Major Plant Groups, Including Angiosperms

/in /by

BIO 102 Lab 07: Major Plant Groups, Including Angiosperms

Use the textbook as a resource: Biology in Focus (2e), Chapters 26, 28-31.

To submit, print this document, complete all lab activities and answer all questions. Scan your lab pages using the free phone app AdobeScan, and upload your PDF to Canvas. Drawings must be your own and not mechanically produced copies, photos, or online images.

Plants Have Adapted to Life on Land

Plants developed from a group of green algae (members of Kingdom Protista) called the charophytes. These charophytes are algae that are, not surprisingly, most closely related to what we think of as plants. Like these green algae, plants have a life cycle called the alternation of generations. Draw a diagram of the basic life cycle of a plant, showing the alternation of the sporophyte and gametophyte generations. Be sure to define what sporophytes and gametophytes are (in your own words).

Unlike green algae that live in water, plants live on land. Being surrounded by air means that they risk losing too much water (through evaporation) resulting in possibly dying from dehydration. Name 3 characteristics of plants that help them conserve water and protect them from drying.

The 3 Major Plant Groups are Defined by 2 Evolutionary Developments

1) Nonvascular Plants, also called Bryophytes (no vascular tissue, no seeds)

How long ago do bryophytes first appear in the fossil record?

Name 2 types of nonvascular plants that are extant (= alive today):

Evolutionary Development VASCULAR TISSUE

What is vascular tissue?

2) Seedless Vascular Plants (vascular tissue, no seeds)

How long ago do seedless vascular plants first appear in the fossil record?

Name 2 types of seedless vascular plants that are extant:

Evolutionary Development SEEDS

What is a seed?

3) Seed Plants (vascular tissue, seeds)

When do seed plants first appear in the fossil record?

There are 2 Types of Seed Plants:

A) Gymnosperms

Give 2 examples of modern plants that are gymnosperms:

B) Angiosperms (flowering plants)

Give 2 examples of modern plants that are angiosperms:

2 Types of Angiosperms (Flowering Plants): Monocots and Dicots

List or draw the differences between monocot and dicot plants in the table below.

Characteristics Monocots Dicots
Number of Cotyledons

(embryonic leaves)
Leaf Venation Pattern

(parallel or branched)
Flower Parts in

multiples of ___
Root System

(fibrous or tap)
DRAW a cross section of a stem (the pattern of

vascular bundles)

Biology in Focus, p. 598
DRAW a cross section of a root (the pattern of

vascular bundles)

Biology in Focus, p. 595
Give two examples of each plant type

Angiosperms Have Flowers and Fruit. (Seeds are found inside the fruit.)

Flowers

Label the parts of a typical flower.

Each pollen grain contains 1 cell that produces 2 sperm.

Which flower part produces the pollen?

Which flower part produces the egg cell?

Pollination is the process of delivering pollen grains to the carpels (female flower parts) so that fertilization can occur. For some plants, pollen blows in the wind or trickles down the plant in water (rain) to reach the carpels.

Other plants rely on animals to transport pollen to the carpels. Animal pollinators include bees, moths, birds, flies, and bats. Flowers pollinated by nocturnal animals such as moths or bats usually bloom at night, are light colors that are visible in the dark, or they give off a scent to attract pollinators.

Give an example of a plant that is pollinated by bees.

Give an example of a plant that is pollinated by a hummingbird.

Give an example of a plant that is pollinated at night and its animal pollinator.

Fruit

After pollination, a pollen tube grows down through the carpel until it reaches the ovary. This delivers sperm to the ovules inside the ovary – the ovule contains an egg. If a sperm fertilizes the egg, a zygote is formed and will eventually develop into an embryo. The tissues of the ovule, including the embryo, develop into a seed. The tissues of the ovary develop into a fruit that surrounds the seeds.

Fruits contain seeds (seedless fruits still normally contain seeds, though they are harder to see). If a plant structure develops from a flower and contains seeds, it is a fruit.

Name 3 fruits that develop from flowers and contain seeds (people usually call these vegetables):

Water, wind, or animals may distribute seeds.

Give an example of plant seeds that are blown on the wind. What characteristic of the seeds or fruit makes this possible?

A coconut is an example of a fruit (and seed) that is distributed by water. What characteristic of this fruit makes traveling long distances by water possible?

Give an example of plant fruit and seeds that are eaten by an animal and dropped far from the plant in the animal’s feces. What characteristic of the seeds or fruit makes the animal willing to eat the fruit and distribute the seeds?

BIO 102 Lab 07: Types of Plants and Angiosperm Structures 7