Basic Botany
Instructor- John Joyce
• QUESTIONS?
• What takes place in a seed?
• What controls flowering?
• Why is light necessary?
• How does water travel?
The Major Groups of Organisms
Prokaryotes
Kingdom Monera • Bacteria, blue green
algae
Eukaryotes-
• Kingdom Protista • Molds
• Algae, Plankton
• Fungi
Kingdom Plantae • Bryophytes (Mosses)
• Vascular Plants
• (Seedless [Ferns] and
Seed Forming)
How the World Was Once Viewed
• Animals VS. Everything Else:
Seaweeds
Mushrooms
Mosses
Medicinal Plants
Taxonomy
• The science of biological classification of
plants and animals.
• Putting plant and animals in the form of
superior and subordinate groups.
• To develop a convenient and precise
method of classifying.
Taxonomy
• KINGDOM
• PHYLUM
• CLASS
• ORDER
• FAMILY
• GENUS
• SPECIES
• King Phillip came
over for good sushi!
• KINGDOM
• FUNGI
• Carl Linnaeus
• 1707-1778
• Binomial system of
• Nomenclature
• Genus species
• Phaseolus vulgaris L.
common bean
Plant Classification
• morphology of flowers
• pollen characteristics
• mode of embryo development
• leaf shapes
• vein patterns
• And the list goes on
• Everyday nomenclature
• genus,species
• common name
• variety
• Common name- to particular area
• Variety-not true species
• Cultivar-do not occur in nature and must be
cultivated.
• X-interspecific hybrid
Common names
Don’t always identify the plant
Lirirdendron tulipifera Nymphaea alba
l Tuliptree in the north l European White Waterlily
l Yellow Poplar in the south l 15 common English names
l 44 common French names
Carpinus caroliniana l 105 common German names
l American Hornbean l 81 common Dutch names
l Blue Beach
l Musclewood
l Water Beech
l Ironwood
Scientific Names--Binomial Nomenclature
Names follow
l International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
(for wild or naturally occurring plants)
l International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants
(for cultivated plants)
Good sources
l Hortus Third or Hortus Fourth
l Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, by Michael Durr
Scientific Names--Binomial Nomenclature
“sp.” = species (singular) Do not italicize
“spp.” = species (plural) or underline.
For example
l Prunus sp. -- Refers to a definite plant in the Prunus genera
of unidentified species.
l Prunus spp. -- Refers to all of the species in the Prunus
genus.
Family
l Group of closely related genera, often sharing similar
structure and appearance
l Cultural practices (i.e., the care of the plant) generally
follows family lines
Examples
l Solanaceae -- Nightshade
family including tomatoes, potatoes,
and petunias
l Rosaceae -- Rose family including
250 common landscape plants
l Poaceae -- Bluegrass family
Subgroups of Cultivar
Clone -- cultivars propagated by vegetative methods
Line -- cultivars propagated by seed
Group -- a group of cultivars of similar plants
Strain -- subgroup of cultivar with specific characteristics,
like resistance to a disease or better color.
l Early Girl VFN Tomato
Form -- selection based on shape
l Columnar Norway Maple
Subspecies Categories
Botanical Variety -- plant group in the wild
l Buxus microphylla var. japonica
l Japanese Boxwood
l Cabbage and cauliflower are varieties of Brassica
olerace.
Cultivar -- plant group from a cultivated variety
l Early Girl, Big Boy, and Better Boy Tomato
Is this name for Thornless Common
Honeylocust correctly written?
Gleditsia triacanthos inermis
Third name must be preceded by
l “ssp.” for sub-species
l “var.” for variety
l “cu” for cultivar
Correctly written:
Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis
Vascular Plants
• Any plant containing
water and food conducting
tissues.
• Seed/Seedless
SEEDLESS PLANTS
• Considered ‘lower’
vascular plants
• Most abundant -ferns
SEED PLANTS
• Two Types
• Gymnosperms Angiosperms
• Non-flowering flower bearing
• exposed bracts seeds exposed
• not in ovary ovary / fruit
Seed Plants: Cone-bearers
GYMNOSPERMS
• Greek gymnos –
naked
• sperma-
seed
• More primitive
• Economic importance
• Cone bearing, needle
• leafed
Seed plants: Flowering plants
ANGIOSPERMS-
• Greek angeion-
vessel
•
sperma-seed
• Most sophisticated
• best adaptations
• Most diversified
Gymnosperm Angiosperm
Anatomy
Plant Parts and Functions
The Principal Parts
Stems
• Structures that
support buds and
leaves.
• Serve as conduits for
water minerals and
sugars.
• Xylem, phloem and
cambium.
Stem pith
a tool for plant ID
Cross-section
Triangulate
Star-shaped Hollow pith
Rounded
Chambered pith
TISSUES
• Xylem-(wood) group of specialized cells
transport water
• Phloem-(tree bark) group of specialized
cells transport food molecules
Cambium
• Meristem a site of cell division and active
growth located between the xylem and
phloem
• Node- part of a stem where leaves are
attached to the stem and buds are located
in these leaf axils( angle between the stem
and bud/leaf).
• Internode- stem section between nodes-
• Length depends -varies with season
• Fertility, light competition.
Modified stems
• Spurs-compresses
fruiting branch
Stolen
• Horizontal stem that
is fleshy or semi
woody and lies along
the top of the ground
• spider plant
strawberry
Crown
• Compressed stem having leaves and
flowers on short internodes.
