What are Plants?

Plants are multicellular eukaryotes that are photosynthetic autotrophs. Plants are

essentially terrestrial but their origin is in water. Living on land poses definitive problems: aerial

parts must be coated with cuticle to prevent desiccation; stomata must be developed for gaseous

exchange. But terrestrial plants share functions with their progenitors, the green algae. These

functions include photosynthesis for which they contain chloroplast composed of chlorophylls a

and b in their cells in addition to a variety of yellow and orange carotenoids; plant cells also have

cell wall composed of cellulose and carbohydrate is stored in form of starch generally in

chloroplasts and other plastids.

The reproductive apparatus of plants also changed with movement to land. In contrast to the

algae, gametes now had to be dispersed in a non- aquatic environment and gametes also being

protected from desiccation. Land plants produce their gametes within gametangia, organs which

have protective jackets of sterile (non- reproductive) cells that protect the delicate gametes from

drying during their development. The egg is fertilized within the female gamentangium and the

resulting embryo is retained and nourished for some time. In algae, the developing eggs are not

retained within a parent.

Usefulness of plants to man

Man depends on plants for food, fiber (textile, paper, and cordage), fuel, medicines,

amelioration of environment and as variety of industrial materials. Some plants are useful for

mineral cycling while some mediate vital chemical processes e.g. fermentation. There are

however some activities mediated by plants that are dangerous to man e.g. spoilage, diseases

(particularly among saprophytes), infestation of weed on land and waters.

The life cycle of all plants include a gametophyte: a haploid, multicellular organ and a

sporophyte (diploid generation). The two generations alternate; the gametophytes (n) producing

gametes by mitosis while the sporophyte produces spores/gametes by meiosis. The spores

produced by the sporophyte develop into the gametophytic organisms which may be independent

male and female. Gametes fuse to form zygote which gives rise to an organism, the new

sporophyte (2n). The alternating changes between the gametophyte and sporophyte phase is

called alternation of generation. One of the main trends in plant evolution is the reduction of the

haploid generation and the dominance of the diploid. The other trend is the replacement of the

flagellated sperm by pollen. These two events are key evolutionary adaptations to terrestrial

environment.

DIAGRAM SHOWING ALTERNATION OF GENERATION.

Fossil records chronicle four major periods of plant evolution;

I. Evolution from aquatic ancestors, green algae, took place during the LATE

ORDOVICIAN PERIOD OF THE PALEOZOIC ERA (about 460 million years ago).

Vascular tissue evolved relatively early in plant history. Most mosses lack vascular

tissue.

II. Early DEVONIAN PERIOD (about 360 million years ago). The earliest vascular plants

lacked seeds, a condition that still persists in ferns and a few other seedless vascular

plants.

III. End of DEVONIAN PERIOD (about 360 million years ago). This era is marked by the

origin of the seeds, a structure consisting of the embryo packaged with food reserve

within a protective covering. The first vascular plants with seeds arose at the end of the

Devonian period. Their seeds were not encased, that is, they were naked. They were

accordingly called Gymnosperms, which coexisted with ferns and other seedless plants.

IV. The CRESTACEOUS PERIOD in the MESOZOIC ERA (about 130 million years ago).

This era witnessed the emergence of flowering plants. The flower is a complex

reproductive structure which bears seeds protected and nursed in the ovaries. These

plants are accordingly called Angiosperms in contradiction to Gymnosperms whose seeds

are naked.

The challenges of land colonization: the origin of vascular tissues.

aerial components (stem and leaves). The roots absorb water and minerals while the shoot

system makes and may store food. The shoot must have support to be able to stand straight in the

air. The plant cell must be able to accumulate lignin in the cellulose matrix of its walls.

To solve the problem of conduction of water and minerals to distant organs from the

roots and the translocation of the products of photosynthesis to the stem and root, a

vascular system must be developed. The conducting tissues of the vascular system are

xylem and phloem. The tube shaped cells of the xylem are actually dead and lignified so

they are able to offer support functions. The phloem is a living tissue that distributes

sugar, amino acids and organic nutrients throughout the plant. Additional adaptations

include the seed, replacement of flagellated sperm with pollen for effective transfer on

land and the increasing dominance of the sporophyte in the alternation of generations.

THE SEED PLANTS, THE SUGNIFICANCE OF THE SEED HABIT AND ITS

EVOLUTION

The seed plants are the Gymnosperms and the Angiosperms. They are genetically

believed by botanists to be the most advanced in the plant kingdom. They are treated as a

single division, the spermatophyte – by some botanists. The seed plants are the dominant

plant form of the terrestrial habitat. They exist as different life forms-trees, shrubs and

herbs. They occur as autotrophs, parasitic, semi-parasitic or insectivorous species. They

attain extremes sizes as big timber trees and small herbs. The seed plants include the

cycads, the pines, the palms, the bamboos, the bananas and the weeds. The bulk of our
plant needs for food, fruits, seasonings, fuelwoods, fiber, ornamental use, are from seed

plants.

