ANTHOPHYTA

(FLOWERING PLANTS)
PRECY ANN MAE D. REYES
 Angiosperms
• From Greek word :”angeion”- vessel and “sperma” which means seed
• seed-bearing vascular plants.
• Their reproductive structures are flowers in which the ovules are
enclosed in an ovary. 
• are found in almost every habitat from forests and grasslands to sea
margins and deserts. 
• display a huge variety of life forms including trees, herbs, submerged
aquatics, bulbs and epiphytes.
• The largest plant families are Orchids, and Compositae (daisies) and
Legumes (beans).
• There are an estimated 352,000 species of flowering plants
or angiosperms (The Plant List, 2010).
Evolutionary Development of Angiosperm
• Undisputed fossil records place the massive
appearance and diversification of angiosperms in
the middle to late Mesozoic era.
• Fossil evidence indicates that flowering plants
first appeared in the Lower Cretaceous, about
125 million years ago, and were rapidly
diversifying by the Middle Cretaceous, about 100
million years ago. 
• Fossilized pollen recovered from Jurassic
geological material has been attributed to
angiosperms.
• A few early Cretaceous rocks show clear
imprints of leaves resembling angiosperm leaves.
By the mid-Cretaceous, a staggering number of
diverse, flowering plants crowd the fossil record. 
Fossil evidence of angiosperms: This leaf imprint shows a Ficus
speciosissima, an angiosperm that flourished during the Cretaceous
period. A large number of pollinating insects also appeared during this
same time.
 Organ System of Angiosperm
• Root System
– Primary Root System
• Tap root
– Adventitious Root System
• Prop root
• Shoot System
– Hypocotyl- transition region
that connects shoot to root
system
• Bears the seedling leaves (dicots)
– Nodes-area where leaf attach
Branching in Angiosperm

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/214484000990740458/
• Dichotomous
– the branches form as a result of an
equal division of a terminal bud (i.e.,
a bud formed at the apex of a stem)
into two equal branches
• Axillary
– Monopodial branching- occurs when
the terminal bud continues to grow
as a central leader shoot and the
lateral branches remain subordinate
– Sympodial branching- occurs when
the terminal bud ceases to grow
 leaf is

(lamina).
a petiole,
• The basic

a leaf base,

and a blade
angiosperm

two stipules,
composed of
Leaf Morphology

The willow leaf (left) is simple.

The walnut leaf (middle) is
pinnately compound, or feather-
Common leaf morphologies. shaped.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
 Patterns of leaf Arrangement

Basil (Ocimum basilicum). The simple

The willow leaf (left) is simple. The walnut leaf (middle) is leaves are arranged oppositely along
pinnately compound, or feather-shaped. The horse chestnut leaf the stems.
(right) is palmately compound, or hand-shaped. © Tim UR/Fotolia
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
 Leaf modifications
• Spines- protecting plant from herbivores
(Euphorbiaceae)
• Succulent leaves- for water storage (Tulips)
• Tendrils- plant support
• Glands (on their leaves)- digest the captured insects

Euphorbia fianarantsoae. Tendrils of catbrier (Smilax

Tulip leaves Pitcher-shaped leaves of the
Frank Vincentz rotundifolia). The stipules elongate
and coil around other plants for carnivorous slender pitcher
support. plant (Nepenthes gracilis).
Runk/Schoenberger—Grant © So happy/Fotolia
 Internal Structure of Angiosperm
• Apical meristem- embryonic tissue that are
actively dividing.
– Produce new buds (shoots)
– Active growth for roots
• Lateral meristem (cambia)- run the length of
the stems and roots in vascular plants and
produce secondary tissues.
 Apical meristems. (Left) The
shoot apical meristem
of Hypericum uralum appears at
the topmost aspect of the stem.
Immediately behind the apical
meristem are three regions of
primary meristematic tissues.
(Right) The root apical meristem
appears immediately behind the
protective root cap. Three primary
meristems are clearly visible just
behind the apical meristem.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

A summary of the primary and

secondary growth of a woody
dicotyledon.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Organization of the
Vascular Tissue

