LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E.

[1]

PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND DIVERSITY

All plants are multicellular eukaryotes with cellulose-rich cell walls, chloroplasts containing
chlorophyll a and b, caroteinoids, and starch as their primary food reserve. They have a characteristics
life cycle called alternation in which individual goes through a diploid stage, called a sporophyte, and a
haploid stage called a gametophyte. Each stage is called a generation, and they alternate.

Plants live in almost all habitats, including air, soil, and arctic ice. Wherever they live, plants
usually influence or govern all other life in the ecosystem because of their role as producers, harnessing
solar energy into usable form. Most plants have roots or root-like structures that hold them to the ground,
so plants usually do not move around. They are eukaryotes that have successfully adapted to life on land.
In fact, they have evolved to survive in even the most extreme conditions.

Plants probably evolved from green algae called the Charophytes. Molecular systematic,
comparative Biochemistry, and the analysis of cell ultrastructure place Charophytes as the closest algal
relatives of plants.

Plants range in size from tiny water ferns that are so small they require a handlens to see, to the
giant sequoia trees of the western USA in California, some of which are over thousands of years old and
more than 300 feet above the ground.

A SURVEY OF THE PLANT WORLD

Today approximately more than 295,000 different species of plants have been reported and
studied. However, there are millions more to be discovered and identified. Now, what are these different
plant groups that have been reported? The diagram below summarizes a simple classification of the
different plant groups.

PLANTS

Non-vascular Vascular

Moses Liverworts Hornworts Seedless Seed plants

Club moss Horsetails Ferns Gymnosperm Angiosperm

Monocot Dicot

A comparison of the number of extant species of these different plant groups and their distribution
is given below.

Plant groups Number of Distribution

Species
Bryophytes 18,000 Moist humid habitats
Lycophytes 1,100 Wet or shady habitat
Whisk ferns 7 Tropical subtropical
Horsetails 25 Swamps, disturbed habitats
Ferns 12,000 Wet, humid habitats
Conifers 550 Widespread distribution
Cycads 185 Tropical, subtropical
Ginkgo 1 Temperate
Gnetophytes 70 Subtropical
Monocots 80,000 Widespread distribution
Dicots 170,000 Widespread distribution

Based on the table above, flowering plants, specifically, dicots have the highest number of
species, followed by the monocots, bryophytes, ferns, lycophytes, conifers, cycads, gnetophytes,
horsetails, whisk ferns and Ginkgo with only one extant species as of today.

Generally, plants can be classified into two groups: non-vascular and the vascular plants. Plants
that do not have vascular bundles or xylem and phloem where substances pass are called as
nonvascular, while those with vascular bundles or xylem and phloem are vascular plants. Non-vascular
plants include all the bryophytes, while vascular plants include club mosses, horsetails, ferns,
gymnosperms, and angiosperms.

The following are the characteristics of the following plant groups:

 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [2]

Bryophytes are embryophytes that generally lack vascular tissue and require environmental
water to produce. Their sperm cells are flagellated. The plant undergoes alternation of generation with the
gametophyte as the dominant stage in the life cycle of bryophytes.

The origin of vascular tissues was an evolutionary breakthrough in the colonization of the land.
Ferns and other seedless plants dominated the carboniferous “coral forests”.

Psilophyte is a small group of relatively simple structure to which the whisk ferns belong.
Lycophytes consists of the clubmosses – includes small herbaceous, survivors of a dominant ancient
division that once included large treelike forms. The horsetails belong to a single surviving division
Sphenophyta.

Division Pteridophyta consists of ferns – the most species – rich group of living seedless plants.
The fronds of the sporophyte generation form sporangia that produce spores germinating into small
gametophytes.

Reproductive adaptations catalyzed the success of the seed plants. There are two groups of seed
plants: the gymnosperms and the angiosperms. Gymnosperms began to dominate landscapes as
climate became drier. Coniferophyte is the largest of the four gymnosperm divisions. Almost all conifers
are evergreen with needle-shaped leaves. The three other smaller divisions are: Cycadopyhta,
Ginkgophyta and Gnetophyta.

The evolution of flowers and fruits contributed to the radiation of gymnosperms. Angiosperms of
flowering plants contain the most diverse and wide-spread members of the plant kingdom. They are
divided into monocots and dicots. The flower is a reproductive structure that houses the stamens and
carpels within the sterile petals and petals. Fruits form the ripened ovaries of the ovaries of the flowers.
They protect dormant seeds and are modified into various ways that aid in seeds dispersal. Pollen grains
are immature male gametophytes that form in the anthers of stamens and germinate on the sticky stigma
of the carpel.

CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS

In science, the grouping or ordering of living things is called classification. It was Carolus
Linnaeous, an English naturalist who pioneered the science of classification or Taxonomy. His
classification was mainly based on similarity of structure. A structure is a feature just like the type of leaf,
type of venation, type of fruit, etc. presently, we have approximately 295,000 different species of plants
that have been described and many more are still being discovered. You can just imagine what will
happen if no system of classification were followed. There will be a total confusion and disarray in the
living world.

LEVELS OF CLASSIFICATION

There are seven major biological groupings or levels of classification that we follow. The
kingdom is the largest group in the system of classification. This is divided into phyla in the animal
kingdom. However, in plants this is equivalent to the division. Each division is divided into classes;
these classes are divided into orders and orders into families, then families, then family into genera and
so on down to the smallest unit, which is the species. The species is the basic unit of classification. As
you move from kingdom down to the species level, classification becomes more specific.

Originally, C. Linnaeus set up a two – kingdom system. The Plant and Animal Kingdoms. After his
time, many more taxonomists reclassified living things into more than two kingdoms. Now we are
following the popular 5-kingdom system of Whittaker, although some books have already proposed the
eight-kingdom system. The five kingdoms are as follows Kingdom Animalia, Plantae, Monera and Fungi.
Animals are multi-cellular heterotrophic (using other living organisms for food organisms without cell walls
in their cells. Plants on the other hand are the multi-cellular, photosynthetic organisms with cell walls in
their cell membranes. Protists are organisms that exhibit both plant and animal characteristics. Monerans
include prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria. These organisms do not have nucleus and membrane
bounded organelles. The diagram below shows how the eight-kingdom system was derived from the five-
kingdom system.

Monera Protists Fungi Plantae Animalia

Eubacteria Archea Archezoa Protista Chromista Fungi Plantae Animalia

PLANT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [3]

A flowering plant has three vegetative organs such as the roots, stems, and leaves. The roots
absorb water and minerals, the stem support the plants and the leaves carry on photosynthesis.
There are three types of meristem that continually divide and produce specialized tissues. The
protoderm which produces epidermal tissues; the ground meristem that produces ground tissue, and
procambium responsible for the primary vascular tissue. The xylem and phloem are derived from the
procambium meristem. Xylem transports water and minerals upward in the body of the plant, while the
phloem transports organic nutrients from the leaves to all parts of the body.

Photosynthesis is an energy-storing process that combines carbon dioxide and water in the
presence of light. All types of chlorophyll contain a magnesium atom. Chlorophyll a is the principal
chlorophyll pigment presents in most leaves. During the light reaction of photosynthesis, water molecules
are split and oxygen gas is released. Hydrogen ions and electrons are released from water and
transferred to create NADPH and energy-storing ATP. In dark reactions, Carbon dioxide is combined with
RuBP, and this combination is converted to 8-carbon sugars. The NADPH and ATP produced during the
light reactions, furnish the energy and materials needed for the dark reactions.

Plant hormones affect growth and development aand many interact in complex ways. Auxins
stimulate cell elongation in shoot tips, embryos, young leaves, flowers, fruits and polen. Gibberellins
stimulate cell division and elongation but act more slowly than auxins. Cytokinins stimulate mitosis in
actively developing plant parts. Ethylene speeds ripening of fruits. Abscisic acid inhibits the growth-
inducing effects of other hormones.

Water and dissolved solutes gain access to the roots through the epidermal cells and their roots
hairs. The hydrophilic cell walls, in contact with those of the root cortex, provide access to the apoplastic
pathway across the cortex. Minerals extracted from the apoplast by cortical cells enter the sympathetic
pathway.

The upward flow of xylem sap supplies minerals to the shoots and replaces water loss by
transpiration. The transpiration-cohesion-tension mechanism transports xylem sap. Evaporative water
loss during transpiration generates surface tension of the water film coating mesophyll cells.

Plants balance photosynthesis and transpiration by regulating the size of stomata openings
through changes in the turgor pressure guard cells. These physical changes are due to the fluxes in
potassium ions. Guard cells usually open at dawn because of carbon dioxide depletion, and inherent
circadian rhythm, and ion movements triggered by light-detecting pigments.

Part II: Analyzing Test Items

Competency No. 1 to describe the characteristics of plants

1. Imagine that you were riding in a balloon and suddenly you found yourself drifted in an island
characterized by the abundance of big, sturdy trees with large leaves. In what biome could you be
into?
A. Grassland
B. Deciduous
C. Rainforest
D. Taiga
The correct answer is option C.

