
o Certain plants develop vascular tissue allowing transport of water &
nutrients
o 2 types of vascular tissue
1. Xylem: absorbs H2O & inorganic nutrients from soil; moves in 1
direction
2. Phloem: distributes organic compounds in any direction
throughout plant
 Classification

Kingdom Plantae

Non-Vascular Vascular

Seedless Plants Seeded Plants

Gymnosperms Angiosperms
Seeds not enclosed
Seeds within fruit
by fruit

Gymnosperms

• Seeds not protected by fruit

• Most are evergreens  produce seeds in cones; hard shell with scales where seeds lie
open on the scales

Angiosperms

• Seeds enclosed in fruit

• Flowering plants; Flowers are the reproductive structures
• Advantages
o Seeds germinate & produce mature plants that produce seeds all in one season;
gymnosperms take years
o Fruit protects seed
o Use animal pollination which spreads seeds further than wind
o Exist in more than one environment (aquatic/parasitic/epiphytic)
• 2 classes:
1. Monocotyledons (monocots)
o 1 cotyledon (embryo)
o Leaves with parallel veination
o Vascular tissue scattered
o Flower petals occur in groups of 3
o Ex. Lilies, orchids, banana trees
2. Dicotyledons (dicots)
o 2 cotyledons
o Leaves have net veination
o Vascular tissue is radial (circular)
o Petals occur in groups of 4 or 5
 o Ex. Lettuce, oak trees, maple trees, cactuses

Fruits and Seeds

Structure of Seeds
• seed: fertilized ovule
• Dicot
o Seed Coat: protective covering
o Hilum: marks the location of where seed was attached to ovary wall
o Micropyle: opening through which pollen tube grows
o Contains 2 fleshy cotyledons
o Radicle: embryonic root
o Hypocotyl: stem-like area between cotyledons & the radicle
o Epicotyl: region above the cotyledons
o Plumule: epicotyl & any embryonic leaves
• Monocot
o Coleoptile: embryonic shoot covered with cylindrical sheath
o Coleorhiza: embryonic root covered with cylindrical sheath
Types of Fruit
• fruit: mature ovary
1. simple fruit: 1 pistil of a simple flower
2. aggregate fruit: several pistols of a single flower
3. multiple fruit: several flowers growing together

Dispersal
1. Animal
2. Wind
3. Water
4. Forcible Discharge
5. Gravity

Germination
• Seed is ‘dormant’ phase (reduced metabolism)
• Required conditions
o Water
o Oxygen
o Light
o Temperature
• First to emerge from soil is root system (radicle)
 Non-Vascular Plants

Phylum Bryophyta
• Mosses; live near water; terrestrial
• Reproduces by sperm that swims through water to reach the egg
• Can only reproduce in moist seasons but asexual (spores) doesn’t require water
• Typically in gametophyte phase
• Has rhizoids: root-like; anchors mosses to the ground & absorb water & nutrients
• Gametophyte can be male, female, or both
• Sporophyte grows from the top of the gametophyte
• “pioneer plants”  first to arrive on barren land (devastated by fires, volcanic eruptions,
or clear cut areas); they continue the job of lichens by accumulating organic & inorganic
matter on rock, creating more soil
• Prevent soil erosion by creating a moss layer on the top of the soil to retain moisture
• Genus Sphaenium
o Peat moss
o Bogs & swamps
o Produces acids that slow decomposition
o Becomes peat
 chemically broken down & compressed moss of partially decomposed
plants
 used for fuel
 used to enhance water retention in soil

Phylum Hepatophyta
• liverworts; grow in moist areas
• 2 versions
1. Leafy Liverwort: thin, transparent leaf-like structure with a stem
2. Thalloid Liverwort: flat body
• Low to the ground
• Gametophyte has a umbrella-like reproductive structure

Phylum Anthocerotophyta
• Hornworts; grow in moist, shady areas
• Sporophyte resembles a horn, is green, and photosynthetic
• Anchored by rhizoids
• Similar to algae: 1 large chloroplast instead of multiple smaller chloroplasts
• Similar to vascular plants: cuticle, stomata; tube-like structures resembling vascular
tissue
 • Considered a transition species

Vascular Seedless Plants

Phylum Psilophyta
• Whisk ferns
• No true roots, stems, or leaves
• Produce spores at the end of branches
• Considered the closest resemblance to early land plants
• Are epiphytes: grow on other plants
• Not parasites

Phylum Lycophyta
• Club mosses
• Resemble miniature spine trees (sometimes called “ground pines”)
• Produce strobilus (cones) that contain a cluster of sporangia

