1

Lab 10: Green Algae and Land Plants

The first long branch of the phylogenetic tree in the taxonomy manual that we will
climb is the one leading to plants. Plants are perhaps the most obvious and dominant
forces on this planet. They make up most of the biomass of life. As they say, From
a distance, the world looks blue and green. The green part is because of plants.
Some of the largest and oldest living organisms are plants (some trees live to be 5,000 years old!). Before
there were plants however, there were many single-celled, aquatic, chlorophyll-filled, photosynthetic
organisms. At some point, some of these organisms got together to form multicellular, aquatic,
chlorophyll-filled, photosynthetic organisms. Over many millennia, some of those organisms slowly
moved onto land. To do so, they acquired many adaptations to live in this new environment. This lab will
explore the evolution of multi-celled, photosynthetic, fully terrestrial plants, by first looking at some taxa
that are still flourishing today, but maintain some of the characters of those intermediate steps. We will
then explore some key adaptations that have made land plants so successful.

Photosynthesis is the process of taking light energy and some inorganic molecules and making organic
molecules and a storable form of
energy (glucose). This is a vital
process and the main source of the
worlds usable biomaterials and
energy. Plants use glucose for
energy and to build their bodies.
We steal glucose from plants for the
same thing. In fact, your body, your
light bulbs, and your car run on the
products of photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis was invented by
bacteria, but stolen by other
organisms, which turned them into
chloroplasts. None of this would
be possible if this did not happen.
Have you thanked a plant lately?

GREEN ALGAE (PHYLUM CHLOROPHYTA)
The green algae (Phylum Chlorophyta) are believed to be the predecessors of the plants we see
today. They are mostly single-celled, aquatic autotrophs that photosynthesize light energy into sugars
using chloroplasts. Again, this is not a monophyletic group and the word algae incorporates a lot
of unrelated creatures.
Chlamydomonas are unicellular and move via long tail-like flagella and use a
light-sensitive eyespot to locate light for photosynthesis. A plant that moves!

Volvox is a very complex green alga because each sphere is really a mass of
hundreds of single cells that form colonies. Together they aid each others
reproduction by forming cloned daughter colonies (large internal circles) and
fertilized zygotes for sexual reproduction (small dark dots). They can also
reproduce asexually.

Spirogyra have their chloroplasts in spiraling patterns, a trait that gives them
their name. Spirogyra cells form long chains, or filaments, and have cell walls.
They look remarkably like the Elodea plant leaves we looked at last semester.
This close associated of cells also aids reproduction, which may be a clue as to
how the ancestors of plants evolved multicellularity.
2

Going terrestrial (dawn of the EMBRYOPHYTA)
Plants differ from algae only in that they are all multicellular and
typically terrestrial. In order to survive on land, they evolved (1)
a cuticle that surrounds their bodies to hold in water (its really
dry up here) and (2) layers of tissues that protect their embryos.
All plants alive today possess these two adaptations in some form
or other.
You can see these adaptations in the following slides:
- Cuticle: see slides marked typical monocot and dicot leaf cs

- Protected embryo: see slides marked Moss archegonium. The circle in the middle is the
egg, the tissues surrounding it are protective.

Some of the oldest true plants are the liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. These ancient lineages of
plants still possess some of the characteristics of their aquatic ancestors. They require moist conditions to
move their flagellated sperm from the male parts to the female parts (flagella help them swim). They also
have primitive methods for moving water and nutrients from the roots and sugars from their leaves to the
other parts of the plant, so they cannot grow very tall. These seedless nonvascular plants are traditionally
called Byrophytes, but this is not a monophyletic group, since other plants evolved from a bryophyte (it
does not include all the descendents of the group). It is based on characters they dont share, rather than
ones they do share. It is kind of like the term acoustic guitar; before there were electric guitars, there
were no acoustic guitars; there were just guitars. Now mosses only are in the PHYLUM
BRYOPHYTA.


Liverwort Hornwort Moss

We have lots of specimens and slides of these ancient plants in labs today.


