Biology / Unit 8: Classification and Diversity of Life
8.5 Plants
Notes
Plants are multicellular autotrophs with cellulose cell walls. They likely evolved from green algae.
- Nonvascular plants (mosses) have no tubes for transport, so they are small and live in moist places.
- Vascular plants have xylem (carries water up from roots) and phloem (carries sugars).
- Seedless vascular plants: ferns, which reproduce with spores.
- Gymnosperms: seeds not enclosed in fruit, often in cones (pine trees).
- Angiosperms: flowering plants with seeds inside fruits; the largest group of plants.
- Plants have alternation of generations between a haploid and a diploid stage.
Practice
Why are mosses usually small and found in damp places?
Without xylem, water moves only by diffusion and osmosis.
Which tissue carries water from the roots to the leaves?
Xylem moves water up; phloem moves sugars.
An apple tree produces flowers and seeds inside fruit. It is a:
Angiosperms are flowering plants with seeds enclosed in fruit.
Ready for more? Take the Unit 8 test.