Parts of a Plant, Reproduction, and Plant Functions Flashcards
What are the two broad systems that specialized tissues and structures in plants make up?
Shoot system and root system
What does the shoot system primarily consist of?
Leaves, stems, reproductive structures (like flowers, fruit, seeds)
What does the root system consist of?
Roots
What are leaves in plants?
The mostly flat green parts of plants
What is the flat part of a leaf called?
Lamina, or leaf blade
What is the part of the leaf that attaches to the stem?
Petiole, or leaf stalk
Why are leaves typically large and flat?
To expose as many chloroplasts to sunlight as possible
What is the role of a leaf?
Where photosynthesis happens, and it’s involved in the transpiration of water
Example of leaf with specialized functions (result: weird shape/colour)
Pine needle
What are the red flowers in the Poinsettia plant actually?
Specialized structures called bracts
In the Poinsettia plant, where are the actual flowers? What do they look like?
Between the bracts, small and yellow
What are bracts?
Specialized leaves that attract pollinators like bees and birds to flowers
What do pollinators’ pollen contain, which is useful for flowers
The sperm, which they transfer from flower to flower
Describe stems in plants.
Structure that forms the core of the shoot system
What are the two parts that stems are divided into?
Nodes and internodes
What are nodes?
Where buds grow into leaves, other stems, or flowers
What are internodes?
The parts of stem between nodes
Most plant stems are found: above-ground or below-ground
Above-ground
Example of a plant whose stems are below-ground
Potato plant
What is the part of the potato plant we eat called? What is it?
Tuber, it’s a specialized underground stem which stores the plant’s nutrients
What is the role of a stem?
Provide support for plant; place for leaves, flowers, fruit to grow; keeps leaves facing the sun; transport water and nutrients up from roots; transport products of photosynthesis down from leaves; store nutrients
What are some human uses for plant stems?
Sugar from sugar cane stems, making maple syrup from maple tree stems (trunks), paper and wood, cinnamon from cork, cork from bark (outer layer of tree stems)
Define bark.
The outer layer of tree stems
What is a trunk in plants?
The stem of a tree
What is the root system?
System of structures usually found below ground
What is the role of roots?
To anchor plant to ground; take up water & minerals needed for growth and development; store food, nutrients; provide means of reproduction called vegetative reproduction (asexual)
Roots need oxygen even though they’re usually below-ground. How do they get this?
From the oxygen found naturally between grains of soil.
What happens to roots if the surrounding soil is saturated (filled with water) and oxygen is forced out?
The plant will start to produce roots aboveground
Roots can have three different general shapes. What are these and their actual names?
Thin and hairlike (fibrous), short and thick (taproots), somewhere in between (e.g., buttress roots)
Plants can reproduce two ways. Name them and elaborate.
Asexually (offspring have one parent) - E.g., green algae by fission (splitting) and fragmentation (breaking apart)
Sexually (offspring have parents from each sex) by releasing gametes (reproductive cells)
What are spores?
Reproductive cells than can procreate without fusing with another cell (unlike seeds that form when gametes join)
Give a synonym for fission.
Splitting
Give an explanation of fragmentation.
Breaking apart
Spores have everything they need to grow into a _____ _____
Multicellular plant
Spores will grow under _____ conditions.
Good
Where are spores found in? Give examples
Non-seed bearing plants like green algae, mosses and ferns
Where are spores often located on? How are they carried around?
Underside of leaves, carried around by wind/rain
What is an advantage and a disadvantage of spores?
Less likely to be eaten by animals than seeds, but in danger of consumption from bacteria and fungi
What do flowers provide in terms of reproduction?
A way for sperm to find eggs, leading to fertilization, developing seeds
What are sepals in plants?
Green structures surrounding flower
What are petals in plants?
Inside sepals, modified leaves that serve similar function as bracts (attract pollinators)
What are stamens in plants?
Inside petals, contain filament with pollen-producing cells
What is a carpel in plants?
