Plant Evolution
Clade characterized by branching sporophytes and multiple sporangia.
What is Polysporangiophyta?
Main advantage of seeds over spores.
What is protection and nourishment of the embryo?
Term for enclosed seeds in flowering plants.
What is a carpel?
This seed dispersal method uses lightweight structures like wings or parachutes to travel through the air.
What is wind dispersal?
Water-conducting tissue in vascular plants.
What is xylem?
Dominant life stage in vascular plants.
What is the sporophyte?
Term for plants that produce naked seeds.
What are gymnosperms?
Process that produces both a zygote and endosperm.
What is double fertilization?
Seed dispersal method using hooks or sticky surfaces.
What is animal dispersal?
Structures that increase absorption in roots.
What are root hairs?
Two main vascular plant lineages.
What are lycophytes and euphyllophytes?
Type of spores that led to evolution of seeds.
What is heterospory?
Most ancient living angiosperm species.
What is Amborella trichopoda?
Pollination strategy where flowers mimic insects for reproduction.
What is sexual deception?
Meristem responsible for producing wood.
What is vascular cambium?
Leaf type found in lycophytes.
What are microphylls?
Structure that becomes a seed after fertilization.
What is the ovule?
Group containing ~75% of flowering plants.
What are eudicots?
Mutualism between ants and seeds.
What is myrmecochory?
Type of venation found in dicots.
What is reticulate venation?
Evolutionary innovation that allowed plants to grow tall and form trees.
What is secondary xylem (wood) via vascular cambium?
Male gametophyte structure that produces sperm cells.
What is a pollen grain?
Darwin’s term for rapid diversification of flowering plants.
What is “abominable mystery”?
Evolutionary shift from pollen reward to a cheaper alternative.
What is the nectar revolution?
Photosynthetic adaptation where stomata open at night.
What is CAM photosynthesis?