TRACHEOPHYTA (VASCULAR PLANTS)
Plants are, for the most part, sessile, meaning that they live in one place and do not move around. This
means that they are stuck where they are and are in constant danger of damage and starvation. To avoid
those things, more modern plants, the Tracheophyta, have a few adaptations. One is a relatively simple
basic body plan that can be manipulated to meet many needs.

For instance, young plants have three cells types (chym means juice, in this case its the stuff inside):
Parenchyma (paren means parent)- protection, secretion, photosynthesis, healing
Collenchyma (coll means glue or neck)- support
Sclerenchyma (sclera means hard)- support

Plant cells are then arranged into three tissue types:
Dermal tissue (derm means skin or outer layer)- covers plant, regulates gas exchange
Ground tissue- photosynthesis, storage, support
Vascular tissue- long distance transport of water and minerals
3

Each of these tissues can then be arranged into three main organ types:
Roots- dig deep into the soil to absorb water and minerals
Stems- separate the location of photosynthesis from the source of
water and minerals and allow plants to reach more light
Leaves- main location of photosynthesis, greatly increase the surface
area for this function

Leaves
Have you ever sat in the woods and thought to yourself, I
wonder where leaves came from? No? Hmm thats
interesting. Maybe somethings wrong with you. Anyway,
leaves probably evolved from branches. I can imagine that
branches became the centers for photosynthesis. They then
became widened laterally, rather than extending away from
each other in separate branches. Eventually, these sheet-like
branches became more specialized. Leaves today are very
thin layers of chloroplasts, the factories of photosynthesis.
The surfaces of leaves are pocked with stomata (more on
stomata below), that take in CO
2
for photosynthesis and
release O
2
and water vapor (the waste products of
photosynthesis). Guard cells surround the stomata and can
close them when necessary, such as during dry spells. Dont
want to lose water during a dry spell. Leaves also have a
network of veins to bring water up from the roots into the
leaves and to transfer the products from their photosynthesis (i.e., sugars) to the rest of the plant. So,
overall, leaves are pretty cool.




Since plants cannot move, they must make the best of what they get; but because they make their own
food, they only have two main needs: water and sunlight. Plants grow deep to get water and tall to get
light. To do this, plants evolved special tubes to move water more efficiently. These tubes, called
vascular tissue allow plants to be more efficient at transporting food and water throughout the body; it
lets them grow their roots way down deep to find water and put their leaves way up high to get light.
Therefore, vascular plants can grow much taller than nonvascular plants; the groups of plants mentioned
above, i.e., mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, do not have these tubes. Have you ever sat under the
shade of a moss? I think not.
osslble sLeps ln Lhe evoluLlon of leaves.
lrom Perr 2010.
4

Water helps the plants cells work, but is also a critical part of
photosynthesis. The way vascular plants move water is quite
impressive. After photosynthesis, water is released through holes
in the leaves called stomata. In vascular plants, stomata are
surrounded by guard cells that control the amount of water leaving
by opening and closing (another adaptation to prevent excess water
loss in terrestrial plants).

As water evaporates out of the stomata, it causes a negative
pressure that pulls water up from the roots through the xylem, a
type of vascular tissue. It works the same way as a drinking straw.
As long as you suck on one end (and there is water in the glass) it
will pull water up through the straw in one long stream. When the
stream is broken, it is hard, even impossible to reform. This is why
your household plants can die if you skip a few waterings. No
matter how much you water them again, the stream has been
broken. This movement in plants requires no energy at all.

The products of photosynthesis, namely sugar, is moved from the
leaves to the rest of the plant via another vascular tissue: phloem.
The movement of fluids through phloem is a little more complex and involves a series of one-way valves.


Vascular Tissue
Xylem
Long tubes of cells that are dead at
functional maturity
Carries water and minerals up from
the roots to other parts of the plants
Phloem
Long tubes of cells that are living at
maturity, but which lack nuclei
Carries glucose from the site of
photosynthesis to the roots and
other storage areas


You can view these adaptations in the following slides:
- Vascular tissue: Any of the slides labeled stem cs, e.g., Tilia
stem, Pinus stem, Helianthus stem should have views of the
vascular tissues (colored purple in the figure at right.)
! Also, compare these vascular stems to the much
simpler Mnium stem slides (a moss).

