Characteristics of Plants

All are many celled

Most contain the green pigment chlorophyll

All have cell walls to provide structure

Most do not move around

All are made up of eukaryotic cells (have a

membrane and nucleus)

Found in nearly every environment on earth

About 285,000 plant species have been identified and

scientist believe many have not yet been found (tropical
rainforests)

Origin of Plants

Earliest plants came from the sea from plant-like protists

Depended on water to sustain life

Plants eventually had to adapt to land

Cell walls made of cellulose kept plant cells from drying out.

Most land plants also have a waxy, protective layer on stems and
leaves called a cuticle

The cuticle is an adaptation that enables plants to keep from

drying out on land

Life on Land

Advantages of life on land:

More direct sunlight available for photosynthesis

More availability of carbon dioxide (there is more CO2

in the air than in the water)

What Plants need to Survive

Sunlight

Plants use the energy from sunlight to carry out photosynthesis

Plants have many adaptations to maximize their ability to absorb

sunlight

Water

All cells require a constant supply of water

Water is used up quickly during photosynthesis because of the

sun.

Plants have developed lots of adaptations to absorb water and

prevent water loss.

What Plants need to Survive

Minerals

Plants absorb minerals

These nutrients are in the soil and are necessary for plant
growth

Gas Exchange

Plants need oxygen for respiration as well as carbon dioxide for

photosynthesis.

Plants need to exchange these two gases with the atmosphere

without losing water in the process

Movement of water and nutrients throughout the

plant body

Plants absorb water and minerals through their roots, but make
food in their leaves.

Classification of Plants

Plants are divided into 4 major groups:

Bryophytes - Mosses
non-vascular
seedless
Ferns
vascular
seedless
Cone-Bearing Plants - Gymnosperms
Produce seeds
vascular
Flowering Plants - Angiosperms
Produce seeds
vascular

Bryophytes

Bryophytes: small plants found in damp environments like

the forest floor, the edges of ponds and streams and near the ocean

Usually just a few cells thick so they can absorb water directly
through their cell walls.

They are nonvascular

Vascular tissue is made up of long, tubelike cells in which water

and nutrients are transported through the plant

Bryophytes do not have vascular tissue

Mosses and liverworts are in the Bryophyte Division

Bryophytes do not grow tall

off

Do not have roots, stems or leaves

Grow form spores instead of seeds
Reproduce asexually
Can develop when a small piece of the parent breaks

Mosses
Liverworts

Seedless Nonvascular Plants

Include:

Of 20,000 species of nonvascular plants, most are

classified as mosses

Mosses

Rootless plant with leaf like growths in a spiral around a

stalk

Held in place by root like filaments or threads, called

rhizoids

Grow in damp areas range in size from 2-5 centimeters

in height

Liverworts

Unlike tree leaves which have veins that conduct water,

nutrients and other materials, in liverworts there is little or no
conducting tissue

Tree leaves have window-like stomata which close when

the leaf is threatened with drying out; liverworts have nothing
like stomata, so the whole plant shrivels when dry

Instead of bearing regular roots, liverworts anchor

themselves with one-celled appendages known as rhizoids

Importance of Mosses and

Liverworts

Are often the first plants to grow in new environment,

such as a volcanic site or forest fire area

These pioneer plant species grow and die and become

food and nutrients for other less hardy plants

They change the conditions in the environment so that

other plants can grow there also

Seedless Vascular Plants

Characteristics:

Produce Spores (not seeds)

Have vascular tissue (unlike the mosses)

The vascular tissue is made up of long, tube like cells

These cells carry water, minerals and nutrients to all the cells
throughout the plant

This allows the plants to grow bigger and thicker than the
nonvascular plants

Include:

Club mosses and spike mosses

Horsetails
Ferns

Ferns

Largest group of seedless vascular plants in this division.

12,000 living species

Require very little water to grow

Rhizome is the underground stem system of a fern

The leaf of a fern is called a frond

Reproduce by a spore, a reproductive cell that forms new

organisms without fertilization

Rhizome

An underground stem.

Roots grow from the rhizome to root the plant to

the soil.

Importance of Seedless
Vascular Plants

Over long periods of time, this plant material built up,

became compacted and compressed and eventually became
coal

Seedless plants such as bryophytes and ferns make up

peat, which in turn becomes fuel

Found in bogs today, a poorly drained area with spongy,

wet ground this is composed mainly of dead plants whose
decay has been slowed by lack of oxygen

Peat

Peat forms in bogs, but after millions of years

it becomes coal, natural gas and petroleum.