The Plants:

Kingdom Plantae
 Characteristics of Plants
• There are many characteristics used to
classify plants:
• photosynthesizing ability
• eukaryotic cells
• numerous organelles
• cellulose in their cell walls
• stationary
 Importance of Plants
• Photosynthesis
o being producers of food, terrestrial life follow
wherever plants live
• Home to other organisms
o nesting locations for birds, supports for spider
webs, etc.
• Wide range of uses
o medicines, clothing, wood, paper products, etc
 Classification & Phylogeny
• evolved from ancient charophytes,
425-490 million years ago
• Charophytes are a group of green algae
which belong to the kingdom Protista
• plants share many characteristics with
present-day charophytes: pigments, cell
plate, starch, etc.
 Classification
• There are currently between 300 000
and 500 000 species of identified plants
• This incredible diversity means that no
single species of plant is a typical
example of the kingdom
• It also means that scientists have had to
devise a number of classification
schemes for plants
 Classification
• The main divisions are based on:
• presence of a vascular system
• presence of seeds
• types of seeds
 Vascular Tissues
• Vascular system: a system of
conductive tissue found in plants to
transport water and dissolved nutrients
and other materials throughout the plant
• The two types of vascular tissues are
xylem and phloem
 Vascular Tissues
Vascular bundles:
• A vascular bundle is a group of vascular
tissues in a plant
• The arrangement of vascular bundles
differs between different plant types
• Each vascular bundle, regardless of
arrangement, contains xylem and
phloem tissue
Vascular Tissues
Non Vascular Plants (bryophytes)
Lacking xylem and phloem
They absorb water form nearby sources, use
diffusion, capillary action to move water internally
(slow)
Lack roots: held into place by small hairs called
rhizoids
Small in size
Three types of bryophytes: mosses, liverworts and
hornworts
Vascular Plants (tracheophytes)
Contain vascular tissue: xylem and phloem
Xylem transports water and dissolved minerals
up from the roots
Phloem transports sugars produced by
photosynthesis throughout the plant, and down to
the roots for storage
Two major groups of vascular plants:
The ferns (lycophytes and pterophytes)
The seed plants (gymnosperms and
angiosperms)
 PLANT KINGDOM

Non-vascular plants Vascular plants

(Bryophytes) (Tracheophytes)

Seedless non-vascular Seedless Vascular-

Seed producing vascular-
(eg: mosses, liverworts, pteridophytes
spermatophytes
hornworts)

Gymnosperm
Angiosperm
Lycophytes Pterophytes “naked seeds”
“enclosed seeds”
(eg: mosses) (eg: ferns) (eg: pine, spruce, cedar)
(eg: flowers, oak, maple)

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 Life Cycle
• characterized by alternation of generations
• alternating multi-cellular haploid and diploid forms
 Alternation of Generations
• Different life cycle from animals
• Alternates between:
• Diploid state (produces spores:
sporophyte)
• Haploid state (produces gametes:
gametophyte)
• Sporophyte (2n) divide by meiosis to
produce haploid cells (n) that are
asexual spores
 Alternation of Generations
• The spores grow into gametophytes
• When the gametophyte individual
matures, it produces haploid sex cells
that are called gametes
• Gametes fertilize to form diploid zygotes
• Zygotes grow into sporophyte
individuals and the cycle continues
 Transition to Land
• Primitive ancestors of today’s plants lived
in water
• Plants had to adapt when they first lived on
land
• Required strategies to prevent water loss
while allowing gas exchange (cuticle,
stomata)
 Transition to Land
Cuticle
Flexible, waxy coating
Grows on outer surface to prevent water loss

Stomata
Tiny openings between specialized cells on
the plant’s surface
When open, allow gases to diffuse into and
out of the plant
When closed, the plant is sealed off from
surrounding air
Bryophytes: Non-vascular plants
• Paraphyletic group consisting of mosses, liverworts,
and hornworts