- Stomata and guard cells: Any of the slides of leaf epidermis,
i.e., Monocot and Dicot leaf epidermis, Tradescantia leaf
epidermis, Rhoeo epidermis, should have views of the stomata
and guard cells.




The majority of plants living today, and the rest of the ones in this lab manual, are vascular plants.
3



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6

FERNS (PHYLUM PTEROPHYTA)
The oldest living plants with vascular tissue are the lycophytes, which also have
lignified cell walls, but they do not have stomata on their leaves. The ferns
(pterophytes) are the first group that has lignified cell walls, vascular tissue, and
stomata on their leaves. These adaptations allow ferns to get further from water
and to grow much taller than their previous
ancestors, such as the 20m (66ft)tall tree fern,
although they still have flagellated sperm, and
usually live in moist habitats.

The fern life cycle, like all the plants from now
on, involves a dominant sporophyte (diploid) and a less obvious
gametophyte (haploid) (this is alternation of generations, which
evolved much earlier than ferns).

Ferns under go quite a transformation in their life cycle.
The leafy part that we think of when we think of ferns (as I
know you do quite often) is the adult sporophyte (diploid)
stage. This stage of the plant creates spores (haploid)
through meiosis on specialized organs called sporangia.
Spores are usually single-celled reproductive structures
that can develop independently into a much larger mature
plant. Since they can live independently of the mother
plant, they are crucial in dispersal and finding new places
to live.

The sporangia of ferns are grouped
together in clusters called sori (the
singular form is sorus) which are found
on the underside of the frond. Though
they appear to be flat on the underside of
the leaf, the sori are actually attached to
the leaf by a very short stalk. The walls of the sporangium
are only one cell thick and are made up of specialized
thick-walled cells.

The spores are flung into the environment, hopefully into
water, where they form a microscopic, floating, heart-
shaped gametophyte that produces sperm and eggs.

After fertilization, the new plant lands on land and grows
new roots and fiddleheads. Each fiddlehead eventually
uncoils into a new frond.


- Look for all these structures in the slides
marked ferns as well as on living ferns in
the lab



7

!""#$ &'# ()**"'
The evolution of a vascular system and the ability to move water from the roots to the top of the plant
enabled some species to grow to a much larger size and be further away from their water source. More
ecological niches were available to plants with vascular tissue and they flourished. It would take two
further advancements, seeds and pollen, to move plants farther away from water and allow the
development of most of the species alive today. These two key adaptations increase a plants dispersal
ability. Dispersal is important for colonizing new habitats and spreading out genotypes.
Since individuals dont have to mate with their nearest neighbors, who are more likely to be
related to them, it reduces inbreeding, which increases the chances of inheriting and
expressing deleterious recessive traits.

Pollen
Ferns have complete vascularization, but still require moist environments to move their
flagellated sperm between plants.

The evolution of pollen however, stopped all that. Pollen grains are
some plants male gametophyte, which will eventually make sperm. They are
surrounded by tough cell walls that allow them to withstand harsh conditions (like
dryness) away from the parent plant for long periods of time. They even survive
the fossilization process, giving us lots of information about historic plants. (This
tough wall, with its protective stiffness and spikes is what causes an allergic
reaction when you inhale them.) Pollen grains are able to travel much farther to
reach the female parts than flagellated sperm, something earlier plants and even
animals still depend on.

They are also able to be transported via methods other than water. Originally this
was probably wind, but later things get more sophisticated (with the evolution of
flowers, see below). Have you ever been in Georgia when the pine trees release
their pollen? Cars, buildings, people, everything is covered in a thin yellow
layer. These little grains can travel great distances by riding the air.

With the evolution of pollen, individual plants no longer need to be anywhere near each other to be
fertilized.