Rainforest is a type of biome characterized by the presence of large, sturdy dipterocarp

trees. There is sufficient canopy in this type of biome and abundant rainfall.

Option A: Grassland is characterized by the dominance of grasses with very sparse trees
and animals. It has minimal rainfall.

Option B: Deciduious forest is found in temperate countries. This is characterized by the

medium-sized trees where leaves are change in color and later on fall during autumn.

Option C: Taiga is called as the “coniferous forest” characterized by the dominance of

evergreen trees such as pine trees, cedars, hemlock, spruce and others. These trees are common
in temperate countries.
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [4]

Competency No. 2 To be able to classify Plants

2. If we follow the basic rules of botanical nomenclature, what would be the scientific name for a species
described and named by Linnaeus as Adiantum pedatum in 1750 but was renamed by him as
Adiantum terenum in 1755.
A. Adiantum pedatum Lin. 1750
B. Adiantum tenerum Lin. 1755
C. Adiantum sp Lin.
D. Adiantum trapeziforme Lin.

The correct answer is A.

Based on the Law of Priority, the correct name is Adiantum pedatum Lin 1750 because
this was the first name given by the author. The other name Adiantum tenerum (Lin.) Lin. 1755
becomes a synonym.

Option B: Adiantum tenerum Lin. 1755 can only be a synonym and not the correct
scientific name. The name was only given after Adiantum pedatum was given.

Option C: There is no specific epithet given and so this could not be the correct scientific
name

Option D: this was not the original scientific name mentioned. So this refers to another
species of Adiantum plants.

3. It has been observed that plants such as the mosses, liverworts and hornworts, do not grow as big
and as other plants. What could be the scientific explanation for this?
A. Absence of leaves
B. Deficiency of nutrients
C. Absence of vascular bundles or “tubes” for the transport of substances
D. Absence of roots

The correct answer is option C.

Mosses, liverworts and hornworts are all non-vascular plants which mean that they do not
have vascular bundles. In the absence of vascular bundles, distribution of nutrients could be
limited and there will be difficulty in the transport of substances which eventually may limit the size
of the plant.

Option A: The best newspaper is C although the absence of leaves may also affect the
size of the plant. However, in Bryophytes, they have thallus which is counterparts of the leaves in
higher forms.

Option B: deficiency in nutrients could partly be a factor for the size, however assuming
all factors equal, the presence of vascular bundles still plays a big role as to the size of the plan.

Option D: This could be another factor too, for the reduced size of Bryophytes; however,
vascular bundles are more important than the roots in the distribution of substances for the plants.

Competency No. 4 Explain the life cycle of the different plant groups

4. All plants undego alternation of generation. A plant that produces flagellated sperms and with a
dominant gametophytic generation is common to non-vascular plants. Which among these plants
have a dominant gametophytic generation?
A. ferm
B. moss
C. pine tree
D. narra tree
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [5]

The correct answer is option B.

Moss is a non-vascular plant that undergoes alternation of generation with a dominant

gametophyte. The diploid sporophyte is small that is attached to the haploid gametopyhte. They
produce flagellated sperms, and water is necessary for fertilization.

Option A: Ferns have a dominant/prominent diploid sporophyte generation than

gametophyte. The gametophyte is called prothallus. Most of the ferns that you see around are
sporophyte.

Option C: Pine trees just like most of the vascular plants have a dominant diploid
sporophytic generation. The bulk of the pine trees that we see are part of the sporophyte.

Option D: The whole narra tree almost represents the diploid sporophytic generation of
the plant. Only a very small portion of it part of the haploid gametophyte. The germinated pollen
(haploid) inside the anther is the gametophyte.

Competency No. 5 To describe plant parts and functions

5. Hormones are responsible for the ripening of fruits. Starch are converted to sugars, cell walls break
down and soften, flavours and aromas develop and color changes. These manifestations are
expressions of the hormone:
A. auxin
B. cytokinin
C. gibberellins
D. ethylene

The correct answer is D.

Ethylene is a gaseous plant hormone responsible for fruit ripening, growth inhibition and
aging in plants.

Option A: Auxin has different effect on the plant. It is responsible for phototropic response
through the stimulation of cell division and elongation, and the development of fruits. It is also
responsible for secondary growth.

Option B: A type of plant hormone that retards aging. It can stimulate cells division, and
controls apical dominance.

