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

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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.