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Question 1

What are fibers in plants?

Answer 1

The tissue of plants from the
stem, leaves seeds, or roots.
 By using these fibres, we are
able to use plants for much
more than just food

Question 2

What are the 5 main purposes of plants?

Answer 2

 Food
 Fibre
 Medicine
 Transportation and Construction
 Fuel

Question 3

What do plants produce?

Answer 3

Plants produce the oxygen
that living things require in
order to survive, in addition
to using up the carbon
dioxide that is polluted
into our atmosphere.

Question 4

What are the 7 main crops?

Answer 4

 Wheat
 Rice
 Maize (corn)
 Potatoes
 Barley
 Cassava
 Sorghum

Question 5

How do we get sugar?

Answer 5

 Almost half of the world’s
sugar comes from sugar
beets
 These are grown around the
world, in places like Russia,
France, Germany, Poland,
and the US
 The sugar is found in the
roots of the plant.
 The roots are shredded and
then heated in running
water
 A clear liquid remains,
which is concentrated and
crystallized to make sugar

Question 6

What are the 3 main types of fiber we use?

Answer 6

Cotton, hemp, and flax

Question 7

What is a taproot?

Answer 7

A taproot system is one single, predominant root, with numerous small roots coming out of it.

These smaller roots are covered in tiny root hairs

The tiny root hairs increase the ability to the plant to absorb water and nutrients from the soil

Question 8

What are the functions of a stem?

Answer 8

Transport the water and nutrients from the root of the plant to the leaves

Support the leaves to ensure they have adequate light, which the plant needs to produce food (this is why most stems are above ground)

Store food for the plant that the leaves have produced. Food for the plant is usually stored as either starch (like in potatoes), or as sugar (like in sugar cane)

Question 9

What are runners?

Answer 9

Plants (like strawberry plants) sometimes have a horizontal stem that grows along the topsoil. From various spots along this runner, roots will grow

Question 10

What are corms?

Answer 10

Corms are underground stems. Crocus and gladioli grow from corms

Question 11

What are rhizomes?

Answer 11

Cattails have fleshy, horizontal stems called rhizomes, which enable them to spread underground. They differ from runners because rhizomes are usually found with fibrous systems

Question 12

What are cacti?

Answer 12

Cacti, like the prickly pear, have flattened stems, which enable them to turn away from the sun in order to retain their water

Question 13

What are the parts of a tree trunk?

Answer 13

Heartwood – dead wood at the center of the trunk – gives the tree its strength

Xylem – carries water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves. As new layers are made, old ones die and become heartwood

Cambium – the growing part of the trunk (the part where you would count the rings to find out how old the tree is). Each year cambium produces new xylem and phloem

Phloem – The layer of cells that carry sugars from the leaves to the rest of the tree. When these cells die, they become bark

Bark – Protects the tree from drying out, and insulates the tree

Question 14

How does photosynthesis work?

Answer 14

During warm months, a pigment called chlorophyll make leaves green

Most of the chlorophyll is in the top of the leaves.

Leaves combine carbon dioxide (from the air) and water to create sugar, which is stored for energy.

The Carbon dioxide enters the plants through tiny holes called stomata or stoma, Because leaves usually have more stomata on the lower surface, more carbon dioxide reaches the spaces in the spongy layer and water is stored there.

Question 15

What is diffusion?

Answer 15

The tendency of particles in a gas or liquid to become evenly distributed by moving from areas of greater concentration to lesser concentration. The particles spread until they are evenly dispersed

Question 16

What is osmosis?

Answer 16

Is the diffusion of water through a semipermeable membrane (also called differentially permeable)

Question 17

What is a Semi (differentially) permeable membrane?

Answer 17

a barrier that only allows certain types of particles to pass through it

Question 18

What is respiration?

Answer 18

the process by which plants release carbon dioxide and let oxygen into their cells. Guard cells, which are on each stoma, control the size of the stomata’s opening and regulate the gas intake and release

Question 19

What is transpiration?