 No vascular tissue
◦ dependent on diffusion and
osmosis for nutrient transport

 No true roots
◦ threadlike rhizoids anchor
plants to substrate
• Bryophytes have no vascular system to
transport nutrients and water.
– They always small and low-growing.
 Bryophytes: The Mosses
• Simplest and earliest of land plants
• Have cuticle and stomata
• Don’t have vascular tissue, roots or seeds
• Gametophyte generation produces:
• swimming sperm in antheridia
• eggs in archegonia
• Therefore, can only live and reproduce in
places with at least occasional wet conditions
for the sperm to swim into the archegonia
• Use the following pictures to try to fill in
the blanks on the next slide
• Also, label the rhizoids and protonema
on the diagram provided
• Notice how there ARE different male
and female plants with unique
structures.
• The idea of a +/- mating type only
applies to fungi
 Bryophytes: The Mosses
• The green “moss like” plant we see is the
photosynthetic gametophyte
• Once fertilized, non-photosynthetic sporophytes
grow out of the archegonia
• The sporophyte grow a tall stalk that has a
structure called a sporangium
• Haploid spores are produced and released from
the sporangium
• Some mosses grow asexually by small clumps
of haploid cells called gemmae grown on cup-
shaped structures of the gametophytes
Lycophytes: Club Mosses
Pterophytes: Ferns & relatives
 Lycophytes: Club Mosses
& Pterophytes: Ferns
• Contains vascular tissue
• Due to vascular tissue, plants can grow
greater heights than mosses
 Lycophytes: Club Mosses
& Pterophytes: Ferns
• Similar to bryophytes:
o Gametophyte individuals reproduce
sexually using sperm and eggs
• Different from bryophytes:
• The sporophytes are photosynthetic and much
larger than gametophytes
• The stems of ferns grow horizontally below the
surface of the ground as rhizomes
• Ferns have large green leaves called fronds
Gymnosperms: The Conifers
 Gymnosperms: The Conifers
• Cones are the reproductive structures of conifers
• Male cones: produce and release pollen
• Female cones: produce eggs
• Pollination and fertilization occurs inside a female
cone and an embryo develops into a seed inside the
cone
• *SEEDS ARE ZYGOTES!
• The seed contains a food supply for the embryo
growing inside of it. The food in the seed gives the
embryo enough nutrients too be able to grow a small
stem, root, and leaves without the need for
photosynthesis
• Cones
 Gymnosperms: The Conifers
Characteristics of Gymnosperms:
Many are woody trees
Lignin is a strong compound that makes cell walls more rigid and allows for
great strength of woody tissues
Many have needle or scale like leaves with thick cuticles that reduce water loss
Shallow roots have mycorrhizal relationships with symbiotic fungi
Can survive hot summers and cold winters
The source of 85% of all wood used in manufacturing
Some can live for hundreds of years
Angiosperms: The Flowering
Plants
 Angiosperms: The Flowering
Plants
• Angiosperms are FLOWERING plants
• There are over 260 000 known species of
angiosperms; more species than all other
plant divisions combined
• Many angiosperms are capable of
asexual reproduction but they can all
reproduce sexually by alternation of
generations
• Through this process genetic diversity is
increased
 Angiosperms: The Flowering
Plants
• Their seeds, unlike gymnosperms, are ENCLOSED in fruit
formed by various flower parts
• They include:
• raspberries
• clovers
• apple trees
• corn
• wheat
• elms
• maples 
• All angiosperms produce flowers, although they are not all
large and colourful, and do not all produce edible fruit
 Flowers

• The flower is the reproductive centre of

the plant
• Angiosperm flowers come in all shapes,
sizes, designs, colours and scents
• Flowers, like the cones of
gymnosperms, are sporophytes, they
are diploid
 Flowers
• BUT, within the flowers, meiosis occurs
to produce the haploid gametes which
take part in fertilization
• This means that the flower of a typical
angiosperm contains BOTH the male
and female reproductive organs
 Flowers

• Angiosperm flowers that contain both male and

female reproductive organs are called “perfect
flowers”

• Many angiosperms have separate male and

female flowers; they are called “imperfect flowers”
• Some species, such as pumpkins, have imperfect
flowers on the SAME plant
• Other species, such as willows, have imperfect
flowers on DIFFERENT plants
 Flowers
• The STAMEN is the MALE part of the flower
and includes: (use the picture on next slide)
• Filament
• Anther
• pollen (formed in the anther)
• The PISTIL is the FEMALE part of the flower
and includes:
• Stigma
• Style
• Ovary
• ovule (inside the ovary)
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Homework: page 95, Q: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6