Tissue organization in a stem tip.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
 Reproductive Organs
• Flowers
– Ensure pollination
– Gynoecium (carpel)- styles, stigma and ovules
(female reproductive organ)
• Megaspores are produced
– Androecium – stamen (anther and filament)
• Microspores are produced
Figure . This image depicts the
structure of a perfect flower. Perfect
flowers produce both male and female
floral organs. The flower shown has
only one carpel, but some flowers
have a cluster of carpels. Together, all
the carpels make up the gynoecium.
(credit: modification of work by
Mariana Ruiz Villareal)
 Type of Inflorescence
• Flowers may be single, or grouped together to form
an inflorescence. The main types of inflorescences
are:
– catkins - hang down with flowers close together.
– umbels - have several flowers all attached to the same
point in a semi-circle.
– spike - has flowers joined directly to a tall stem
– raceme - has flowers on stalks alternating up the stem
– corymb - has flowers that form a flat surface, yet are
attached to different points of the stem.
• Fruit
– A fertilized, fully grown, and ripened ovary
containing a seed form

A fruit’s distinctive shape and

specialized characteristics will
determine its dispersal mechanism.
Pollination
• defined as the placement or transfer of pollen from the
anther to the stigma of the same flower or another
flower.
• Self-pollination-occurs when the pollen from the
anther is deposited on the stigma of the same flower,
or another flower on the same plant. 
– Occurs where stamen and carpel mature at the same time
• Cross-pollination- is the transfer of pollen from the
anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower
on a different individual of the same species.
• Pollination by insects
– visit flowers that are open during the day, are brightly
colored, have a strong aroma or scent, and have a tubular
shape, typically with the presence of a nectar guide.
A nectar guide includes regions on the flower petals that
are visible only to bees, and not to humans; it helps to
guide bees to the center of the flower, thus making the
pollination process more efficient. The pollen sticks to
the bees’ fuzzy hair, and when the bee visits another
flower, some of the pollen is transferred to the second
flower.

Insects, such as bees, are important agents of pollination.

(credit: modification of work by Jon Sullivan)
• Pollination by bats
– Bats use echolocation, emitting ultrasonic calls too high
for humans to hear that bounce off objects and allow the
bats to form a mental map of their surroundings.
• Pollination by Birds
– The flower typically has a curved,
tubular shape, which allows access
for the bird’s beak. Brightly colored,
odorless flowers that are open during
the day are pollinated by birds. As a bird
seeks energy-rich nectar, pollen is
Hummingbirds have adaptations
deposited on the bird’s head and neck and is then
that allow them to reach the
nectar of certain tubular
transferred to the next flower it visits. flowers. (credit: Lori Branham)
• Pollination by wind
– the microsporangia hang out
of the flower, and, as the wind
blows, the lightweight pollen
is carried with it .
• Pollination by water
– The pollen floats on water,
and when it comes into
contact with the flower, it is
deposited inside the flower. A person knocks pollen from a pine tree.

These male (a) and female (b) catkins are from the
goat willow tree (Salix caprea). Note how both
structures are light and feathery to better disperse
and catch the wind-blown pollen.
 Life Cycle of an Angiosperm
Angiosperms are seed-producing plants that generate
male and female gametophytes, which allow them to
carry out double fertilization.
• Heterosporous