Option C: Stimulates the growth in the stem and leaves trigger the germination of seeds
and breaking of bud dormancy.

6. To prevent rapid loss of water, especially among aerial plants, the epidermis is provided with a waxy
substance. What do you call this waxy substance covering the surface of most plants?
A. cuticle
B. bark
C. trichomes
D. endodermis

7. A man was seen making a cut on the stem of a tree to collect almaciga or copal. What part of the
plant produced the almaciga or copal?
A. xylem
B. phloem
C. both xylem and phloem
D. neither xylem nor phloem

8. When a plant grows toward a bright light, it is showing a phototropic response because the growth
response is toward the light. Such tropic response is called?
A. negative tropism
B. positive tropism
C. nasty
D. thigmotropism

9. In a cross-section of a wood, what do you call the part at the center with a small hole and darkly
colored?
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [6]

A. sapwood
B. heartwood
C. summerwood
D. pith

10. Fleshy fruits have soft and fleshy pericarp upon maturity. Which among the following fleshy fruits is
classified as pepo?
A. lemon
B. melon
C. grass
D. mango

11. Bougainvillea is very attractive especially during summer time. The flowers are in bloom at this time of
the year. The colored structure of the plant that attracts insects is called as:
A. pettaloid bracts
B. sepals
C. petals
D. perianth
12. The arrangement of the vascular bundles in a monocot stem is scattered whereas in dicot stem they
are arranged in a circular manner. Their floral parts also differ. What is the floral arrangement in
dicots?
A. multiple of 3’s
B. multiple of 4’s
C. multiple of 2’s
D. multiple of 4’s and 5’s

13. In classification, we can consider the type of leaf arrangement. What is the botanical term for the leaf
arrangement on the stem?
A. phyllaotaxy
B. phototaxis
C. periodicity
D. spinasty

14. Which of the following is an outstanding difference between a cross section of a monocot and the
dicot leaf?
A. Mesophyll layer is clearly divided into palisade and spongy layer.
B. Cells of the mesophyll layer consist of spongy cells only in monocots.
C. presence of palisade layer only
D. presence of spongy layer only

15. Flowers of plants are formed either singly or group. The following are example of an inflorescent
except:
A. racemose
B. cymose
C. spike
D. berry

16. Coconut shell is what layer of the pericarp?

A. exocarp
B. mesocarp
C. endocarp
D. testa

17. A leaf is usually thin, expanded and green in color. Which of the following leaves is an exception?
A. agoho
B. gabi
C. avocado
D. santol

18. Seedless plants grow from spores just like in mosses and in ferns. What do you call the structure that
contains the spores?
A. archaegonium
B. sporangium
C. antheridium
D. zygosporangium

19. Vascular plants include most of the important plants that serves as food for man. They are also most
biologically complex of all plants. The post fertilization, seed-bearing remnant of a flower is a/an:
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [7]

A. inflorescence
B. seed
C. fruit
D. bud

20. What do you call the male gametophyte of an angiosperm?

A. anther
B. embryo sac.
C. germinated pollen grains
D. ovule

21. The pores in the covering of the dicot stem which functions for exchange of gases are called?
A. stoma
B. intercellular space
C. lenticels
D. casparian strip

22. Dry fruits maybe classified as dehiscent or indehiscent. Narra fruit is an example of an indehiscent
fruit. Which among the following fruits is dehiscent?
A. cocnut
B. pilinut
C. string beans
D. peanut

23. In plants, flowering maybe controlled by the length of exposure to light. What do you call plants that
require longer exposure to light in order to flower?
A. short day plants
B. C 3 plants
C. Long day plants
D. C 4 plants

24. What is the stage in photosynthesis that actually produces sugar?

A. Photosystem I
B. Photosystem II
C. The light reactions
D. Calvin cycle

25. Which of the following structures is unique to the seed of a monocot?

A. coleoptiles
B. cotyledon
C. radicle
D. endosperm

Part III: Enhancing Test Taking Skills

1. What is the meaning of double fertilization in flowering plants?

A. two egg cells are fertilized within an ovule
B. a sperm nuclei fuse with an egg cell and with polar nuclei
C. two sperm cells are required to fertilize one egg cell
D. a flower can engage in both self and cross-pollination

2. Stomata can open and close. Which of the following conditions of the guard cells favour the opening
of the stomata?
A. increased CO 2 in the air spaces of the leaf
B. decreased in turgor pressure
C. cells become turgid due to influx of k ions followed by osmotic entry of water
D. accumulation of water by active transport

