CST OBJECTIVES

20&21

Charophyta
Green algae that share a common ancestor with land plants
common ancestor to both groups may have resembled a modern
Charales such as Chara

Generalized Plant Life Cycle

Gametophyte generation

Sporophyte generation

Alternation of generations

Comparison of Plant and Animal Life

Cycles

Typical plant life cycle

Typical animal life cycle

Nonvascular Plants
Plants without vascular tissues
mosses, liverworts, hornworts

Most do not have true roots, leaves, stem

Gametophyte generation is dominant
sporophyte often grows from and is dependent on gametophyte for taking in
water and other materials

Typical moss life cycle

Moss Gametophyte

Sperm

egg

Seedless Vascular Plants

Possess vascular tissues (e.g., xylem & phloem)
lycophytes (club mosses), pteridophytes (whisk ferns), horsetails and ferns
Sporophyte is dominant generation adaptation for living on land
Produce windblown spores
Spores develop into separate gametophyte microscope develops into male
gametophyte and megaspore develops into female gametophytes

Lycopodium
Well-developed
microphylls

Ground pine

Pteridophytes
Whisk Ferns

Sporangia

Psilotum nudum

Pteridophytes
Ferns

Mostly restricted to, but common in, moist shady

habitats.

Fern Structure

(megaphyll)

Seed Plants

Life Cycle of Seed

Plants

Gymnosperms
Naked seed

ovules and seeds exposed

Most gymnosperms produce cones

Four groups:

cycads (Cycadophyta)
ginkgoes (Ginkgophyta)
gnetophytes (Gnetophyta)
conifers (Coniferophyta)

Cycads
Cone-bearing, palm-like plants
mainly tropical/subtropical
Sago cycad

Cycad male cone

(top) and female
cone (bottom)

Ginkgoes
Ginkgo leaf

Ginkgo fleshy seeds

Why are almost all ornamental

Ginkgo trees males?

Among living seed plants,

only cycads and Ginkgo
have swimming sperm.
Ginkgo male
inflorescence

Gnetophytes
Only three
extant
genera

Ephedra

Welwitschia

Gnetum

Conifers
Largest group of gymnosperms
evergreen conifers keep leaves on
through all seasons (e.g., pines,
hemlocks, spruces)

cypress and larch are examples of

non-evergreen conifers

First real development of wood

derived from dead transport tissues

Angiosperms
Flowering plants (phylum
Anthophyta) are the dominant
plants today
at some point in life cycle,
all angiosperms bear
flowers

Four parts of
a generalized
flower

Dissect and
identify the
flower parts

Two Classes of Flowering Plants

Never
woody

Can be
woody

Male Gametophyte

Electron micrograph of pollen grains

(40X)

Female Gametophyte
Embryo sac

(1)

(2)

(3)

1. Pollen is transferred
from the anther to the
stigma of the carpel

Pollination
and
Fertilization

2. Two sperm (from division

of generative cell) move down
pollen tube to ovule

3. One sperm fertilizes

egg, other fertilizes
polar nuclei

Comparison of Gymnosperms and

Angiosperms

vs.

Conifer (Yosemite Falls)

Cherry (Washington, DC)