- See the mixed pollen slides. Also, when you look at the pine cone slides (mentioned
below), notice the two wide wings on the pine pollen. These help catch wind and aid
dispersal.


Seeds
Another key adaptation that allowed plants to take over the earth was the seed. It
is hard to imagine a world without seeds, but for about 115 million years, the only
plants on land (liverworts, mosses, ferns, etc) were without seeds. A seed is a
mature ovule with a protective seed coat. As in pollen, this coat allows them to
survive harsh conditions and move much farther away from the parent plant than
spores could. Seeds can withstand long periods of drought that might kill all the
mature plants in the area, but when the rains come again, they sprout up healthy
and happy. (Some seeds have been found in Egyptian pyramids and were still
able to germinate.) Charles Darwin showed that seeds can survive long trips in
salt water, which is probably crucial for colonizing oceanic islands, by floating
some in his bath tub.

ollen gralns from
many Lypes of planLs
lern sperm wlLh
mulLlple flagella
8

A seed is made of three parts. There is an embryo, the diploid sporophyte stage; an endosperm, a food
source for the developing embryo; and a seed coat, a protective cover that is resistant to desiccation (that
is, being dried out). Some seeds have leaf-like structures, which act as additional food sources or absorb
nutrients from the endosperm for the embryo called cotyledons. These are needed as the embryo can
sometimes use up all of the endosperm during early developmental stages. Some cotyledons are leaf-like
and might even photosynthesize. They are typically the first leaves to emerge from a seed.

Seeds come in many shapes and sizes, but you probably recognize several, since we use them as food.
Rice, wheat, corn (I challenge you to find a packaged food without corn or a corn byproduct in it),
sunflower seeds, peanuts, tree nuts (like almonds, pecans, and cashews), peas, lima beans, coffee beans,
pine nuts, and pumpkin seeds are all seeds that you might find in your grocery store (and because they are
so prevalent, you might find some here in lab today too).

Seeds are, in a sense, baby plants (take that vegetarians!). When a seed finds itself in happy conditions,
i.e., with enough moisture, it will germinate and sprout roots down and a stem up. The first leaves
formed by many plants are the cotyledons. As more roots are put down and a few leaves are developed,
more materials will be gathered and the plant will grow.



Functions of seeds:
Seeds themselves serve many additional functions, which we will look at in lab today. Try to associate
different seed types with their functions (you may need to later). Keep in mind, these are not mutually
exclusive.

Food for the embryo.
Perhaps the main function of the seed is to provide nutrients to the embryo. This is the endosperm.
- Take a peanut or soaked bean and a dissecting blade (be careful with the blades as they
are very sharp). Cut the seed in two pieces along a vertical axis (in other words, stand it
up straight and cut down the middle) such that you get two halves. Look for the embryo
on one side of the seed half. This is the part that if fertilized, would grow into a new
plant. Notice that the majority of the meat of the seed is the cotyledons. This would
be the food for the growing plant, and it is good food for us too, which is why we eat
seeds. The seed coat is the thin skin around the cotyledons. This is a basic design,
which has been modified in different plants.


9

Protect the embryo
Many seeds are equipped with very hard, spiny, or toxic seed coats. Peach pits
and acorns have hard outer coats. (The peach seed is actually deep inside the
wrinkled pit, which provides protection.) Apple seeds contain a small amount of
cyanide (possibly to deter insects from biting through the seed coat. Your body
can handle the small amount in these seeds, so it is okay if you accidentally
swallow a couple, however dont bite into a cherry, peach or apricot seed if you
can help it). The protective layers keep the embryo from drying out, being injured
or eaten before they have a chance to germinate and form a new plant. There are a
lot of creatures, humans included, that like to eat seeds. Can you think of other
seed coats that might serve a protective function?


Aid dispersal
Dispersal probably produces some of the most diverse forms of seeds. Some seeds use their hard seed
coats to survive long journeys, including through the guts of animals, so that the embryo will grow far
from where it was born. These probably include blackberry and strawberry seeds.

