PLANT DIVERSITY – REVISION QUESTIONS

1. What does the word morphology mean?

2. Flowers, roots and leaves are some examples of morphological features of plants. We can group plants
according to differences in their morphological features. One of the main two groups of plants are
flowering and non-flowering plants.
(a) Flowering plants have two main systems. What are they?
(b) Draw a typical flowering plant and label the parts.
(c) Flowering plants can be further divided into two groups called monocotyledons or dicotyledons.
Draw a table and outline the differences between these two groups of flowering plants.

3. The roots are an important part of any plant.

(a) There are two main types of root systems. What are they, and give a brief description for each.
(b) Give three general functions of roots.
(c) Some plants have specialized roots that do specific functions. Complete the table below.

Type of Root Example Function

Respiratory roots
Absorb water vapor from the
atmosphere and can sometimes
carry out photosynthesis
Stilt roots
Supports the branches
Climbing roots
Store food
Roots with nodules

4. There is a lot of diversity among stems, too.

(a) Give three groups that you can classify plants according to their stems.
(b) There are many functions of plant stems. Write five of these.

5. Leaves are one of the most important parts of any plant.

(a) The diagram below shows a typical leaf. Label the structures in the diagram below.
 (b) Give three functions of leaves.
(c) Leaves can be categorized according to venation.
 What is meant by the term venation?
 What are the two groups into which leaves can be separated in this way? Give an example
in each case.
(d) Leaves can also be grouped according to whether they are simple or compound. Draw a simple and
compound leaf, and write the name of the plant each one originates from.

6. A typical flower consists of three main parts: sepals, petals, androecium/gynoecium.

(a) Label these parts in the diagram below (the androecium and gynoecium are made up of many parts
each, so make sure to also label these individual parts).

(b) Write the functions of the following:

 Petals
 Sepals
 Stamens
 Ovary
 Stigma

7. Fruits and seeds are adapted for dispersal. There are 4 kinds of dispersal: by animals, wind, water and
mechanical means (explosive mechanism).
(a) Give an example of a fruit or seed dispersed by each of the methods mentioned above.
(b) For each example you wrote in (a), outline how they are adapted for their method of dispersal.