Plant Evolution
Scientists believe all land plants evolved from this simple, water-dwelling organism.
Green algae
This colorful, often scented structure is the key reproductive adaptation of all angiosperms.
flower
For fertilization to occur, a pollen grain must land on the stigma and grow this tiny structure down the style to reach the ovule.
pollen tube
Coconuts are a classic example of this dispersal method, allowing them to float across oceans to new islands.
water dispersal
This is the gas that plants "breathe in" from the air, which they need to start photosynthesis.
carbon dioxide
This "plumbing system" of xylem and phloem was a major adaptation that allowed plants to grow tall and move water from the ground up.
vascular tissue
This sticky top part of the pistil (the female part) is designed to catch pollen.
stigma
these buzzing insects are attracted to brightly colored (especially blue and yellow) and sweetly scented flowers, which they visit to collect nectar, getting covered in pollen.
bees
Dandelions with their feathery tufts and maple seeds with their "wings" are both adapted for this type of dispersal.
wind
This green pigment, found inside chloroplasts, is what makes plants look green and allows them to absorb sunlight.
chlorophyll
These were some of the first true land plants; they lack vascular tissue and must live in moist areas to absorb water directly and reproduce.
What are mosses (or bryophytes)
These small, leaf-like structures form the outermost ring; their main function is to enclose and protect the flower when it is still a bud.
sepals or bract
These flying pollinators don't land; they hover and are attracted to bright red, tubular-shaped flowers that produce large amounts of sugary nectar.
humming birds
The main reason seeds must travel far from the parent plant is to avoid this
competition
this gas is released by plants as a waste product of photosynthesis, and it's what animals (like us) breathe in.
oxygen
This type of "naked seed" plant, like a pine tree, evolved after ferns and uses cones to reproduce.
gymnosperms
Name the complete male part, as well as it subparts
stamen (anther, filament)
This is the name for the actual fusion of the sperm cell (from the pollen) with the egg cell (inside the ovule) to create a seed.
fertilization
this dispersal method is used by fruits like burrs or cockleburs, which are covered in tiny hooks that snag onto an animal's fur.
attachment/hook/latch
This is the specific organelle, or "tiny factory," inside a plant cell where the entire process of photosynthesis takes place
chloroplast
While flowers attract pollinators, this other major evolutionary innovation of angiosperms develops from the flower's ovary
Fruit
If the male part of the plant is completely missing then what do we can this plant
female incomplete/imperfect
his unique process in flowering plants involves two sperm: one fertilizes the egg to become the embryo, and the other fertilizes central cells to become the endosperm (food supply).
double fertilization
Brightly colored, fleshy fruits are an adaptation to encourage animals to do this, allowing the tough seeds to be deposited far away in their droppings.
eat the fruit
This structure on the leaves opens and closes during photosynthesis to let carbon dioxide and oxygen in and out
stomata