Some have special locomotive structures of their own. Pine and maple seeds
have wings and dandelion seeds have parachutes. These structures catch the
wind to increase the distance they travel before hitting the ground. Have you
ever blown the seeds from a dandelion on a windy day?

Some seeds have hooks and spines that are designed to attach to animals
passing by. By the time they finally fall off, they have hopefully hitched a ride far from their birthplace.
Cockleburs are a common variety. In fact, in 1941, seeds with hundreds of tiny hooks were clinging to
the fur of a dog owned by George de Mestral. He took those seeds and, stealing their technology,
invented Velcro. Other seeds have only two hooks, or rough skin, or very large hooks to serve the same
purpose.

Some plants literally shoot their seeds out of specialized seed pods that function through hydraulic
pressure. You can see a video of that here: http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/seed.html.

- Several types of seeds are displayed in the labcan you determine their
functions? If you havent already, take a soaked bean and cut it CAREFULLY
down the center to see the embryo, seed coat, and cotyledons.


10

SPERMATOPHYTA: THE SEED PLANTS (Sperm is Latin for seed)


After the evolution of seeds and pollen, plants diversified greatly. Other than mosses and ferns, pretty
much every plant you probably ever thought about before lab, is a vascularized, seed plant. It is because
of seeds and pollen that they are so numerous and varied. That is why these are key adaptations.


Modern seed plants are divided into two major kinds (formerly considered divisions or phyla). The
nonflowering, seed plants (Gymnosperms) and the flowering plants (Angiosperms). Gymnosperms
include diverse plants like conifers, ginkgos, cycads, and gnetas, and is not monophyletic. Angiosperms
include everything else.

As in their sister group the ferns, these plants have a dominant sporophyte stage. Technically,
gametophytes (which are haploid and produce gametes) and sporophytes (which are diploid and produce
spores) are different generations. Going back and forth between gametophyte and sporophyte stages, as
plants do, is therefore called alternation of generations. However, unlike the ferns, the gametophyte of
the seed plants is greatly reduced and dependent on the sporophyte. See the difference in types of
alternation of generations:




LvoluLlon of seeds and pollen
LvoluLlon of flowers and frulLs
11

GYMNOSPERMS (PHYLA PINOPHYTA, GINKGOPHYTA, CYCADOPHYTA, GNETOPHYTA)
Although not monophyletic, gymnosperms are considered one group because they share some
characteristics, but mostly this is a shared lack of characteristics (namely fruits and flowers). Again, this
means that it is not monophyletic.

Gymnosperm means naked seed because they do not have fruits. Also, in gymnosperms, the pollen
goes directly to the ovule instead of to the stigma (part of the flower, see below). Ginkgos, cycads,
junipers, and conifers (including pine trees) are all gymnosperms.

Most gymnosperms rely on wind to carry their pollen from the male plant to the female
plant. Although more efficient than relying on water, like the bryophytes, this is a hit-
or-miss strategy, and so most gymnosperms produce huge amounts of pollen to
increase the chances of success. For example, each male of a pine tree releases an
estimated 1-2 million pollen grains every year (hence the yellow fog in spring).

One interesting feature of gymnosperms is their seed-bearing structure. Ginkgos bear
their seeds singly on stalks. Other gymnosperms produce much more complex
strobili. A strobilus (plural: strobili) is a specialized structure bearing sporophylls,
which are leaves that are modified to bear sporangia, which again are structures where
spores are made. Junipers produce tight, berry-like strobili. We are most familiar with
the strobili of conifers, which we refer to as cones.


Cones












Pine trees bear two kinds of cones: microstrobili and megastrobili. The microstrobili produce pollen.
The megastrobili produce ovules which will become seeds. Microstrobili are usually much smaller than
megastrobili, hence the prefixes. In pines, the male microstrobili are usually small, yellow, and soft.
Their sole purpose is to release pollen, causing the yellow clouds mentioned earlier.

Male cones:


ollen
!unlper cones Cycad cones ?ew cones Cypress cones
12

After being released, the pollen travels on the wind, in hopes that some of it will land on a receptive
female cone (a megastrobilus), where the pollen enters in search of an ovule to fertilize.

