Members of the Kingdom Plantae
are green (they all contain chlorophyll) and most are rooted in
soil. There are more than 250,000 species within the kingdom.
Check out these predator plants!
Even if you don't know many plants by sight,
the one represented here is one you should recognize. Its three
toothed leaves are a shiny green and its berries are white.
Plant classification:
Land plants are divided into two groups (vascular
and nonvascular) based on whether they have vascular tissues or
not. Vascular tissues are specialized for conducting food and
water within the plant. All nonvascular plants are placed in one
division. There are nine divisions of vascular plants based on
whether they form seeds or not. This class will be concerned with
the following groups:
Division
Bryophyta - nonvascular plants
• Class Musci - the mosses
Division Pterophyta - ferns, a
group of seedless plants
Division Coniferophyta - cone-forming
seed plants
Division Anthophyta - fruit-forming
seed plants
• Class Monocotyledonae
- plants with one seed leaf
• Class Dicotyledonae -
plants with two seed leaves
Comparing vascular and
nonvascular plants:
*Nonvascular plants do not have vascular
tissues, roots, stems, or leaves.
*Nonvascular plants are much smaller than most vascular plants.
*Vascular plants live in more types of environments than nonvascular
plants.
Mosses:
There are more than 10,000 species of moss plants.
Mosses don't receive as much attention as flowering plants, ferns,
or conifers because most are small and inconspicuous. They have
no vascular tissue or wood, nor do they have large leaves or showy
cones or flowers. This does not mean that mosses are not important.
Mosses play important roles in reducing erosion along streams, water
and nutrient cycling in tropical forests, and insulating the arctic
permafrost.
• Mosses have structures that anchor them
and absorb water as well as structures that catch sunlight for
photosynthesis, but they have no true roots or leaves.
• The sphagnum moss is known for its moisture holding capacity,
absorbing up to 20 times its dry weight with water.
Mosses
reproduce sexually by forming spores.
A single moss "plant"
is a gametophyte. Sperm from one gametophyte fertilizes
the egg of another, producting a zygote.
A stalk-like structure, called
a Sporophyte, with a capsule at the top containing the spores
grows from the zygote
• When released, the
spores will grow into new gametophytes.
• All mosses show alteration of generations.
• View the moss lifecycle.
Ferns:
Ferns are vascular plants forming true roots, stems, and leaves.
They reproduce sexually by forming spores, not seeds. There was
a time when ferns were the dominant form of plant life on Earth.
Today, their distribution is limited by the requirement of having
drops of water at a certain time for reproduction.
• Ferns range in size from just a
few inches to 25 meters in height.
• Ferns can be recognized by the "feathery"
appearance of their leaves.
• The leaves of a fern are known as
fronds.
• Spores form in sacs called sporangia
on the under side of the fronds.
• Many ferns form a horizontal stem
(rhizome) instead of a vertical one.
Their life cycle
limits where ferns will be found. It is crucial to have a
drop of water at the proper time and place to allow sperm
to swim to an egg and complete the fern's life cycle. This
is why more ferns are found in moist, shady woods than in
dry, sunny prairies.
Answer
the following questions. Head your paper:
Unit 12 Day 1 The Plant
Kingdom.
1. What is the common name of the plant pictured
at the top of this page? The species name gives you a hint.
2. What pigment makes plants green?
3. What division of plants does not have vascular tissue?
4. How are vascular tissues involved in determining plant size?
5. Why does moss only grow in moist, shaded environments?
6. Why are water droplets required for ferns to reproduce?
