Bio Final: Angiosperms (1)

• a.       Largest group of plants
•                                                                i.      300 families; 12,000 genera; 300,000 species
• 1.       Such a large number
• b.      Wildly successful group of plants and most widely distributed
•                                                                i.      Almost Every ecosystem has flowering plants as the dominant plant
• c.       Youngest plant phylum
•                                                                i.      Hasn’t taken very long for this phylum to diversify from one end up to the equator down to the poles

i. Woody trees, woody shrubs, non-woody herbaceous plants (usually,they are annuals)

1. if theyare woodywith flowers, they are angiosperms

2. No monocots are woody

3. Dicots are woody

vines`

whether woody (dicots) or herbaceous (monocots)

location (aquatic or terrestrial); epiphytes

nutritive purposes (photosynthetic or parasitic)

size

longevity (annuals, biennials, perennials)

leaf arrangement

Stems

aquatic

float on the surface

completely submerged

epiphytes

support

parasitic

have a host plant

variablility

•                                                                i.      Largest: eucalyptus
• Smallest: duckweed

• annuals
• biennials (flwoer in teh second year; then, the plant dies)
• perennials

There are numerous leaf arrangements

1) alternate; the leaves are single at each node and alternate around the stem in an ascending spiral

2) can be on opposite sides of the leaves; opposite arrangement;paired

3) whorled: occurs when there are three or more equally spaced leaves at a node

•                                                                i.      Can be erect upright, horizontal,
•                                                              ii.      Some are underground
• 1.       Such as tubers

• a.       Stem is very short in the tuber
• b.      Underground structure has stem (which are roots); some have both underground and upright aerial stems

• Fibrous root system: roots are thesame size
• taproot system: onemain root is bigger than the others with other lateral roots coming off of it