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Plants All Photos and Text
by Kris H. Light Copyright 2009
Kingdom -
Plantae
What good are plants?Plants are used as:Food sources for people and animalsBuilding materials – wood, bambooHerbs and SpicesCoffee, Tea, Chocolate , cola drinksClothing (cotton, linen, hemp)Source of some medicines (morphine, digitalis, quinine)Homes for animalsErosion preventionPaper, cardboard, paper towelsAdd beauty to the worldMake Oxygen
Plant CellsPlant cells are different than animal cells, they have a cell wall which contains cellulose. They also have chloroplasts for photosynthesis.
Chloroplasts
Cell wall
Nucleus
A typical plant cell
Leaves
The purpose of leaves is to produce food (sugar) for the plant by way of photosynthesis. Different parts of the leaf have different jobs. The veins in a leaf carry water and minerals and return food (sap) from the leaf to the roots and the rest of the plant. Veins also help to support the leaf.
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis means “put together with light”. The process takes place in the leaves. Six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide, in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll, produce one molecule of sugar (glucose) plus six molecules of oxygen.
Sugar
Water + Carbon = Glucose + Oxygen dioxide
Cross-section of a LeafWaxy Cuticle -protects leaf
Upper epidermis
Palisade layer cells(photosynthesis)
Spongy layer cells(gas exchange)
Lower epidermisStomata(Guard cells –
allow transfer of Oxygen and carbon dioxide)
Xylem(moves water up from roots to leaves)
Phloem(moves sap down to roots)
Vein
Vein PatternsVein patterns are one way to help identify trees. Pinnate = “feather-like”Palmate = “like fingers”
Pinnate Palmate
Leaf PlacementLeaves are not just stuck on a plant, they grow in a way to get as much light as possible.OppositeAlternateBasalWhorledRosettes
Basal
Opposite
Alternate
Whorled
Fall Leaves
Leaves turn color in the fall because they lose their chlorophyll and the red and green pigments begin to show through.
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FlowersThe purpose of flowers is to make seeds. Flowers have different parts for different “jobs”.Flowers appeared during the Cretaceous Period (late dinosaur time) about 125 million years ago.KHL
Anthers and PistilsAnthers are the maleparts of the flower. They make pollen. Pistils are the femaleparts of the flower. Pollen is deposited there.The ovary, where the seeds form, is located at the base of the pistil.
Pistil
Anthers
Parts of Flowers –
Sepals and Petals
Sepal – Bud cover, holds up petals; usually green, sometimes same color as petals.Petals –“Advertisement”and landing place for pollinators; nectar guides lead pollinators to nectar at base of petals
Nectar guides
Petals
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Nectar Guides –
“Floral Road Maps”
Some flowers have “nectar guides” to show the insects where to find food (nectar). They can be spots, lines, or bright colors.
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PollinatorsPollinators are animals that spread pollen from one flower to another. They can be insects, birds, bats.The wind is a pollinator for some kinds of flowers.
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Some Insect Pollinators
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Butterflies
FliesBumblebees
Moths
Other Pollinators
Wasps
Bats
Ants
Wind
Beetles
BirdsKHL
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Stinky Flowers Attract Flies and Beetles
Some flowers smell REALLY bad! These flowers attract flies and beetles as their pollinators. Most of them have a maroon color on the flower petals to look like dead meat.
Wind-pollinated Flowers
Grass flowers do not have petals because they do not have to attract pollinators. The anthers are the yellow and brown structures hanging down from the plant. The pistils are the fuzzy white structures.Corn is the female flower. The silks are the pistils and the grains are the fertilized seeds.
SeedsSeeds are the way most plants reproduce. The seed coat protects the seed from disease and drying out. When a seed receives water, it can germinate. The stored food swells, the embryo begins to grow and the root emerges from the seed. The embryo is the baby plant, complete with small leaves. The cotyledon is the stored food, it often stays on the plant until the plant is able to grow on its’ own.
Embryo
Seed Coat
Root
Cotyledon –
stored food
Sprout
Cotyledon
Seed Dispersion
Seeds are spread by:Animals – defecation, burying, or hooksWind – wings or parachutes“Mechanical” (thrown)Water
Seeds we eatWhen we eat seeds we use the stored food as food for ourselves. You can often taste the sugar. The embryo (baby plant) is also used as food. Some seeds are small, some are very large. We get oils, starches and sugars from seeds.
Cotton is a fruit, it has seeds!
Cotton Flower Cotton Bolls (fruit)KHL KHL
RootsRoots have 3 purposes:1. Holds plant in the soil2. Takes up water3. Stores food for the plant Taproot
Diffuse roots
Aerial rootsCypress trees live in water-filled swamps. Tree roots must have oxygen. The cypress trees get oxygen through the aerial roots that grow upward out of the wet ground .