The seed plant has succeeded in all sort of habitats; from the ones showing extremes of

temperatures to those showing extremes of soil-water and soil nutrient conditions. Thus,

there are plants that thrive in brackish waters, fresh waters, arid and wet locations and

even on almost bare rock situations.

The seed plants are divided into two major groups – those with naked seeds (the

gymnosperms) and those with their seeds enclosed in a ‘bag’ or ovary (the angiosperms).

The evolution of angiosperm was accompanied by considerable modification of the

bracts into usually brightly-coloured leaves resulting in structures called flowers. This is

why they are called flowering plants.

The Gymnosperms

Gymnosperms are mostly cone-bearing seed plants. The ovules are not completely

enclosed by tissues of the sporophyte at pollination. The most familiar gymnosperm

includes pines, spruces, cedars, firs etc. they are found in the colder temperature and

sometimes drier regions of the world. They are sources of timber, paper, resin, turpentine

and other economically-important products. Conifers constitute up to 80% of the world

forest trees.

Life Cycle of Gymnosperms

In the gymnosperm female cones are produced on the upper branches of tress while male

cones are produced at the lower branches. Female cones are larger than male cones; their

scales become woody. Two ovules develop towards the base of the scales; each ovule
contains a megasporangium called the nucellus, which is completely surrounded by a

thick layer of cells called integument. The integument leaves an aperture called the

micropyle at one end.

A single megaspore, mother cell within each megasporangium undergoes meiosis

producing a linear tetrads of cells three of which degenerate. The remaining one develops

into a megagametophyte over one year. The megagametophyte may consist of thousands

of cells with 2-6 archegonia found at the micropylar end. Each archegonium consist of a

large egg. The scales of the cones open to allow pollen into ovule through the sticky fluid

in the micropyle. Fertilization takes places about fifteen months after pollination.

The pollen grains develop from microspores produced in the male cones. A pair of sacs

called microsporangia develops on each scale of the male cone. Numerous microspore

mother cells are found in the microsporangia and meiosis takes place in the microspore

mother cells leading to the formation of four microspores each of which develops into

four celled pollen grains with a pair of sacs for buoyancy.

Pollen grains drift down the scales while they are open. The seed in gymnosperms is not

enclosed in an ovary. The equivalent of the stigma in flowering plants is absent so the

pollen can land directly on the micropyle to effect fertilization. The pollen tube find its

way through the nucellus to the archegonium. It takes about fifteen month between

pollination and fertilization. One of the sperm nuclei unites with the egg cell forming a

zygote; the other sperm and cells degenerate and the zygote develops to the seed which is

covered by one of the layers of integument.

About 250,000 species of flowering plants constitute the Angiosperms. The

distinguishing feature of the Angiosperms is that their ovules are enclosed within diploid

tissues at the time of pollination. The carpel is the tissue that covers the ovules of

angiosperms. The angiosperms, belongs to phylum Anthophytha, they are divided into

the Monocotyledonae and the Dicotyledonae.

The Angiosperm Life Cycle

(megasporogenesis). At the end of the meiotic division in the ovary, a linear tetrads of

cells (four cells linearly arranged) result. Three of the cells degenerate leaving the

megaspore to continue the meiotic process. The megaspore undergoes three mitotic

divisions leading to 8 haploid nuclei three of which cluster at one end (the antipodal

cells), two at the centre (the polar nuclei) and the other three clustering at the micropylar

end of the embryo sac (the megagametophyte) which consist of the egg cell sandwiched

between two synergids.

fertilization to produce a new zygote, the seed. During fertilization, a functional pollen

grain lands on the stigmatic surface and germinates by extruding its protoplast as a pollen

tube through a pore. This tube carries the two sperm nuclei to the embryo sac. One of the

sperm nuclei fuses with the polar nuclei to form the endosperm (3n) while the other fuses

with the egg cell to form the embryo (2n). This is the process of double fertilization. The

integuments form the coat of the new seed.

Microsporogenesis is simpler. The four products of meiosis (called tetrad) each develop

into functional pollen grains through two mitotic division which produce two sperm

nuclei and a tube nucleus. The two sperm nuclei are involved in double fertilization that

has just been described.

one, two or rarely more integuments. We have described the details of fertilization in the

seed plants so far. It is important to know that unlike in lower vascular and non-vascular

plants, the male sex is not motile in seed plants. They are transported to the female sex

cells by wind or by animals.

The most important attribute of the seed habit is probably the growth of the embryo

within a megasporangium that contains stored food. This situation makes it possible for

the embryo to exist in a state of dormancy of various durations. This is a most important

evolutionary achievement of the angiosperms. It is also important to note that

gymnosperm seeds are produced from single fertilization while angiosperm seeds are

produced from double fertilization.