Phylum Sphenophyta (new name: Equisetophyta)

• Horsetails of Genus Equistem
• Have jointed photosynthetic stems containing silica (sand)
• Scale-like leaves
• Has rhizomes: jointed hollow stems
• Cones form at the tip of the stem to form spores

Phylum Pteridophyta
• Ferns
• Vary widely in size
• Tropical & subtropical areas
• Underground stem called rhizome
• Fiddleheads: tightly curled leaves; edible; develop into mature leaves called fronds
 Vascular Seeded Plants: Gymnosperms

Phylum Cycadophyta
• Resemble ferns; have leathery leaves & short trunks
• Found in tropical areas
• Can be male or female
• Survive for a very long period of time but grow very slowly
• Endangered
• Produces large cones

Phylum Ginkgophyta
• Endangered
• Around 12.5 million years ago
• Found in China
• Deciduous: lose leaves in winter
• Produce fern-like leaves & plum-shaped fleshy seeds
• Very tolerant to air pollution

Phylum Coniferophyta
• Pine, cedar, fir, cypress, redwood
• Largest trees
• Paper production & Christmas trees
• Yellow resin called sap; turns into amber & fossilizes insects
• Needles or scale-like leaves
• reproduction
o Produce both male & female cones
o Male cones are small & grow in clusters
o Female cones are bigger
o Male cones produce pollen which land on the female cones
o Male cones fall off tree
o Pollen fertilizes the egg on the scale of the female cone
o Scales close up & mature after 1 or 2 years
o When mature scales open & seeds are released

Phylum Gnetophyta
• Produce cones
• Vascular system more like angiosperms
 Vascular Seeded Plants: Angiosperms

Phylum Anthophyta (*flowering)

• Fruit: ripe ovary that surrounds the seed
• Ovary: female reproductive structure
• Oak tree & birch tree are angiosperms
• Grasses are angiosperms
Alternation of Generations

Alternation of generations
1. diploid sporophyte: 2 sets of chromosomes; produces spores
2. haploid gametophyte: 1 set of chromosome; produces sperm & egg

Life Cycles

Non-vascular Plants
• gametophyte is dominant phase
• Antheridium: male reproductive structure; makes sperm
• Archegonium: female reproductive structure; makes egg
• During moist periods the sperm swims from atheridium to archegonium
• 2n zygote is formed
• Zygote becomes an embryo through mitosis
• Repeated mitotic divisions of embryo form a multicellular sporophyte
• Sporophyte at first is a tall stalk that grows on top of the gametophyte
• Sporophyte is dependant on the gametophyte for nourishment
• Cells at the tip divide & form a sporangium called a capsule
• Cells within capsule undergo meiosis to form n spores
• When spores are mature the capsule splits open & releases them
• Spores dispersed by wind
• Those which land in favourable environments germinate & produce a protenoma
• The protenoma is an early stage of gametophyte development
• Homospory: all spores look alike & produce similar gametophytes

Vascular Seedless Plants

• Sporophyte is dominant phase
• Gametophytes are called prothallus; leaf-like, short and broad
• Antheridia & Archegonia on underside of prothallus
• Sperm swims to egg in rainy seasons  zygote  embryo  sporophyte
• Young sporophyte grows from the prothallus & is dependant on it for food
• Mature sporophyte produces rhizomes (underground stems) to obtain nutrients
• Prothallus dies
• Fern forms fronds (leaves) which develop called sorus/sori (round orange spore clusters)
 • Sorus undergo meiosis & develop spores
• Fronds catch the wind & catapult the spores away
• Some spores carried by wind

Vascular Seeded Plants

• 2 types of spores
1. microspore: male gametophyte
2. megaspore: female gametophyte
• heterospory: different spores produced
• microspores develop into pollen & is carried by wind
• not dependent on rainy seasons
• Pine trees
o Make megasporangium (female cone) and microsporangium (male cone)
o Megasporangium produces megaspores
o Megaspore surrounded by a protective layer called an integument
o Microphyle: opening in the integument
o Microsporangium produce microspores which develop into pollen
o Wind dispersal spreads pollen to the megagametophyte/megaspore
o Water captures the pollen on the microphyle & draws it into the megagametophyte
o Pollen tube forms & 2 sperm from the pollen reaches the egg
o One sperm fertilizes the egg while the other dies
o Takes 1 year for the sperm to reach the egg
o Cone will close & take several months for the zygote to develop into an embryo
o Embryo becomes a seed with wings; dispersed by wind