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Plant AdaptationsPlants have many different and
interesting ways of surviving their habitats:Thorns, spinesStored water in leaves (succulents)Lose leaves in winterHairy leavesPoisons
Desert PlantsMany Desert plants have spines, thick skin, and they store water in the stems.
Flowering Plants that are not Green
These Indian Pipes are flowering plants that do not have chlorophyll. They do not have leaves. Since they can’t make their own food they break down dead leaves in the soil. They are called “saprophytes”.
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Parasitic Plants
Some plants are not able to make their own foodthrough photosynthesis. They must “steal”
food
From other plants. Theyare called “parasites”. There are about 4000 different kinds of parasitic plants throughout world.
Dodder –
the “Vampire Vine”
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Squawroot
Carnivorous PlantsCarnivorous plants live in water or poor soil without many nutrients. They have to get their minerals from insects or microscopic aquatic animals. Some have sticky tentacles or greasy leaves that catch insects; others have small bladders that catch animals in the water.
Round-leafSundew
Thread-leaf SundewPitcher Plant
Butterwort
Venus Fly-trap –
a carnivorous plant
Trigger hairs
Venus Fly-trap plants growwild in the bogs of eastern North Carolina. They areoften grown in laboratoriesand sold in stores.The plants capture flies and other insects to supplimenttheir need for nitrogen. If a fly hits two of the three trigger hairs on a leaf pad, theleaf closes and captures theinsect. It is digested by chemicalsin the leaf.
Poisonous Plants – Poison Ivy
“Leaves of 3, let them be!”It is important to learn what poison ivy looks like. It has 3 leaflets with a long middle stem. The vine has hairy holding roots. The berries are white in the winter.Wash the exposed area with soap as soon as possible.
Poison ivy leaves in autumn
Berries
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TreesTrees come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. They can be identified by their leaves, bark, twigs, and shape.
Palm –
not a real tree
Tree BarkTrees have different kinds of bark. It is an easy way to identify some kinds of trees. Some types of bark are: smooth, rough, furrowed, scaly
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Sycamore
Sourwood
Kinds of wood in a tree
Cambium –
produces new cells to make wood(makes tree rings)
Outer bark
–
protects the tree from insects, disease,and from drying out
Heartwood –
this part is the center of thetree trunk. It fills with old sap and no longer carries water. It is stronger than the other wood.
Xylem
–
the part of theTrunk that carries waterFrom the roots to the Rest of the tree.
Phloem
–
the part that takes the food (“sugar”) fromthe leaves to be stored in the roots.
Tree rings Trees are different from other plants, they do not die back in the winter. Each year they add a new layer of growth. Trees have growth rings in the wood. If you count the rings, you can tell how old the tree was when it was cut down.
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TwigsTwigs are the ends of the tree branches. New growth takes place at the ends of the twigs. Can you see the growth rings on the twig on the bottom picture?The new leaves are protected by the scales on the leaf buds. Can you see the leaf buds on these twigs?
Twig growth rings
Terminal bud
Flowering vs. Non-flowering Plants
Flowering:Most reproduce by making seeds.Some are wind pollinated, others animal pollinated.
Non-flowering:MossesFernsLiverwortsMost reproduce by making spores. They do not make seeds.Many live in damp areas.
Ferns and MossesFerns and mosses were around long before plants with flowers, before the time of the dinosaurs. Coal is made from these decomposed prehistoric plants.
Liverwort
Fern
Moss
MossMosses grow in damp areas in the woods, on rocks, on trees.
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FungiFungi decompose dead plants and turn them into soil; they are “nature’s recyclers”. These shelf fungi grew on the tree early in the stages of decomposition. Different types of fungi attack the wood at different stages.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms, puffballs and stinkhorns are notplants, they are in the kingdom Fungi. These organisms reproduce by making microscopic spores.They do not have chlorophyll and they are not green. Many mushrooms are poisonous.
Stalked Puffball-
in-aspic
Columned Stinkhornwith flies (they spread the spores!)
LichensLichens are not plants. They are in the fungus and protistakingdoms. They have both fungal and algal cells. The fungus gives the organism shape and holds water; the algae produce food for the organism through photosynthesis.There are 3 different kinds of lichens:CrustoseFolioseFruticose
Crustose
lichen
Foliose lichen
Christmas Lichen
Pixie Cups
British Soldier Lichen
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Structure of British Soldier Lichen
Algal cell
Fungal strand
Reproductive bodies
AlgaeAlgae (seaweed, “pond scum”) are not plants either. They belong to the kingdom Protista.Some are microscopic, one-celled; some are huge ocean kelp.