Plant basics
What five key traits are found in nearly all land plants but absent in charophytes?
Dependent multicellular embryos; alternation of generations; walled spores in sporangia; multicellular gametangia; apical meristems.
Name the three major bryophyte groups.
Liverworts, mosses, and hornworts
What do xylem and phloem transport?
Xylem transports water and minerals; phloem transports sugars and other organic products
What three components make up a seed?
Embryo, nutrients, and a protective coat.
What is a defining feature of angiosperms?
Flowers; they also produce fruits that develop from ovaries.
What is the waxy covering of the plant epidermis?
The cuticle
Which generation is dominant in bryophytes?
The gametophyte
What are the two clades of seedless vascular plants?
Lycophyta and Monilophyta.
What does gymnosperm mean?
“Naked seed”; seeds are exposed on sporophylls that form cones.
What are the four main parts of a perfect flower?
Sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils/carpels.
What two multicellular stages alternate in a plant life cycle?
Haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte.
Why are bryophytes usually limited in height?
They lack true vascular tissue and lignin
Name examples of lycophytes and monilophytes.
Lycophytes: club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts.
Monilophytes: ferns, horsetails, whisk ferns.
What do megaspores and microspores develop into?
Megaspores form female gametophytes; microspores form male gametophytes.
What does a fruit develop from, and what does a seed develop from?
Fruit develops from a mature ovary; seed develops from a mature ovule.
What do apical meristems do?
Allow continual growth; their cells differentiate into tissues.
What do antheridia and archegonia produce?
Antheridia produce sperm; archegonia produce eggs and are the site of fertilization
How do microphylls differ from megaphylls?
Microphylls have one vein
megaphylls have a highly branched vascular system.
Give two advantages of seeds.
They can remain dormant, store food, and/or disperse long distances by wind or animals.
What happens during double fertilization?
One sperm fertilizes the egg to form a diploid zygote; the second combines with two other nuclei to form triploid endosperm.
What are mycorrhizae?
Symbiotic associations between fungi and land plants that may help plants obtain nutrients
What are the parts of a moss sporophyte?
Foot, seta (stalk), and sporangium/capsule
What are sori and strobili?
Sori are clusters of sporangia; strobili are cone-like structures made of groups of sporophylls.
Name the four gymnosperm phyla.
Cycadophyta, Ginkgophyta, Gnetophyta, and Coniferophyta.
How many cotyledons do monocots and eudicots have?
Monocots have one; eudicots have two.