Kingdom Plantae
The Kingdom Plantae is composed of plants that are autotrophic, multicellular eukaryotes. The cells in this kingdom have cell walls made of cellulose that are used to support the plant. and have the ability to grow by cell division. The kingdom has roughly 300,000 species of plants that live on land and in water. These plants conduct photosynthesis. Their leaves absorb sunlight and convert it to glucose and have a waxy coat on them to prevent water loss. These plants also have organs and organ systems like chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are organelles that convert light energy into chemical energy where the energy is stored as sugar. Plants reproduce asexually and sexually. Kingdom Plantae is very important, as it is a source of food for all other living things.
Bryophytes
Bryophytes have no vascular tissues. There is no lignin, so they are soft and small with no support. They also do not have a waxy cuticle or roots. Since they have no roots they have rhizoids, hair-like structures that anchor the plant down. The gametophyte stage is dormant in these plants. The sporophytes are always attached to the gametophytes. The reproduction process is carried out by their spores. Bryophytes are also non-flowering plants found on the ground, other plants, and rocks. They play a significant role in preventing soil erosion. There are three phylums: Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Bryophyta.
Phylum Marchantiophyta
also known as liverworts. Their gametophytes are leafy and flat or thalloid. The cells of the gametophytes have chloroplasts and oil bodies. The sexual structures are the archegonia with a modified thallus (thalloid liverworts) or modified leaves (leafy liverworts). |
Phylum Anthocerotophyta
also known as hornworts. This phylum is the least diverse, but its abundance has been found almost everywhere. They grow on areas where there is no competition such as mineral soil. Their gametophytes are only thalloid. They have one giant chloroplast per cell with nostoc colonies. Nostoc colonies are chambers that open to the environment and are invaded by blue-green algae that fix nitrogen. |
Phylum Bryophyta
also known as mosses. Their gametophytes are leafy. The leaves are spirally arranged. Their spores form protonema, which grows alongside the ground and makes buds shoot up. Each bud then grows into a new gametophyte. The three parts of the sporophyte are the foot, seta, and sporangium. The seta elongates to push up the sporangium before the sporangium and spores mature. After seta elongation, the calyptra falls off and spores are released. The operculum falls off and helps disperse the spores. |
Seedless Vascular Plants
They are exactly like the title of their category. They have vascular tissue but do not produce seeds. Their reproduction is dispersed by spores, which are typically unicellular haploid. They consist of ferns and fern allies like club mosses and horsetails. The sporophyte is the dominant stage. The gametophyte is very similar to the one in Phylum Marchantiophyta, but the difference is the seedless vascular plants don't have oil bodies. These plants are involved in the transportation of fluids. There are two phylums: Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta.
Phylum Lycopodiophyta
is the oldest living vascular plant division. It includes club mosses, spike mosses, and quillworts. They have microphylls which are small leaves that have a single vascular vein rather than complex ones found in ferns and seeded plants. Lycopodiophyta reproduce by shedding spores that have macroscopic life cycles, even though spike mosses and quillworts are heterosporous and club mosses are homosporous. The spores are highly flammable and have been used in fireworks before. They have strobili, modified branches that have sporangia, and cones, but quillworts lack cones. |
Phylum Pteridophyta
is a highly diverse phylum. It includes whisk ferns, horsetails, and true ferns. They have leaves, called fronds, containing complex, branching veins called megaphylls, except whisk ferns do not have leaves or roots, so they have rhizoids instead. Sporangia is located on the under side of leaves in clusters called sori. They ferns are split into two groups based on the type of sporangia they have, eusporangia or leptosporangia. Eusporangia have thick walls and are more primitive where as leptosporangia have thin walls and are more advanced. Leptosporangia have an annulus, which dries out, splits open, and catapults the spore out. |
Seed Bearing Vascular Plants
Seed bearing plants are also called spermatophytes. As their title says, they reproduce by dispersing seeds. All the plants in this category are heterosporous, meaning one plant produced both male and female spores. They produce microspores and macrospores. Microsppores help move male gametophytes which help move the sperm to egg without water and macrospores develop within the ovules which produce seeds when the sperm fertilizes the egg. They also conserve water by having a thick cuticle, mostly in gymnosperms. There are two types of seed bearing vascular plants: gymnosperms and angiosperms. Gymnosperms include four phylums: Cycadophyta, Ginkgophyta, Coniferophyta, and Gnetophyta. Angiosperms have one phylum called Anthrophyta.
Gymnosperms
Gymnosperms have naked seeds, no flowers or fruits, an xylem made of tracheids, a phloem made of sieve cells, and no fibers.
Phylum Cycadophyta
is a primitive phylum. They are palm-like leaves that are mostly in the tropics and subtropics. They have large cone shaped strobili that produce pollen or ovules transferred by air or insects. They also have flagellated sperm, ancient lineage, and short, broad stems. |
Phylum Ginkgophyta
contains strong species that have survived since the time of dinosaurs. The trees show resistance to insects, disease, and air pollution. They have fan shaped leaves and trees are male or female. Female trees produce seeds covered in a fleshy smelly coat. |
Phylum Coniferophyta
are woody plants. They are economically important for the production of lumber and paper. They reproduce more slowly than angiosperms. They dominate mostly in the far North at higher elevations. They make up the boreal forests. |
Phylum Gnetophyta
are the most unusual gymnosperms. They have leaves that are similar looking to angiosperms. They have double fertilization without endosperm. They live in tropical and desert areas where insects pollinate them. Their cones are also bisexual. |
Angiosperms
Angiosperms have enclosed seeds, flowers, fruits, and double fertilization that produces endosperm.
Phylum Anthophyta
has flowering plants. They are characterized by the flowers, which aren't always seen, and their seeds that are enclosed inside an ovary (fruit). The phylum splits into two classes: monocotyledons and dicotyledons. Monocots are plants like palm trees, grass, corn, and orchids. They have one cotyledon that is used to store food for the young seedling. They also have floral parts in multiples of three, parallel ventilation, and not pith and cortex in the stem, but in the roots. They also do not have secondary growth. Dicots are things like apple trees, sunflowers, peas, and oak trees. They have two cotyledons as well as floral parts in multiples of four or five, reticulate ventilation, and a pith and cortex in the stem, but not in the roots. Dicots do have secondary growth. |
References
"Introduction to Bryophytes." Introduction to Bryophytes. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://blogs.ubc.ca/biology321/?page_id=39>.
"Kingdom Plantae." Biology Online Help, Biology Topics & Biology Tutor. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://biology.tutorvista.com/organism/kingdom-plantae.html>.
"Phylum Pterophyta: Ferns." Phylum Pterophyta: Ferns. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/biology/plant-biology/seedless-vascular-plants/phylum-pterophyta-ferns>.
"Seed-Bearing Plants." Seed-Bearing Plants. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/access/content/user/00002950/bis10v/week8/13seedbearing.html.>
"Introduction to Bryophytes." Introduction to Bryophytes. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://blogs.ubc.ca/biology321/?page_id=39>.
"Kingdom Plantae." Biology Online Help, Biology Topics & Biology Tutor. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://biology.tutorvista.com/organism/kingdom-plantae.html>.
"Phylum Pterophyta: Ferns." Phylum Pterophyta: Ferns. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/biology/plant-biology/seedless-vascular-plants/phylum-pterophyta-ferns>.
"Seed-Bearing Plants." Seed-Bearing Plants. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/access/content/user/00002950/bis10v/week8/13seedbearing.html.>