Plants Notes

Some Vocabulary: Gymnosperms: conifers Angiosperms: flowering plants Dicotyledons: dicots Monocotyledons: monocots
Characteristic Cotyledons Description Storage tissue that provides nutrition to the developing seedling The pattern of veins in leaves # of petals, sepals, stamens, and other flower parts Arrangement of bundles of vascular tissue in stems Form of root Dicots 2 cotyledons Monocots 1 cotyledon

Leaf Venation Flower Parts

Netted (branching pattern) In 4s, 5s, or multiples thereof Organized in a circle Taproot

Parallel In 3s or multiples thereof

Vascular Bundles Root

Scattered Fibrous system

Ground tissue: -parenchyma: thin walls, serve as storage, photosynthesis, and secretion -collenchyma: thick but flexible walls, serve as mechanical support -sclerenchyma: thicker walls, also provide support Dermal tissue: -consists of epidermis cells covering outside plant parts -guard cells surround stomata -surface cells such as hair cells, stinging cells, glandular cells Vascular tissue: -xylem distributes water and minerals and serves as mechanical support -most cells dead at maturity -two types of cells: tracheids (long, tapered, water passes through pits when overlapped) and vessel members (short, wide, water passes through areas devoid of primary and secondary cell walls) -water moves faster through vessel members than tracheids -phloem distributes sugars -sieve tube members: form fluid conducting columns called sieve tubes (living at maturity but lack nuclei or ribosomes) -plasmodesmata: companion cells connected to sieve-tube embers by thin tubes of cytoplasm (maintain support to sieve-tube members) Seed Structure: -consists of embryo, seed coat, and storage material (may be endosperm or cotyledons)

-top part of embryo = epicotyls (becomes shoot tip) -young leaves (plumule) -hypocotyl becomes young shoot -radicle becomes root -coleoptile protects epicotyl

Germination and Development: -after maturity, seed remains dormant until environmental cues are encountered -ex: water, specific temperature, light, seed coat damage, etc -germination begins with absorption of water (initiates the activation of enzymes which activate processes like respiration) -radicle produces roots and elongation of hypocotyl follows -growth occurs at the tips of roots and shoots (apical meristems; called primary growth) -root cap: protects apical meristem (zone of cell division) -cells absorb water, elongate, and form zone of elongation -zone of maturation: cells mature into xylem, phloem, parenchyma, or epidermal cells

Primary Growth vs. Secondary Growth: -primary growth: growth in which dividing cells at the apical meristems increase the length of the shoots or roots -secondary growth: growth in which dividing cells at the lateral meristems, vascular cambium, and cork cambium increase the girth (width) of the plant -cork cambium = periderm (protective material that lines the outside of woody plants) Primary Structure of Roots: -epidermis: lines outside of roots, produce root hairs in ZOM (increase surface area for water), old epidermis protects root -cortex: makes bulk of root, storage of starch, contains intercellular spaces for respiration -endodermis: ring of tightly packed cells in cortex, Casparian strip creates water-impenetrable barrier between cells to make water pass through endodermal cells, endodermal cells can control movement of water -stele: makes up tissues inside endodermis, filled with xylem cells, phloem cells between xylem core and lobes, pericycle = several layers of cells where lateral roots arise

Primary Structure: -epidermis: epidermal cells covered in cutin (waxy, fatty substance) that forms a protective layer called the cuticle (keeps too much water from escaping) -cortex: various ground tissue between epidermis and stele

-stele: xylem, phloem, and pith Secondary Structure: -vascular cambium: between xylem and phloem, cylinder of tissue throughout root and stem -secondary xylem cells = inside (accumulates and increases girth of stem and root) -secondary phloem cells = outside (pushed outward as xylem increases in girth) -cork cambium: produces new cells on outside (sometimes inside) as protection -phelloderm + cork cambium + cork = periderm -periods of growth = vascular cambium actively dividing (creates annual rings in secondary xylem tissue) Structure of Leaf: -epidermis: protective covering of cells, covered by cuticle (made of cutin), cuticle reduces water loss from transpiration -palisade mesophyll: parenchyma cells with numerous chloroplasts and large surface area, specializes in photosynthesis, tightly packed at the upper surface -spongy mesophyll: parenchyma cells loosely packed below palisade mesophyll, numerous intercellular spaces, provide chambers for CO2 -guard cells: control opening and closing of stomata and allow gas exchange (filled with ions = open, emptied of ions = closed) -vascular bundles: xylem and phloem tissues, xylem = transport of water, phloem = transport of sugars, bundle sheath cells provide environment for CO2 fixation in C4 plants Transport of Water (Xylem): -water moves through cell walls and intercellular spaces -water moves through symplast (living portions of cells) and through plasmodesmata -continues through symplast pathway; apoplast pathway is blocked by suberin -endodermal cells allow water to enter stele (selective to minerals) -three mechanisms: osmosis (concentration gradient, root pressure, transport of ions through endodermis), capillary action (rise of liquids through narrow tubes by forces of adhesion), cohesiontension theory (transpiration, negative pressure cohesion, bulk flow) Control of Stomata: -stomata influence gas exchange, transpiration, ascent of sap, and photosynthesis -stomata closed = CO2 not available and photosynthesis cannot occur -stomata surrounded by two guard cells (water diffused in = guard cell inflated = stomata opens; water diffused out = guard cell deflated = stomata closes) -stomata close when temperature is high, at night, when ions are moved out of guard cells, etc. Transport of Sugars (Phloem): -sugars enter sieve-tube members (active transport) -water enters sieve-tube members (down concentration gradient)

-pressure in sieve-tube members at sources move water and sugar to sink through sieve tubes (pressure builds because of rigid cell walls >> bulk flow) -pressure is reduced at sink as sugars are removed by nearby cells (sugars = active transport and water = diffusion down gradient) Plant Hormones: -Auxin: promotes plant growth by elongation of developing cells, increases concentration of H+ in cell walls, activates enzymes that loosen cellulose fibers -Gibberellins: promote cell growth, synthesized in young leaves, roots, and seeds -Cytokinins: stimulate cytokinesis (cell division), produced in roots, influence direction of organ development -Ethylene: promotes ripening of fruit, stimulates ripening by enzymatic breakdown, inhibits elongation of roots, stems, and leaves -Abscisic Acid (ABA): inhibits growth Responses to Stimuli: -Phototropism: response to light by action of hormone auxin -Gravitropism: response to gravity by stem and roots by action of hormones auxin and gibberellins -Thigmotropism: response to touch