Station 1:
Plant Characteristics (p. 551, 175)
1. What are the main characteristics of plants? green color, have stems, some
have seeds, some have spores, autotrophic, go through photosynthesis
2. Complete the Kingdom chart for plants.
Plants
Cell Type
Major Cell
Structures
Number of
Cells
eukaryote
cell wall
multicellular
chloroplast
chlorophyll
Mode of
Nutrition
autotroph
Motility
Examples
sessile— fern, moss,
nonmotile flowers, pine
tree
3. Look at the plant cell under the microscope.
Sketch the cell and label the following parts: Nucleus, chloroplast, cell wall/
cell membrane, & cytoplasm.
Station 2:
Plant Reproduction
4. Which type(s) of reproduction do plants use to produce offspring? sexual and
asexual. Mostly sexual reproduction
5. How are the gametes associated with sexual reproductive produced? (pg.614)
through meiosis
6. Fill in the plant reproduction comparison chart.
Feature:
Mosses
Pg. 558
Ferns
Pg. 562
Gymnosperms
Pg. 610
Angiosperms
Pg. 614
Water necessary to complete
reproductive cycle
Spores produced








Seeds produced







Fruit bearing
Example from pictures below

pine trees
any flowering
plant
Station 3:
Evolution of Plants
(pgs. 553-554)
7. What type of organisms did plants evolve from? green algae—photosynthetic
Plant-like protists
8. List three things green algae and plants have in common. size, color, appearance
9. The oldest known fossil of a plant dates back to 450 million years ago. What type
of plant found in today’s time most closely resembles the first terrestrial plants?
mosses
10. What are the four main groups of plants? 1. mosses 2. ferns, 3. cone bearing
(gymnosperms), 4. flowering (angiosperms)
11. What characteristic do flowering plants have that cone-bearing plants do
not have? Flowers, seeds enclosed in fruit
12. Which characteristic(s) do all groups of plants share besides mosses? vascular
tissue
Station 4:
Adaptations (p. 643 – 646)
15. What type of plants are you likely to find in the
a. Desert? (p. 101) cactus, bush plants
b. Rain forest? (p. 100) evergreens, ferns, woody vines
c. Tundra? (p. 104)ground plants (mosses), lichen
16. Though all plants have a common ancestor, they have
evolved very different adaptations.
 Please explain how this occurred. new specialized
structures have been developed in order for plants to adapt to
changing environments through natural selection
17. Choose any plant with a unique adaptation (examples: cactus, rose bush,
vines, Venus Fly Trap, dandelion, water lily). Describe how the adaptation
is useful in its environment.
Station 5:
Specialized/Differentiated Tissues
Xylem/Phloem in action (p.596- 602)
17.
What does xylem transport and in what direction?
transports water from roots to rest of plant
18.
What does phloem transport and in what direction?
19.
transports nutrients out of leaves or roots into stems
and through stems to fruits
What is happening in the carnation and/or celery?
capillary action and transpiration
20.
How does water travel up the stem against the
forces of gravity? osmotic pressure pulls the
water upward (transpirational pull)
The diagram below is a process called transpiration.
21. How do the specialized cells in roots, stems and leaves work together when
transpiration occurs properly?
Station 6:
Mosses (bryophytes) (pg. 556)
22.
Explain why mosses are so dependent on water. They depend on water
because water is needed for their reproduction cycle.
23.
Observe the moss plant at your table. What plant structure(s) is the moss
lacking that many other plants have? roots
24.
Based on your observations, explain what keeps mosses from growing tall,
off the ground? vascular tissue
25.
What evidences indicate that mosses evolved first, before taller plants.
mosses lacked vascular tissue that later developed in other plants
Mosses growing near a stream
Mosses growing on and next to a tree
Station 7:
Ferns (pgs. 560-562)
26.
What major evolutionary advantage do ferns have that mosses do not?
vascular tissue
27.
The size of plants increased dramatically with the evolution of vascular
tissue. Explain how these two events might be related. As plants
evolved and developed vascular tissue this allowed them to get
more water up stems and to leaves. Over time it this adaptation
allowed them to grow taller and taller.
28.
The leaves of ferns are called fronds.
29.
Observe the dots on the underneath of the fern "leaf".
What are these dots called and what are they used for?
Dots are called spores and they are used in reproduction
30.
What evidences indicate that ferns evolved after mosses? vascular
tissue and roots developed
Fiddlehead
Boston Fern
Station 8:
Gymnosperms (pgs. 564-568)
31.
What does gymnosperm mean? “seed bearing” bears seeds on/inside
cones
32.
Explain some evolutionary advantages that seed plants have over mosses
and ferns? reproduce without water, embryos are protected in seeds
33.
Millions of years ago when continents changed from a wet climate to a drier
climate, it became harder for seedless plants like ferns and mosses to survive.
a. Explain why a drier climate created problems for ferns and mosses to
survive. didn’t have the necessary water for reproduction
b. What adaptation allowed seed plants to become the most dominant type of
plant on earth? able to survive long periods of drought, bitter cold, and
extreme heat
34.
Unlike seedless plants (like mosses & ferns ), seed plants do not require
water to reproduce.
35.
Observe the pine cone. Based on
your observations, explain why pine
trees are considered gymnosperms.
because they have seeds that are
enclosed in cones
Station 9:
Angiosperms (pgs. 569-571, 612)
36.
Explain why flowers are an evolutionary advantage. able to attract
animals (bees, birds, moths) that transport pollen from one flower to
another aiding in reproduction (pollination)
37.
After pollination, what does the ovary of a flower
develop into? the ovary of a flower develops into a fruit which protects
the seed and aids in seed dispersal
38.
Explain why it is beneficial to the plant for an animal to eat the plant’s fruit?
the seed of the plant enters the animals digestive tract, meanwhile the
animal moves around the area. The animal dispels waste that contains the
seed (which are now far away from the original plant). These seeds then
develop into new plants.
39.
It is found in the fossil record that angiosperms appeared at about the
same time as many insects. Why is this important? Shows that they used
each other for survival. The depended on each other. What type of
evolutionary example does this illustrate? (pg 437-438) coevolution
40.
Sort the items in the tray as either monocot and dicot examples in the
plant kingdom? (see next page)