• Double fertilization- One sperm and the egg combine,

forming a diploid zygote, the future embryo. The other
sperm fuses with the 2n polar nuclei, forming a triploid
cell that will develop into the endosperm, which is
tissue that serves as a food reserve.
Life cycle of
angiosperms: The life
cycle of an angiosperm
is shown. Anthers and
carpels are structures
that shelter the actual
gametophytes: the
pollen grain and embryo
sac. Double fertilization
is a process unique to
 Development of the Seed
• Mature ovule develops into seed.
– Epicotyl- stem/shoot
– Hypocotyl- roots
– Radicle- 1st true roots
– Plumule- leaves
Picture redrawn and text taken from Plant Biology by
Rost et al. First edition. Pages 215,216. 1998.
Developing seedling
 Development of Fruit and Fruit
Types
• Fruit – termed as “ripened ovary”
• Flowers in which fertilization takes place will
develop into fruits.
Classification of fruits
• Simple fruit- If the fruit develops from a single carpel
or fused carpels of a single ovary
• Aggregate fruit- one that develops from more than one
carpel, but all are in the same flower: the mature
carpels fuse together to form the entire fruit, as seen in
the raspberry.
• Multiple fruit-develops from an inflorescence or a
cluster of flowers.
• Accessory fruit- fruit developing from the parts of
female gametophyte.
There are four main types of
fruits. Simple fruits, such as
these nuts, are derived from a
single ovary. Aggregate fruits,
like raspberries, form from many
carpels that fuse together.
Multiple fruits, such as
pineapple, form from a cluster of
flowers called an inflorescence.
Accessory fruit, like the apple,
are formed from a part of the
plant other than the ovary. (credit
“nuts”: modification of work by
Petr Kratochvil; credit
“raspberries”: modification of
work by Cory Zanker; credit
“pineapple”: modification of
work by Howie Le; credit
“apple”: modification of work by
Parts of the fruit
• Exocarp-
outermost skin
or covering
• Mesocarp-
middle part
which is usually
fleshy and edible
part.
• Endocarp- inner
part
• Dehiscent- if the pericarp splits open at
maturity and releases the seeds.
– The three principal types of dehiscent fruits
are follicles, legumes, and capsules. Follicles and
legumes are each derived from an ovary with a
single carpel, and a capsule is derived from several
united carpels.
• Indehiscent-if the pericarp remains intact when
the fruit is shed from the plant.
 Types of Fruits
• Pome - most of the fruit is formed from the receptacle (under the flower) eg
pear, apple
• Drupe - has fleshy fruit and a single seed with a hard endocarp eg peaches,
coconut and olives
• Berry - has many seeds eg tomatoes, peppers and cucumber but not
strawberries!
• Aggregate fruit - develop from one flower with many pistils eg strawberries.
• Legumes - split along two sides eg beans, peas
• Capsules - are dry fruit that have several carpels eg orchids
• Nuts - have one seed and a hard pericarp eg acorns
• Grains - have the fruit and seed joined closely together eg wheat, rice, barley.
• Multiple fruits - come from several different flowers joined together eg
pineapples.
 Seed Dispersal
• Dispersal of seeds is very important for the survival of plant
species. If plants grow too closely together, they have to
compete for light, water and nutrients from the soil. Seed
dispersal allows plants to spread out from a wide area and
avoid competing with one another for the same resources.

• Seeds are dispersed in several different ways. In some plants

seeds are housed within a fruit (such as apples or oranges).
These fruits, including the seeds, are eaten by animals who
then disperse the seeds when they defecate. Some fruits can
be carried by water, such as a floating coconut.
 Diversity of Angiosperms
• Basal Angiosperms- broad group of the most primitive
flowering plants. 
– members in these groups all share traits from both monocot
and dicot groups.
– mostly woody plants that produce seeds and flowers.
– lack any real differentiation between their petal and their
sepals and have very little fusion within their floral parts such
as petals, stamens and carpels.
– tend to have multiple, flattened stamens and multiple carpels,
and their fruits are typically single-chambered and dry.
– have a less advanced vascular system than other angiosperms.
 Diversity of Basal Angiosperms
• The Magnoliids are a large group of related basal angiosperms
including roughly 9000 species.
• They include trees, shrubs, herb and vines, and are most
common in tropical and warm temperate regions.
• The order Magnoliales are commonly trees are shrubs that
produce scented, simple flowers and have dry aggregate fruits.
• The Laurales is the most diverse order of Magnoliids and
includes aromatic trees or shrubs such as cinnamon and the
laurels.
• Piperales is an order of shrubs, vines, herbs and epiphytes that
includes the peppers.
 Order Laurales
• has 7 family, with 91 genera, approximately 2,900  species.
• Habit in the form of trees, shrubs, vines or woody type.
General location in the  tropics and warm, and very
numerous in the stable area humid climate.
• used for drugs such as camphor extracts, and essential oils
for fragrance, and some are important ornamental.
• Order Laurales group of Atherospermataceae,
Calycanthaceae, Gomortegaceae,
Hernandiaceae, Lauraceae, Monimiaceae, and
Siparunaceae.
 California laurel (Umbellularia californica).

Siparuna guianensis
 Order Piperales
•  order of flowering plants comprising 3 families, 17 genera, and
4,170 species. Along with the orders Laurales, Magnoliales,
and Canellales, Piperales forms the magnoliid clade, which is an
early evolutionary branch in the angiosperm tree;
• Members of the order Piperales often have several features also
found in monocotyledons, including discrete vascular bundles in
the stem and threefold flower parts.
• Although there are woody members, this order is
characteristically herbaceous and often has swollen leaf nodes.
• Reproduction by seeds is the main method of species dispersal in
Piperales, but fragmentation of rhizomes in the lizard’s-tail family
assures vegetative propagation
 Peperomia (Peperomia)

nadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense)