Inside stamens, contains ovary (where egg is)
What needs to happen for a seed to start developing in a flower?
Another flower’s pollen must enter the ovary, and fertilize ovule
What are seeds?
Embryonic plants enclosed in protective seed coats
What are embryonic plants?
Immature plants
What does the endosperm contain in a seed?
Stored nutrients, rich in oil, starch, protein
How can seeds be dispersed?
Wind (if seed is light/structured specifically; water; animals (can have barbs to attach, or be eaten and dispersed by droppings)
Are spores more advanced than seeds?
No, seeds are more advanced than spores
Where are seeds present in? What are these seeds covered in?
Gymnosperms (covered by cones’ scales), and angiosperms (covered with fruit)
What are cones?
Parts of conifers that contain reproductive structures
Female cones produce ____
Ovules
Are male cones larger or smaller than female cones? What do male cones do?
Smaller, produce pollen (yellowish powder)
What does pollen look like?
A yellowish powder
What do ovules become when fertilized with pollen?
A seed
Male and female cones are usually on the same plant. Are females on higher or lower branches than males? Why?
Higher, it prevents self-fertilization so that pollen of one conifer is likely to be carried by wind to female cones of different conifer
What is fruit and where are they only found?
The result of maturation of one or many flowers, only in angiosperms
What is fruit in cooking?
And sweet plant product
What is fruit in botany?
The ripened ovary of a seed bearing plant containing the seeds
What is the ovary wall in a seed also called?
The pericarp
What happens in angiosperms as a seed develops?
The ovary ripens and ovary wall becomes either fleshy (like apples & berries) or forms a hard covering (like nuts)
Give examples of fruit that is considered fruit botanically.
Beans, corn, tomatoes, peanuts, cucumbers, rice…
What are autotrophs, as in what do they do? What are they unique to?
Self-feeding, unique plant feature, make their own food from inorganic materials through photosynthesis
What are heterotrophs, as in what do they do? Give an example.
Get food from outside of itself, ex. humans
Thoroughly define photosynthesis.
Process in which plants convert light energy captured by chloroplasts to chemical energy needed for survival
What do chlorophyll pigments use to form carbohydrates? What do these carbohydrates do?
They use water & carbon dioxide from air, carbohydrates store energy
What are carbohydrates?
Compounds including all simple and complex sugars
Give an example of a simple sugar.
Sucrose
Give two examples of complex sugars.
Starch and cellulose
Where are carbohydrates stored in plants (give three)
Leaves and stems (potatoes), fruit (as pectin), roots (carrots)
What is respiration the opposite of?
Photosynthesis
What is the process of respiration in plants?
Oxygen reacts with sugar in plant cell, releasing the sugar’s chemical energy. This is transferred to a new molecule called ATP, which is then transported around cell, performing tasks. This process releases carbon dioxide and water.
What is ATP?
Adenosine triphosphate
Unlike photosynthesis, respiration can happen both _____.
day and night
What is transpiration in plants?
Term for evaporation of water from the surface of leaves and stems
What is transpiration a necessary part of?
Photosynthesis and respiration
Water produced through respiration exits the plant through _____. Define this word.
Stomata, small pores in leaf that open and close
What does the stomata do that is necessary for photosynthesis?
Lets carbon dioxide enter plant
How does water initially enter a plant through the roots? How does it travel through the plant and how does it exit?
By osmosis, water travels up plant through xylem, exits leaf through stomata
How do plants conserve water when it’s limited? What is the outcome of this? What, then, does the plant use to operate?
Plant closes stomata, decreases water evaporation, but also decreases amount of carbon dioxide that can enter the cell. Decreased rates of photosynthesis, slowing growth. Can use stored energy
Since plants can’t move to find energy/water, how have the adapted ways to supply their needs?
Balance between water and nutrient uptake in roots, and energy uptake in leaves. Plant cell and plant body’s anatomy allow plants to react to various habitats
