CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANTS

1. They can manufacture their own food.

Autotrophism
Most plants are autotrophs, organisms that synthesize all their own organic nutrients
and do not rely on other organisms for food. The reason that plants are autotrophic is
that they carry out photosynthesis in their leaves. In the process of photosynthesis, the
plant converts water, carbon dioxide, and light energy into oxygen, sugars, and more
water. The oxygen is released into the surrounding air through the stomata, and the
sugars (organic nutrients) are transported throughout the plant body to areas of growth
and storage.
2. Plants reproduce with spores and sex cells. There are two stages in plant life.
A. SPOROPHYTE
A plant in the spore producing stage of life. Spores can grow directly into
an adult plant.
B. GAMETOPHYTE
A stage in plants life where it produces male and female sex cells.
3. All plants have cell wall and mostly are made up of cellulose. Cellulose is a complex
form of carbohydrates.
4. Plants have cuticle which is a thin outermost non-cellular layer covering the parts of
the plants that are above the ground and helping to prevent water loss.
5. Most plants have unlimited schemes of growth (meristems or growth zone) persist
during the life of the plant and add to its size.
6. Most plants are stationary whereas most animals are capable of locomotion.

TRACHEOPYTA: GYMNOSPERMS
The Gymnosperms are the most primitive of all seed plants. They are
represented by many fossil forms; some of them are known to be on earth million years
ago. They are group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, ginkgo
and gnetales. The term gymnosperms come from the Greek word gymnosperos which
means naked plants
gymno

naked

sperma

seed

Gymnosperm seeds developed either on the surface of scales or leaves often

modified to form cones, or at the end of short stalks as in ginkgo. They have also
economic uses. Pine, Fir, Spruce and Cedar are examples of conifers that are used for
lumbers. Some other common uses are soap, varnish, nail polish, food gum and
perfumes.
The first published sequenced genome for any gymnosperm was the genom
Picea abies in 2013. Picea aabies or Norway Spuce is a species of spruce native to
Europe. It is also commonly referred to as the European Spruce.
The types of Gymnosperms living now are all woody plants, chiefly evergreen trees
with needles or scale-like leaves. Some of their outstanding characteristics are:

True leaves, stems and roots

True seeds borne naked
Wood usually without xylem vessels
Single fertilization

CYCADALES

CYCADS

Cycads are characterized by a stout or woody trunk with a crown of large, hard
and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. They typically grow very
slowly and live very long with some specimens known to be as much as 1,000 years
old. They are usually found in South Africa and Central America (where the greatest
diversity occurs), Mexico, Antilles, South Eastern United States, Australia, Melanesia,
Micronesia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka and Madagasscar.
`Cycas is the most primitive genus of living seed plants. Of the 20 species, 3
are found in the Philippines:
Cycas revolute
C. circinalis
C. rhumpii

They are small groups of plants with either a columnar or a tuberous stem which
bear a crown of leathery pinnately compound leaves. The stems are unbranched. In the
stem, there is a relatively large pith surrounded in width by secondary thickening.
Leaves directly from the trunk typically fall when older leaving a crown of leaves at the
top. The leaves grow in rosette form with new foliage emerging from the top and center
of the crown. The trunk maybe buried, so the leaves appear to be emerging from the
ground and the plant appears to be a basal rosette. The leaves generally large in
proportion to the trunk side and sometimes even larger than the trunk.

CONIFERALES : CONIFERS
Conifers are one of the 12 extant division-level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae
and 10 within the extant land plants. Pinophytes gymnosperms, cone bearing seed
plants with vascular tissue. All extant conifers are woody plants, with secondary growth,
the great majority being trees with just a few beings shrub.
The conifers are the dominant gymnosperms today. They are widely distributed
especially in the temperate regions. In the Philippines, we have some species of
Araucacia, Agathis, Pedocarpus and Pinus. Most conifers are monoecious but some are
sundioecious or dioecious. All are wind pollinated. Conifers seeds developed inside a
protective cone called strobilus a structure present on many land plant species
consisting of sporangia-bearing structure densely aggregated along a stem. They are
often called cone characterized by a central axis surrounded by spirally arranged
decussate structures that may be modified leaves or modified stem.
All conifers produced two kinds of spores microspores & megaspores borne in
cones that are morphologically distinct. The two types of cones are respectively as
staminate and ovulate.
Other examples of conifers are Cedars, Douglas firs, Cypresses, Spruces, Firs,
Junipers, Kauri, Larches, Hemlocks, Pines and Redwoods.

GINKGO
It is a genus of highly unusual non-flowering plants. The sole living species
Ginkgo biloba also known as Maidenhaer tree a unique species of true with no living
relatives which is only found in China but is cultivated across the world. It is also the
living fossil recognizably related to modern ginkgo from the Permia Age back 270 million
years.

GNETALES
The plant division Gnetophyte or gnetophytes consist of three genre of woody plants
grouped in the gymnosperms.
GNETUM (Family Gnetaceae)
Welwitschia (Family Welwitschieae)
Ephedra (Family Ephedraceae)

TABLES OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: MICROSCOPE
1.1 Functions of Microscope
1.2 Parts of the Microscope
1.3 How to use the Microscope
1.4 Care of the Microscope
CHAPTER II : INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY
1.1 Characteristics of Plants
2.2 General Characteristics of Plants
2.3 Importance of Plants
CHPATER III: THE SEED PLANTS
3.1 The Seed and Process of Germination
3.2 The Seed Structure
3.3 Gymnosperm vs. Angiosperm
3.4 The Parts of Flowering Plants
3.5 Monocotyledon vs. Dicotyledon
CHAPTER IV : ROOT MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY
4.1 Functions of Root
4.2 Types of Root System
4.3 Structure of Roots
CHAPTER V: THE STEM MORPHOLOGY
5.1 Functions of Stems
5.2 Types of Stems
5.3 Internal Structure of Stem
5.4 Monocot vs. Dicot Stem
5.5 Herbacious and Wood Systems

CHAPTER VI : LEAF ANATOMY AND MORPHOLOGY

6.1 Functions of Leaf
6.2 External Structure of the Leaf
6.3 Internal Structure of the Leaf
6.4 Types of Leaf and Leaf Arrangement
6.5 Leaf Venation
CHAPTER VII : STRUCTURE OF THE FLOWER
7.1 Basic Parts of the Flower
7.2 Types of the Flower
7.3 Kinds of Inflorescence
7.4 Microsporogenesis and Megasporogenesis