Female cone:









Once fertilized, the cone closes and the ovules develop into eggs.











The eggs are eventually coated in the normal parts of a seed, the endosperm
and seed coat, and in Pinus, develop wings to aid dispersal. The cone
develops a tough outer coat with spines made of overlapping layers called
scales. Cones can take two years to develop. When conditions are right, the
scales open, releasing the seeds. Some pines need fire in order for their scales
to open.




- There are examples of various cones in the lab. Are these mega- or micro- sporangia?
Can you see where the seeds are/were attached? Do you see the protective scales?

- Also, look at slides of Pine (Pinus) cones. In the staminate cone slides, you can see the
pollen bearing structures, or microsporangia. These should be full of pollen. In the
ovulate cone slides, you can see the ovules.

ollen
enLerlng
megaspore
lmmaLure cone
Lgg
13

ANGIOSPERMS (PHYLUM ANGIOSPERMAE aka MAGNOLIOPHYTA)
The next major branch on the phylogeny of plants belongs to the angiosperms. This is by far the most
common, numerous, and diverse group of plants. They acquired this prevalence and diversity through
hard work and two main key adaptations: fruits and flowers. Angiosperms (meaning seeds in vessels)
are plants whose seeds are enclosed in fruits and whose reproductive structures are in the form of
flowers. Their ovule is completely covered by sporophyte tissue after fertilization (and therefore not
naked, like the gymnosperms).


Flowers
Flowers help control the direction of fertilization. Angiosperm sex is kinky; they usually need a third
party to pull it off. Rather than relying on wind and chance to take a pollen grain from a male plant to an
egg cell, angiosperms use flowers to attract insects, birds, or mammals, which carry the pollen to another
flower of the same species. Many of these animals are incredibly specific in which type of flowers they
visit, often only visiting flowers of a certain color, shape, size, or timing. Because of the specificity of
these pollinators -- animals that carry pollen from one flower to another -- angiosperms can afford to
produce far fewer pollen grains than gymnosperms. They can sit comfortably by and allow an animal to
pick up pollen and carry it to the waiting female parts of the same species. This cooperation between the
animal kingdom and plants is probably the single most important reason for the vast diversity of
angiosperms we see today.
A flower is the reproductive organ of angiosperms. The
bright colors and pleasant aroma act as attractants for
pollinator species, bidding them to land on the flower.
Nectar sweetens the deal for the animal (pun intended, by
the way). When an insect, for instance, lands on the flower,
pollen is released from the anther and can then be carried to
another plants stigma by the unwitting courier.

Generally, flowers consist of a receptacle (the base), sepals
(outermost whorl, usually green and leaf-like, but
sometimes colorful), and petals. The sepals protect the
flower before it opens. The petals are usually the brightly
colored parts of the flower designed to attract pollinators
(although some produce stinky smells to attract flies). The
fertile parts are the stamen (the male portion of the
flower) and pistils (the female part of the flower).

Each stamen consists of four pollen-containing chambers that are fused into an anther, which is often on
a stalk called the filament. These chambers are the flowers microsporangia, because that is where the
microspores are produced.

Each pistil (or carpel) contains a swollen base called the ovary. The other end, the stigma, is sticky and
serves as the receiving area for pollen. The stigma is often separated from the ovary on a long stalk called
a style, which puts the stigma in an easier to reach spot to aid pollination.
14


Unlike the free-living gametophytes of ferns,
in flowering plants the mature gametophyte
plants develop within the flowers of the adult
sporophytes. As in other organisms, in order
for fertilization to occur, sperm must travel to
the egg. Because the gametophytes are
located inside the flowers, flowering plants
have developed a unique mechanism called
pollination to achieve this movement of
sperm. In pollination, the mature male
gametophyte itself travels to the flower of the
sporophytic parent of the female
gametophyte.