 Order Magnoliales
• consisting of 6 families, 154 genera, and about 3,000 species.
• Habit woody shrubs, not accompanied by Stipule
• Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual
• In Stamen found in considerable amounts, and their
designations in a spiral extended
• In seeds there is encountered a lot of endosperm and small-
sized institutions, and trees. 
• The families in the order
are Annonaceae, Myristicaceae, Magnoliaceae,
Degeneriaceae, Eupomatiaceae, and Himantandraceae.
 Leaves and fruits of nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

lower of the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

 Monocots
• primarily identified as such by the presence of a single cotyledon in the
seedling.
• Veins run parallel to the length of the leaves and flower parts are
arranged in a three- or six-fold symmetry.
• True woody tissue is rarely found in monocots.
• In palm trees, vascular and parenchyma tissues produced by the primary
and secondary thickening of meristems form the trunk.
• The pollen from the first angiosperms was monosulcate, containing a
single furrow or pore through the outer layer. This feature is still seen in
the modern monocots.
• Vascular tissue of the stem is not arranged in any particular pattern.
• The root system is mostly adventitious and unusually positioned, with no
major tap root.
Family Arecaceae :Cocos nucifera Family Musaceae : Pink banana (Musa velutina).

Family Poaceae: Avena sativa Family Amaryllidaceae: Allium cepa

 Eudicots (Dicots)
• Eudicots, or true dicots, are characterized by the presence of two
cotyledons in the developing shoot.
• Veins form a network in leaves, while flower parts come in four,
five, or many whorls.
• Vascular tissue forms a ring in the stem whereas in monocots,
vascular tissue is scattered in the stem.
• Eudicots can be herbaceous (like grasses), or produce woody
tissues. Most eudicots produce pollen that is trisulcate or triporate,
with three furrows or pores.
• The root system is usually anchored by one main root developed
from the embryonic radicle.
• Eudicots comprise two-thirds of all flowering plants.
 Family Rosaceae: Prunus persica Family Lamiaceae: Lavandula angustifolia P. Mill

Family
Fabaceae:
Phaseolus
mily Brassicaceae: (Brassica oleracea, variety capitata) vulgaris
 Significance to humans
• Angiosperms are as important to humans as they are to other
animals. Angiosperms serve as the major source of food—
either directly or indirectly through consumption by
herbivores—and, as mentioned above, they are a primary
source of consumer goods, such as building materials,
textile fibres, spices and herbs, and pharmaceuticals.
• Among the most important food plants on a global scale
are cereals from the grass family (Poaceae)
• In addition, plants and their products serve a number of other
needs, such as dyes, fibres, timber, fuel, medicines, and
ornamentals. 
Threatened/Vulnerable Angiosperm Species
in the Philippines

Plant Families contributing the most number of taxa in the National List of
Threatened Philippine Plant ***Some Fern Family were included in the List
 Updates from Journals
• The bat-pollinated columnar cactus (Espostoa
frutescens) from the Ecuadorian Andes which has a
hairy inflorescence zone, so called lateral cephalium
act as strong ultrasound absorber to attenuate the
background echo, thereby enhancing the acoustic
contrast with the target allowing bats to better detect
flowers and thereby pollinate them. (An ultrasound
absorbing inflorescence zone enhances echo-acoustic
contrast of bat-pollinated cactus flowers, Simon et al.,
2019)
• The genetically modified cotton native to Mexico has
transgene that conferred resistance to the herbicide
glyphosate. One type of escaped gene makes wild cotton
exude less nectar. With no means to attract defensive
ants that protect it from plant eaters, the cotton is
devoured. Another escaped gene makes the wild cotton
produce excess nectar, enticing a lot of ants that might
keep other insects, including pollinators, at bay, “It’s the
first case that really suggests that a whole ecosystem can
be disrupted” (Vasquez-Barrios et al., 2021)
• Researchers suspected horizontal gene transfer. That’s where genes move
directly from one species to another — in this case, from host to parasite.
• Loss of the chlorophyll pigments responsible for photosynthesis is common
in parasitic plants that rely on their hosts for sustenance. But Sapria
himalayana appears to have even scrapped all genetic remnants of its
chloroplasts, the cellular structures where photosynthesis occurs. 
• S. himalayana seems to have lost this genome altogether, suggesting that the
plant has purged the last remnants of its ancestral life that allowed it to make
its own food.
• Among the remaining parts of the nuclear genome, the team also found that
more than 1 percent of S. himalayana’s genome comes from genes stolen
from other plants, likely its current and ancestral hosts.
• (Cai et al., 2016; Molina et al., 2014)