PLANTS: structure and function
Plants: Grouped by characteristics

Vascular

Three main parts: roots, stems and leaves

Roots can be different sizes:


Storage roots; beets, carrots, sweet potatoes and turnips


Fibrous and tap roots
Roots have different functions: anchoring the plant, taking in
water and minerals, and store food.
Nonvascular


Simple; most grow in moist places
No vascular tissues.
Vascular Plants: Stems

Function of stems

Support, transport of water & food
Most stems grow upward
 Some stems grow sideward


Types of stems
Green
 Woody


Transport of materials
Xylem=_________________
 phloem=_________________

Vascular Plants: Leaves


Leaves come in variety of shapes and sizes
Leaves are arranged in different ways
What do plants do?

All plants are alike in one way.
 They need three things in order
to survive
 Water
 carbon dioxide
 energy from sunlight
 What do you suppose the plants
use these things for?
Classify – to
sort into groups
based on
similarities and
differences
 They turn it into sugar!
photosynthesis – a
process by which
plants change light
energy from the sun
and use it to make
sugar

Plants and some
protists conduct
photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis
 As a plant makes sugar, oxygen is
released
 When the plant uses the sugar,
water and carbon dioxide are
released.
chlorophyll – the
green substance
found in plants
that traps
energy from the
sun and gives
plants their
green color
carbon dioxide – a
gas found in air
How Do Plants Get Energy
Plant leaves change light
energy into energy
the plant can use.
They get sunlight,
water, and air (CO2.)
Stomata are
tiny holes on
the bottom of
the leaf that let
air (CO2.) in
and (O2)out.
Roots get water and
minerals directly from the
soil.
The veins of a leaf bring
water and minerals to the leaf
from the stems and roots.

Because of this process
 Scientists
are able to classify living things
by the way they get their food.
 Plants are producers (autotrophs)
producer – it is a
living thing that
uses sunlight to
make sugar. This
sugar feeds others.
Plants reproduce
differently
Reproduce – it
means “to make more
of the same kind”
Plants are classified by characteristics.
Plants that make seeds
Flowering
Plants
Conifers
Plants that do not make
seeds
Ferns
Mosses
a protective
covering that
surrounds the
seed
makes seeds.
makes the plant's
food.
anchor the plant
in place and
absorb water and
other minerals
from the soil.
carries water and food
to the rest of the plant.
What Are the
Parts of a Flower

Most flowers have four
parts
Sepal – one of the leaflike parts that protects
a flower bud and that is
usually green
Pistil – part of a flower
that makes the eggs
that grow into seeds
Stamen – part of a
flower that makes
pollen

Flower parts
Pollen – tiny grains
that make seeds when
combined with a
flower’s egg
How Do Flowers Make Seeds
and Fruits?
Great Plant EscapePlant parts
Ovary – the bottom
part of the pistil
in which seeds
form
Ovule - the inner
part of an ovary
that contains an
egg
embryo – tiny part
of a seed that
can grow into a
new plant
How Fertilization Occurs

When a pollen grain reaches a pistil, it grows a
thin tube to the ovary. Sperm from the pollen
grain combines with an egg, and a seed forms.
Fertilization –
the
combination of
sperm from a
pollen grain
with an egg to
form a seed
How Pollination Occurs

Pollination- the
movement of pollen
from a stamen to a
pistil

Butterflies may carry pollen
from the stamen of one flower
to the pistil of the the same
flower. Sometimes the
butterfly may carry pollen
from the stamen of one flower
to the pistil of another flower
of the same kind.
Pollen: Nothing to Sneeze At
Some flowering plants are
monocot
seed – a
seed that
has one
seed leaf
and
stored
food
outside
the seed
leaf
dicot seed – a
seed that has two
seed leaves that
contain stored
food
How Do Other Living Things Get
All living things need
Energy?
energy to survive
Consumer – a
living thing
that gets
energy by
eating plants
and other
animals
Animals
cannot use
light energy to make
sugar. Animals
depend on plants for
food.
Decomposer – a
consumer that
puts materials
from dead plants
and animals
back into the
soil, air, and
water