Once the pollen arrives at the stigma of the
female plant, the pollen grows a pollen tube
through the style of the flower, which travels
to the ovary of the flower and enters an ovule.
The sperm nuclei of the pollen move through
this tube until they reach the female
gametophyte. Once the male and female
nuclei meet, they fuse to form a diploid
zygote.

The zygote will undergo mitosis to form a
seed and eventually a new plant. The figure
above is a little more detailed than you need
concern yourself with, but it shows the pollen
tube well.




The angiosperm flower most likely evolved from leaves. The carpel is a
folded leaf blade that has been modified in a number of ways.

Specimens
- Look at the model flower and living flowers in lab today and
find all the reproductive parts. You must be able to recognize, name, and know how each part of
the flower is used. Do the anthers have pollen on them? Touch the stigma; what does it feel like?

Slides
- Look at the germinated pollen slides and see the pollen tubes and the two nuclei that pollen make.
- We also have slides of flower buds, ovules, and anthers. Look for the eggs and pollen.

Dissection
- There may be some flowers in lab to dissect (possibly gladiolas or tulips). Take one from the
bottom of the stalk, preferably one that is open; make sure you get the sepals and everything.
Carefully slice the base of the flower longitudinally so that you can see the ovary with many
ovules. Use the dissection scopes to examine carefully the stamen and the anthers.

Image from Green, RP (ed.). 1989. Wisconsin Fast Plants Manual
13

Fruits
A fruit is a seed container derived from an ovary and any tissues that surrounds it. Basically, fruits are
swollen plant ovariesmmm, yummy. Fruits are the products of flowers. Once the ovule is fertilized by
pollen, hormones secreted by the seeds cause the ovaries to expand and mature into a fruit.





Functions of fruits:
Believe it or not, fruits are not just for human consumption; although most of the fruits we eat have been
bred to be bigger and tastier than they ever would be in nature (see below). Instead, fruits have many of
the same functions as seeds:

Protection
The hard part of tree nuts like acorns and pit fruits like peaches and cherries is actually derived from the
ovary and is therefore a fruit. Cucurbitaceae, a family that includes melons, squashes, and cucumbers,
have fruits covered in a distasteful and stiff rind. (The distasteful part is from the toxin cucurbitacin.
Thats why the skin of cucumbers is bitter.) You dont eat the rind of a cantaloupe do you? Image how a
small insect feels without a knife big enough to cut out slices. Hot peppers are fruits that contain bitter
tasting or painful chemicals; these chemicals protect the seeds from most herbivores.


16

Dispersal of seeds
Contrastingly, many fruits are sweet-tasting and colorful. These are actually adaptations to
attract hungry animals. The sugar-filled fruit acts as a gift to a bird or mammal making them
want to eat it. Seems contradictory right? Why would a plant want some measly herbivore
eating its seeds? Well, this is because (1) the seeds are not eaten with the fruit but rather are
discarded or (2) the seeds are eaten and survive the digestive process. Either way, they will
most likely be dropped in a location far from the parent plant, perhaps even with its own clump
of fertilized soil (wink wink). (Take that carnivores!) Fruits often taste horrible until they fully
ripen (trust me, never eat a red blackberry). Thats because the plant didnt want you to eat
them until the seeds were developed enough to survive the process and later grow into a new
plant. Feel a little bit tricked now dont you?









Another example of fruits used in dispersal, are the fibrous skins of coconuts,
which are built to withstand sea voyages.


Many of the hooks and spines on some seeds that attach them to mammals and birds
for dispersal are actually fruits. The only distinction is which tissue they developed
from, but this aint plant histology, so whatever. In fact, during a 1948 walk with his
hunting dog in the Swiss Alps, an electrical engineer named George de Mestral noticed
both were covered in Arctium fruits. When pulling them off, he saw that they had tiny
hooks that attached to the dogs fur. From this, he invented Velcro.













- Look at the various fruits in the lab today. Cut some of them in half and try to
find the different regions. Look for the seeds. Determine their special
functions.