Answer 19

The loss of water from a plant through evaporation (open stoma). When guard cells lose water, they relax and the stoma closes.

Question 20

What is selective breeding?

Answer 20

Selective breeding means that people choose specific plants
with particular characteristics and encourage these plants to reproduce.

Question 21

What characteristics are plants bred for?

Answer 21

• their ability to withstand certain environmental conditions
  (hardiness)
• how much food they produce (yield)
• their resistance to disease
• their appearance

Question 22

What is genetic modeling?

Answer 22

Scientists can change plants by going inside an
individual plant cell and modify some of its material, by
removing parts of the cell that control particular
characteristics.
 This genetic material ( genes of the plant ) can then
be combined with genetic material from another plant
to create a new plant - having characteristics from
both plants. This process is called genetic modification,
or genetic engineering.

Question 23

How does asexual reproduction in plants work?

Answer 23

Plants can reproduce in two very different ways. Sexual
reproduction involves the production of seeds and fruits
from specialized cells of two plants. Asexual, or vegetative
reproduction, occurs when a ‘parent’ plant grows new
plants from its roots, stems, or leaves.
 In asexual reproduction, the new plant will be identical to
the parent plant

Question 24

What are the 4 types of the traditional vegetative reproduction?

Answer 24

 Cuttings are when a small
section of leaf and stem
that have been cut from
the parent plant grow into
an identical plant
 Runners are the stem
system that grows on
ground, which will allow
for multiple stems to
sprout from the same
parent plant
 In grafting, one type of
plant is attached to
another, which, in time,
will share nutrients and
allow the new tree branch
to become part of the
main tree
 Sometimes, buds will form
on the parent plant, which
will later break off and
develop their own root
system.

Question 25

How do cones reproduce?

Answer 25

 The cone is the part of the tree
that has a series of woody
scales, and come in various
shapes and sizes. Both male and
female cones are produced by
cone-bearing trees.
 Female cones contain ovules
(eggs) - the small bumps at the
end of a scale in a cone. Pollen
grains (containing sperm)
develop on the smaller male
cone
 Wind carries the pollen grains to the female cones.
Although most of the pollen grains never reach the
female cones, those that do get caught in the sticky fluid
near the ovule. A pollen tube grows to the ovule and
sperm is able to fertilize the egg. The process of
pollination is complete.
 Female cones of pine trees mature, open, and release
their seeds during the fall or winter months. (This whole
process takes at least two years) The seeds can then be
dispersed by various methods and when they get covered
they can eventually sprout and become new pine trees.

Question 26

What are the parts of a flower and their purposes?

Answer 26

Petal - brightly
colored parts of
the flower to attract
insects and birds

Sepal - green, protect
the flower before it
opens
(underneath after it
opens)

Stigma - sticky ‘lip’ of
the pistil that captures
pollen grains

anther - where
pollen is produced
and stored

Filament - stalk
that supports the
anther

Style - stalk that
supports the stigma

Ovary - swollen base of
the pistil containing
ovules

Ovules - sacs containing
female reproductive cells

Pollen grains - cases
containing male
reproductive cells

Question 27

How does pollination occur?

Answer 27

Pollination can occur by self-
pollination or cross-pollination.
 The bee spreads pollen over more
crops than any other insect.
 Artificial pollination can also be used
to breed different varieties of plants
for specific purposes (usually to
produce a better yield, or one that is
more resistant to environmental
conditions - such as cold winters)
 It is not just exposure to cold
temperatures that kills seeds,
but prolonged exposure to cold
temperatures.

Question 28

What is fruit?

Answer 28

The growing ovary of the plant that swells and protects
the developing seeds of a plant, until they are ripe. Not
all fruits can be eaten though - a cotton ball is a fruit.

Question 29

How can seeds be dispersed?

Answer 29

wind
waterways (rivers, streams, etc.)
bird droppings
animal fur
fire

Question 30

What is germination?

Answer 30

 When the seed is able to come in contact and get
covered by the soil, it remains inactive until the right
conditions are present for it to germinate.
 Germination is the development of a seed into a new
plant.