3. Which of the following nutrients is incorrectly paired with its function in a plant?
A. calcium-formation of cell walls
B. magnesium constituent of chlorophyll
C. iron-component of chlorophyll
D. phosphorous-component of nucleic acids

4. Water is important to plants. What happens to most of the water taken by pairs?
A. split during the photosynthesis as a source of electrons and hydrogen
B. lost by transpiration through stomata
C. absorbed by cells during their elongation
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [8]

D. returned to the soil by osmosis from the roots

5. What do you call the process of groupings or ordering of plants based on structural similarities or
evolutionary relationships?
A. classification
B. identification
C. collection
D. preservation

6. In classification, as one moves up to the classification scheme from species to kingdom there is
decreasing:
A. unity
B. individuality
C. similarity among individuals
D. diversity among individuals

7. Gymnosperm or cone-bearing plant is represented by four groups. Which among these groups is
characterized by trees that are large and tall?
A. cycads
B. ginkgos
C. gnetum
D. pine trees

8. Which of the following is NOT common to all divisions of vascular plants?

A. presence of xylem and phloem
B. dominance of the diploid generation
C. alternation of generations
D. the development of seeds

9. Some seeds will germinate as long as certain environmental conditions are met. Which of these
conditions are needed by some seeds to break dormancy?
A. exposure the light
B. abrasion of the seed cost
C. imbibitions of water
D. exposure to cold temperature

10. After cutting a newly watered plant exposed to sunlight, you will observe a growing droplet of fluid
coming out from the cut surface. What do you call this fluid?
A. phloem sap
B. xylem sap
C. guttation sap
D. fluid of the transpiration stream

11. Plants are found in almost all type of habitats. Which among the following habitats is not favourable
for the growth of mosses?
A. damp soil
B. unshaded places along the roadsides
C. moist rocks
D. trunks and branches of trees in a forest

12. During the early history of the earth, Carboniferous plants dominated the land. Later on these plants
formed the great coal beds, that were mainly composed of:
A. the conifers
B. the giant lycopods, horsetails, and ferns
C. the angiosperms
D. bryophytes

13. Oftentimes, we see buds that sprout from the branches of trees. Which of the following hormones
would you expect to stimulate the formation of lateral buds in plants?
A. auxin
B. cytokinesis
C. abscissic acid
D. gibberellins

14. The dominant generation of the seed plants is the:

A. gametophyte
B. sporophyte
C. flowers only
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [9]

D. green leafy shoot

15. The sporangia of a fern is generally located at:

A. the tips of the rhizomes
B. at the bottom of prothallus
C. inside the fiddleheads
D. on the underside of the fronds

16. Identify the correct order of the life cycle stages of the moss:
A. gametophyte-sporophyte-spores-zygote-protonema
B. sporophyte-spores-protonema-gametes-zygote
C. gametophyte-spores-sporophyte-gametes-zygote
D. zygote-sporophyte-gametophyte-spores-protonema

17. Which of the following would definitely be an imperfect flower? A flower that:
A. has peduncle
B. is staminate
C. apical meristem
D. pericycle

18. What plant tissue gives rise to branch roots?

A. vascular cambium
B. endodermis
C. apical meristem
D. pericycle

19. Roots are specialized for the absorption of nutrients. What epidermal cells help in increasing the
absorptive areas of roots?
A. guard cells
B. stomata
C. root hairs
D. lenticels

20. Which plants tissues are specialized for lateral conduction of materials?
A. xylem and phloem
B. vascular ray
C. annual ring
D. cambium and xylem

21. What do you call a land that produces flagellated sperm and the dominant generation is the
gametophyte?
A. moss
B. conifer
fern
C. monocot

22. Which are CORRECTLY paired to their specialized functions?

A. lenticels and stomates
B. xylem and cambium
C. root hair and meristem
D. phloem and vascular ray

23. Which of the following statements is false?

A. Moving from genus to kingdom, more different types of species are included in each higher
category
B. Species that are in the same genus share very specific characteristics
C. Organisms placed in the same genus are least closely related.
D. Taxonomists are biologists who closely living things

24. Which products of the light reaction are used in the dark of photosynthesis?
A. NAD and CO 2
B. ATP and NADPH
C. H 2 and H 2 O
D. H 2 O 2 and CO 2

25. Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of the flower. What do you call
the type of pollination involving the transfer of pollen from one flower from the stigma of another
flower coming from a different plant?
 LET Review Materials – Fetalvero, E. [10]

A. Self-pollination
B. Hybridization
C. Self-fertilization
D. Cross-pollination