Above: A frulL baL havlng a LasLy meal
LefL: Cherry plLs ln a clump of bear
dropplngs near llaLhead Lake,
MonLana. 1he hard endocarps pass
Lhrough Lhe bear's dlgesLlve LracL, an
adapLaLlon LhaL lnsures seed dlspersal
ln some drupaceous specles.
Pooks from a frulL velcro
17

Many of our table fruits have been domesticated, that is modified or bred to suit human needs.
Tomatoes, for instance, have been bred for shape, texture, flavor, shelf-life, and nutrient composition.
Most obvious, when compared to their wild ancestor, they have been bred for size. Amazingly, many
have been bred not to have seeds anymore. These must be propagated by cloning.

These varieties have been created by only allowing those with the most extreme desirable trait to produce
offspring. This process is continued for many generations. This is a type of natural selection called
artificial selection, because it is human-induced and because it often involves selection for only one
specific trait (= single-trait selection).

The table below shows many representative fruits that have undergone extreme artificial selection and
now barely resemble their wild ancestor.

Wild Domesticated




Tomato





Banana






Sunflower






Teosinte " Corn




18

BIOL 1108 Lab 10: Plants Postlab Name _________________________

1. Organisms that produce their own food from
inorganic materials, such as through
photosynthesis, are called what?
A. Plants
B. Vegetables
C. Autotrophs
D. Heterotrophs
E. Sustenance farmers

2. What adaptive purpose do spores serve?
A. To fertilize other plants
B. Draw water up to the leaves
C. To colonize new habitats and limit
inbreeding
D. To create unique creatures

3. Many of the molecules in the tissues in your body
were originally put together by which of the
following? Note: this is not a direct event.
A. Mosses
B. Chloroplasts
C. Ferns
D. Fruits

4. Algae differ from plants in that they
A. Are bigger
B. Are smaller
C. Must live in water
D. Sing in a much lower pitch

5. Which of the following is not a typical function of
fruits:
A. Help the embryo get away from its parents
B. Make sure the embryo has enough to eat
C. Make sure the embryo is not eaten
6. When you climb a tree, you are
climbing the
A. Sporophyte stage
B. Broadway stage
C. Gametophyte stage
D. Rhizome stage

7. The cuticle of plants is a key
adaptation for
A. Terrestrialization
B. Encephalization
C. Vascularization
D. Nitrification
E. Locksmithery


8. Microstrobili produce
A. Light shows
B. Seeds
C. Eggs
D. Pollen

9. Stamens contain
A. Full house
B. Eggs
C. Seeds
D. Pollen

10. Which of the following is not a key
adaptation limited to vascular plants?
A. Seeds
B. Pollen
C. Flowers
D. Sperm




11. Draw the formula for photosynthesis AND label each part in words (e.g., CO
2
- carbon dioxide)

19

12. For each plant group, please put a check in the box for any and all traits that can be found in
members of that group.

Chloro-
plasts Cuticle
Vascular
Tissue Seeds Pollen Cones Flowers Fruits
Algae
Mosses
Ferns
Gymnosperms
Angiosperms

13. Given the table above, why are mosses so short?





14. Given the table above, why are there more angiosperms than ferns?






15. Draw and label stomata and guard cells.
16. What is the purpose of each of these?













17. Draw and label the parts of a soaked bean.
18. List the function of these parts.



20

19. Name the Structure AND Function of each of the plant parts (A-J).

20. For K, name the fungal association AND how it benefits the plant.
















21. What benefit might the creature to the right provide this plant?

21

23. Lets say you are walking along University Lane with a favorite companion and you find a dandelion.
You reach down and pick it up. You walk a little while sharing newly-learned intricate details of
biology with your friend. Then, somewhere around the C Building, you blow it all apart. Assuming
the parts land on fertile soil, was this plant that you brutally tore in two better or worse off than one
you left alone? Why?
















24. Why do seeds tend to have a better balance of nutrition (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc) than fruits,
which are mostly made of sugar?













25. Tell whether each of the following is a fruit or a vegetable. Why?

A. Bell pepper

B. Tomato

C. Cucumber

D. Pumpkin