Life Cycle of Flowering Plants

Phylum Anthophyta
Parts of a Flower
• flower is highly modified branch
• Receptacle: the swollen tip of a branch that is the base of a flower
• Sepal: a modified leaf that protects a young flower
• Calyx: what all the sepals are collectively called
• Petal: showy part of the flower; attract animals
• Petals/sepals of wind-pollinated flowers are usually reduced or absent
• Corolla: what all the petals are collectively called
• Stamen: male reproductive structure
1. Anther: the microsporangium that produces microspores, then pollen grains
 2. Filament: stalk-like; supports the anther
• Carpel: female reproductive structure
• Pistil: structure formed of fused carpels
• Ovary: the base of the pistil
• Style: arises from ovary; supports stigma
• Stigma: entrance for pollen; generally sticky & hairy to catch pollen
• Perfect flower: has both stamen and pistil
• Imperfect flower: lack either stamen or pistil
1. monoecious: when male flowers and female flowers are on the same plant
2. dioecious: when the male flowers and female flowers are on different plants

Pollen Grain Formation

• each anther contains 4 pollen sacs
• pollen sacs contain 2n microspore mother cells
• each microspore mother cell undergoes meiosis to produce 4 n microspores
• nucleus of each microspore divides by mitosis to produce 2 n cells
• thick cell wall surrounds both cells
• resulting n, 2-celled structure is the male gametophyte: the pollen grain
• larger cell: tube cell (will form pollen tube)
• smaller cell: generative cell (will form 2 sperm)

Ovule Formation
• Ovule: megasporangia formed in ovaries
• Ovule contains a large 2n megaspore mother cell
• megaspore mother cell undergoes meiosis to produce 4 n megaspores
• 3 of the 4 megaspores degenerate & die
 • Remaining megaspore enlarges & undergoes 3 mitotic divisions to produce 8 n nuclei
o Arranged in 2 groups of 4; one group at each end of the cell
o 1 nucleus from each group migrates to centre; called polar nuclei
o Cell walls form around each of the remaining 6 nuclei
o 3 cells farthest from the micropyle called antipodals
o One of the three cells nearest the micropyle enlarges & becomes egg
o Remaining 2 cells called synergids
• By the time these are formed, the ovule has also formed 1-2 layers of protective coverings
called integuments which don’t completely encase ovule
• At one end of ovule is micropyle, a small opening through which pollen enters
• Final structure, which contains 7 cells & 8 nuclei is the mature megagametophyte; called
the embryo sac

Pollination
• Process by which pollen is transferred from an anther to a stigma
• Self-pollination: transfer of pollen between flowers on same plant
• Cross-pollination: transfer of pollen between 2 plants of same species
• Wind Pollination depends on:
o release of large amounts of pollen
o a lot of wind to carry pollen
o close proximity to other plants
• Animal Pollination requires plants to attract animals:
o Colourful flowers
o Scent
o Nectar: sugar & amino acids

Fertilization
• Union of gametes
• Requires the pollen grain to travel to the egg
• Pollen grain germinates after landing on stigma (germination requires moisture)
• Tube cell forms pollen tube that grows through stigma & style towards the ovule
• n generative cell divides mitotically to form 2 sperm
• pollen tube grows through micropyle & into embryo sac
• sperm enters embryo sac through pollen tube
• one sperm fuses with the egg to form 2n zygote
• zygote develops into embryo
• second sperm fuses with the 2 polar nuclei to produce 3n nucleus
• 3n nucleus divides by mitosis; eventually becomes endosperm, provides nutrients
• Double fertilization: 2 types of cell fusion taking place
o one produces zygote
o one produces endosperm

Asexual Reproduction
1. Vegetative Propagation
o Naturally occurring production of new plants from non reproductive plant parts
1. Stolon (runner): horizontal above ground stem that produces leaves & roots at its
nodes; a new plant can grow from each node
2. Rhizome: horizontal below ground stem that produces leaves & roots at its nodes;
a new plant can grow from each node
3. Bulb: very short, underground monocot stem with thick, fleshy leaves adapted for
storage; bulbs divide naturally to produce new plants
4. Tuber: underground swollen fleshy stem specialized for storage; the buds on a
tuber can grow into new plants
2. Artificial Propagation
o Human application of vegetative reproduction
1. Cuttings: take cuttings from plant (pieces of roots or stems) and plant them to
grow into new plants
2. Grafting: take a branch from 1 plant & join it to another branch of another plant