Plant Anatomy & Functions
Which plant part functions primarily in water and nutrient absorption, anchorage, and food storage?
What is the root?
Which plant part attracts pollinators, facilitates fertilization, and forms seeds/fruits?
What is the flower?
What modified stem is horizontal, runs above ground, and produces new runner daughter plants at nodes, as in strawberries?
What is a stolon (or runner)?
What type of roots arise from non-root organs, such as stems or leaves, aiding in climbing or anchoring?
What are adventitious roots?
This stage is characterized by the imbibing of water and emergence of the radicle.
What is seed germination?
What small structures on the root surface function to dramatically increase the surface area for water absorption?
What are root hairs?
What classification is given to a flower that contains both functional stamens and functional pistils?
What is a perfect flower?
What trap mechanism does a Pitcher plant employ to digest captured prey?
Insects slip on a waxy rim, fall into an internal pool of digestive fluid, and are prevented from climbing out by downward-pointing hairs.
Order the four regions of a root tip starting from the tip.
Root cap, region of cell division, region of elongation, and region of maturation (differentiation).
This phase of development is characterized by the inability of the plant to reproduce sexually.
What is the juvenile/herbaceous phase?
Name the two main parts of a standard simple leaf, one being the broad flat portion and the other being the stalk that connects it to the stem.
What are the blade and petiole?
What is a flower called if it lacks any one of the four main floral organs (sepals, petals, stamens, or pistil)?
What is an incomplete flower?
What modified underground stem consists of a thick, horizontal stem that grows laterally beneath the soil, as seen in ginger?
What is a rhizome?
What happens to outer root cap cells as the root forces its way through soil?
They slough/wear off and secrete a mucilaginous lubricant, living for about one week before being replaced.
This type of shoot growth stops when flower bud clusters form at the shoot terminals.
What is determinate growth?
What microscopic pores on the leaf epidermis control water loss and regulate gas exchange?
What are stomata?
What term describes a flower with radial symmetry, where the petals are arranged symmetrically around a central point?
What is an actinomorphic flower?
What traits characterize flowers that have evolved to attract nocturnal bat pollinators?
They are typically large, pale or white-colored, highly fragrant, and produce abundant nectar.
What biological process occurs when Rhizobium inside legume nodules convert atmospheric gas into a plant-usable form?
What is nitrogen fixation?
This type of shoot growth allows the terminal to remain vegetative while flowers form laterally.
What is indeterminate growth?
What process describes the exudation of liquid water drops from leaf margins due to high root pressure at night?
What is guttation?
Define plant-pollinator coevolution.
The reciprocal evolutionary change where angiosperm flower structures and animal pollinator traits evolve interdependently in response to each other.
What floral features attract fly pollinators to carrion flowers?
Dull reddish-brown coloring and foul odors mimicking rotting flesh or animal feces.
Why is the Casparian strip critical to a plant's selective nutrient absorption?
Because non-selective passage through cell walls is blocked, forcing water/minerals through semipermeable cell membranes for filtering.
This is the final stage of development leading to the death of the plant tissue or the whole plant.
What is senescence/plant death?