Kingdom Plantae

General Characteristics

• Eukaryotic, multicellular organisms that carry out photosynthesis

• Cell walls contain cellulose

• Plants develop from embryos protected by tissues of the parent plant

• Includes mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants

Plant Life Cycle

• Alternation of Generations– One generation is haploid and the other is

diploid– Called the gametophyte and sporophyte

generations– Pg.435, fig. 13.28

Non-Vascular Plants

• Lack true roots, stems and leaves and do not have specialized tissues to transport materials throughout the plant.

• Bryophytes: mosses, liverworts and hornworts

Vascular Plants

• Tracheophytes

• Conducting tissues Xylem and Phloem, allows plants to grow much taller.

• Spore producing vascular plants.

• Seed producing vascular plants.

Spore-Producing Vascular Plants

• Need water to complete life cycle

• Club mosses and Horsetails – Most primitive

tracheophytes

• Ferns (p.438)– More widespred– Fronds contain

sporangia which contain spores

Seed-Producing Vascular Plants

• Most successful plants on Earth

• Two main groups: cones and flowers

• Sexual reproduction occurs by pollination

• Do not need water to compete life cycle

Gymnosperms

• Conifers, gnetae, ginkgos and cycads (p.439)

• Cones: specialized reproductive structures– Male (pollen cone) and female (seed) cones

Angiosperms

• Flowering plants

• Reproduce sexually by means of flowers and pollination

• Seeds are contained in a protective wall which develops into a fruit

Angiosperm Life Cycle

• Most successful plants on Earth

• Using flowers as reproductive structures frees the need for water

• Ingenious seed dispersal methods

• Well protected seeds

The Flower

• Defining reproductive structure

Pollination

• Angiosperms have developed amazing variety of methods to transfer pollen from one flower to another.

• Self-pollination: pollen from the same plant fertilizes an egg cell

• Cross-pollination: more common. Pollen is transferred from one plant to another of the same species by wind, water or animals.

• Flowers are adapted to specific methods of pollination

Fertilization

• Pg. 442