Name: _______________________________
Period: _________________
Date: _______
Chapter 9 Plant Diversity
Agree or Disagree
Statements
1. All plants produce flowers and seeds.
2. Humans depend on plants for their survival.
3. Some plants move water only by diffusion.
4. Mosses can grow only in moist, shady places.
5. Some mosses and gymnosperms are used for commercial purposes.
6. All plants grow, flower, and produce seeds in one growing season.
Vocabulary
producer
cuticle
cellulose
vascular tissue
Before Lesson
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
After Lesson
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Agree / Disagree
Characteristics of Plants
Plants are made of eukaryotic cells.
A plant cell differs from an animal cell because it contains chloroplasts
and a cell wall.
Chloroplasts convert light energy to chemical energy.
The cell wall provides support and protection
A mature plant cell has one or two vacuoles that store a watery liquid called sap.
Plants are multicellular.
Some plants are microscopic, while others are some of the largest organisms on Earth.
Plants are producers—organisms that use an outside energy source, such as the Sun, to make their own food.
Plants make their own food, a simple sugar called glucose, during a process called photosynthesis.
Plant Adaptations
Scientists hypothesize that present-day land plants and green algae evolved from a common ancestor.
The first land plants probably lived in moist areas.
As land plants became more abundant, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere increased because oxygen is a product
of photosynthesis.
Many plants have a waxy, protective layer on their leaves, stems, and flowers called the cuticle.
The cuticle slows the evaporation of water from a plant’s surface and provides some protection from insects.
Cellulose is an organic compound made of chains of glucose molecules.
Many land plants also produce a chemical compound called lignin which strengthens cellulose and makes it more rigid.
A rigid cell wall made of cellulose surrounds the cell membrane in a plant cell.
In some plants such as mosses, water and nutrients can move from cell to cell by the processes of osmosis and diffusion.
Other plants such as grasses and trees have specialized tissues called vascular tissue.
Vascular tissue is composed of tube like cells that transport water and nutrients in some plants
Water carries the reproductive cells of aquatic plants from plant to plant.
Some plants have water-resistant seeds or spores that are part of their reproductive process.
Seeds and spores move through environments in different ways, including animals and environmental factors such as
wind and water.
Plant Classification
Members of the plant kingdom are organized into groups called divisions.
Like all organisms, each plant has a two-word scientific name.
Plants that reproduce by spores often are called seedless plants.
Seedless plants do not have flowers.
Some seedless plants do not have vascular tissue and are called nonvascular plants, but others, such as ferns, have
vascular tissue and are called vascular plants.
Some seed plants have flowers that produce fruit with one or more seeds, but others, such as pine trees, produce their
seeds in cones.
It is thought that all present-day plants originated from a common ancestor, ancient green algae.