Chapter 22

Plant Diversity
22–1 Introduction to Plants
 Objectives
• Explain what a plant is
• Describe what plants need to
survive
• Describe how plants first evolved
 What Is a Plant?
• Plants are members of the
kingdom Plantae
• Plants are multicellular
eukaryotes that have cell walls
made of cellulose. They develop
from multicellular embryos and
carry out photosynthesis using
the green pigments chlorophyll a
and b
 The Plant Life Cycle
• Plants have life cycles that are
characterized by alternation of
generations
• the two generations are the
haploid (N) gametophyte, or
gamete-producing plant, and the
diploid (2N) sporophyte, or spore-
producing plant.
What Plants Need to Survive
1. Sunlight
2. Water and Minerals
3. Gas Exchange
4. Movement of water and nutrients
 Early Plants
• The first plants evolved from an
organism much like the
multicellular green algae living
today.
 The First Plants
• The first true plants were still
dependent on water to complete
their life cycles, similar to today’s
mosses in that they were simple
in structure and grew close to the
ground.
• From these plant pioneers,
several major groups of plants
evolved.
Mosses
Ferns
Cone Bearing Plant
Flowering plant
Overview of the Plant Kingdom
• Botanists divide the plant
kingdom into four groups based
on three important features:
2. Water conducting tissues
3. Seeds
4. Flowers
22 – 2 Bryophytes a.k.a
(Non-vascular plants)
 Objectives
• Describe the adaptations of
Bryophytes
 bryophytes
• Type of early plant with no
vascular tissue that draw water in
their cells by osmosis.
Moss
Liverwort
Hornwort
• During at least one stage of their
life cycle, bryophytes produce
sperm that must swim through
water to reach eggs of other
individuals.
• Therefore, they must live in
places where there is rainfall or
dew for at least part of the year
Asexual
Reproductive
Part

Sexual
Reproductive/
Photosynthetic
Part
22–3 Seedless
Vascular Plants
 Objectives
• Explain how vascular tissue is
important to ferns and their
relatives
• Describe the three phyla of spore-
bearing plants
• Identify the stages in the cycle of
ferns
• In just a few million years, plants
grew to a whole new scale on the
landscape.
Q: What caused this increase in
size?
A: Vascular Tissue
 Vascular tissue
• A type of tissue that is specialized
to conduct water and nutrients
through the body of the plant
Evolution of Vascular Tissue
• Both forms of vascular tissue—
xylem and phloem—can move
fluids throughout the plant body,
even against the force of gravity.
 Xylem
• Carry water upwards from the
roots to every part of the plant
 Phloem
• Transports nutrients and
carbohydrates produced by
photosynthesis from the leaves
down to the roots
• Vascular plants also evolved the
ability to produce lignin, a
substance that makes cell walls
rigid.
• The presence of lignin allows
vascular plants to grow upright
and tall
Ferns and Their Relatives
• Seedless vascular plants include
club mosses, horsetails, and
ferns.
• Like other vascular plants, ferns
and their relatives have true roots,
leaves, and stems.
 Roots
• Absorb water
and minerals
 Leaves
• Collect light for photosynthesis
 Veins
• Made of xylem and phloem
 Stems
• Used for
support,
connect roots
and leaves,
carry water
between them
Club Mosses
Horsetails
Ferns

Underground Stem
22 – 4 Seed Plants
 Objectives
• Describe the reproductive
adaptations of seed plants
• Describe the evolution of seed
plants
• Identify the four groups of
gymnosperms
• Over millions of years, plants with
a single trait—the ability to form
seeds—became the most
dominant group of photosynthetic
organisms on land.
• Seed plants are divided into two
groups:
 Gymnosperms
• Cone plants
• Bear their seeds directly on the
surfaces of cones
Ex.) conifers, pines, spruces,
cycads, ancient ginkgoes and
gnetophytes
 Angiosperms
• Flowering plants
• Bear their seeds within a layer of
tissue that protects the seed
Ex.) grasses, flowering trees
shrubs, wild flowers
 Reproduction Free From Water
• Unlike mosses and ferns, however,
seed plants do not require water for
fertilization of gametes.
Q: Why was this an advantage?
A: They could live further away from
water
• Adaptations that allow seed plants to
reproduce without water include
flowers or cones, the transfer of
sperm by pollination, and the
protection of embryos in seeds.
Cones and Flowers
 Cones
• Seed bearing structures of
gymnosperms
 Flowers
• Seed bearing
structures of
angiosperms
Pollen
 Pollen grain
• Contains the male gamete
 Pollination
• The transfer of pollen from the
male gametophyte to the female
gametophyte
Seeds
 seed
• An embryo of a plant that is
encased in a protective covering
and surrounded by a food supply
 embryo
• Early development stage of a
sporophyte plant
• The seed’s food supply provides
nutrients to the embryo as it
grows
 Seed Coat
• Surrounds and protects the
embryo and keeps the contents of
the seed from drying out
• Can be specialized for dispersal
 Evolution of Seed Plants
• Over a period of millions of years,
continents became much drier,
making it harder for seedless plants
to survive and reproduce.
• For that reason, many moss and fern
species became extinct. They were
replaced by seed plants with
adaptations that equipped them to
deal with drier conditions.
 Gymnosperms—Cone
Bearers
• The most ancient surviving seed
plants are the gymnosperms.
• Gymnosperms include:
Gnetophytes
Cycads
Ginkos
Conifers
22–5 Angiosperms -
Flowering Plants
 Objectives
• Identify the characteristics of
angiosperms
• Explain what monocots and dicots
are
• Describe the three different life
spans of angiosperms
• Flowering plants originated on
land and quickly came to
dominate Earth’s plant life.
• The vast majority of living plant
species reproduce with flowers.
 Flowers and Fruits
• Angiosperms have unique
reproductive organs known as
flowers.
Q: Why are flowers evolutionary
adaptations?
A: they attract animals that pollinate
them
• Flowers contain ovaries, which
surround and protect the seeds
• After pollination, the ovary
develops into a fruit, which
protects the seed and aids in its
dispersal.
 Fruit
• Ripened ovary, thick wall of tissue
that surrounds the seed
 Diversity of Angiosperms
• The angiosperms are an
incredibly diverse group. Not
surprisingly, there are many
different ways of categorizing
these plants.
 Monocots and Dicots
• Monocots and dicots are named
for the number of seed leaves, or
cotyledons, in the plant embryo.
Monocots have one seed leaf,
and dicots have two seed leafs
Woody and Herbaceous Plants
• Woody plants – Have woody
stems
Ex.) trees, shrubs, vines
 Herbaceous Plants
• Plant stems that are smooth and
nonwoody
Ex.) dandelions, petunias, and
sunflowers
Annuals, Biennials,
and Perennials
 Annuals
• Angiosperms that complete a life
cycle within one growing season
 Biennials
• Angiosperms that complete their
life cycle in two years
• In the first year, biennials
germinate and grow roots, stems,
leaves
• During their second year,
biennials grow new stems and
leaves and then produce flowers
and seeds
 Perennials
• Flowering plants that live for more
than two years