• Located at soil level so that roots support
them upright and the central growing point
is never covered with soil .
Rhizome
• Rhizomes are thickened,
swollen stems that grow
horizontally.
• Grown at or just below
the surface.
• Divide after flowering and
discard central portion.
• Examples
Iris
Canna
Solomon’s Seal
Bulb
• A true bulb is an
underground modified
leaf bud, which consists
of a short, thick stem
and fleshy scales.
• Serves as a storage
organ.
• Examples
Tulip
Hyacinth
Daffodil
Corm
• A corm is a solid, swollen
stem base that grows
vertically.
• A corm has a distinct basal
plate with the growing point
at the top.
• Divided by off sets called
cormels.
• Examples
Liatris
Gladiolus
Crocus
Tuber
• Tubers are underground
stems used for food storage.
• Tubers have no basal plate
and no dry covering.
• They can be divided by cutting
into sections that have
growing buds, or eyes. Each
bud can produce a new plant.
• Examples
Caladium
Tuberous Begonia
Cyclamen
Potato
Tuberous Roots
• Real roots.
• Food supply is kept in root
tissue, not in stem or leaf
tissue as in other bulbs.
• These roots do not have
buds that are capable of
producing new plants.
• Example
Dahlias
Sweet Potato
Stem types
l Shoot -- young stem with leaves
l Twig -- woody stem <1 year old
l Branch -- woody stem > 1year old
l Trunk -- main support stem(s)
l Water sprout -- adventitious shoot
from branches or trunk
l Sucker -- adventitious shoot from
roots
l Cane -- stem with large pith,
usually living only 1-2 years
Texture and Growth of Stems
• Woody
• Herbaceous or succulent
• Annuals
• Perennials
• Biennials
• Stems as food-potato
• Asparagus, broccoli
• cauliflower
Leaves
Parts of a Leaf
Leaf structure
Tip
Blade
Lateral vein
Margin
Midrib
Base
Petiole (leaf stalk) Bud
Stipules
Leaf Parts
Leaf cross section
designed to maximize photosynthesis
Upper epidermis
Palisade layer
Vascular bundle
Spongy mesophyll
Lower epidermis
Guard cells Stoma Intercellular chamber
Stoma
Terminal leaflets
modified into
Tendrils
Sweet Pea
The Leaf: Arrangement
• Active
• Dormant
The Leaf: Shape and Venation
Leaf arrangement, a tool for plant ID
Leaflets
Simple Pinnately Palmately Doubly
Compound Compound Compound
Leaf or Leaflet?
A bud is found at the base of a leaf, but not a leaflet.
Leaf type (venation), a tool for plant ID
Conifers (Coniferophyta)
Evergreens, with needle-like leaves
scale-like awl linear single bundled clustered
shaped shaped needles needles needles
Leaf shape, a tool for plant ID
Tip shape
acuminate acute cuspidate emarginate
Mucronate obcordate obtuse truncate
The Stem: Buds, Scales and Scars
External features of twigs
The leaf scar and
bundle scars are
used in plant Leaf scar
identification.
Bundle scars
Bud
type accessory conical narrowly conical one-scales
a tool for
plant ID
scale over leaf scar ovoid rounded scales in
two ranks
stalked striate scales superposed valvate
Changes in length of annual growth
indicates general vigor of trees
year 1
year 3 year 2 year 1
Compare twig length between
annual growth rings
Which tree is under stress?
2nd year 1st year
4th year 3rd year
2” 3”
6” 1”
3rd year 2nd year 1st year
4nd year 2”
3” 1”
6”
ROOTS
Root function
l Absorb and
conduct water 80% of
and minerals. all plant
l Anchor and problems
support plant begin with
root/soil
l Storage and
winter survival disorders.
Fibrous root vs. Tap root
Root structure
Epidermis
Cortex
Endodermis
Pericycle
Phloem
Xylem
The Plant Root
Flowers
• Sole purpose is
sexual reproduction
• Continuation of
species
• Fragrance and color
to attract pollinators
• Importance of insects
Taxonomy is based on flower structure.
Stigma
Stamen Anther Style Pistil
Filament
Ovary
Calyx Sepals Petals Corolla
Receptacle Pedicel (flower stem)
Monocot or Dicot?
Monocot Dicot
Parts in 3s Parts in 4s or 5s
• Tepals
Pollination & Fertilization
Pollen grains on lilies stigma
Pollination
• Self-pollinated-Not common in nature.
Cultivated crops such as tomatoes,
peppers, eggplants, beans, and most
cereal crops
• Cross-pollinated-pollen from one plant
pollinates the stigma of another. Flowers of
the majority of plant species have features
that favor and ensure cross-pollination
Germination
• Occurs when the pollen tube pushes
through a pore of the pollen grain and
starts growing down the style.
Cross Pollination
• Monoecious species- both male and
female
• Dioecious species- separate (holly)
• Timing of maturation of stigma
• Self-incompatibility- can be either structural
or physiological*
• More common- self pollination can occur,
but self fertilization does not
Salvia flowers (sage)
Specialized structures
• -tubular corolla
• -stamen attached to
hinge bearing basal
projection
Types of Inflorescence
Inflorescence, the arrangement of
flowers, is used for plant ID.
floret
single spike racene corymb umbel
disk flowers
ray flowers
cyme panicel spadix composite
Fruit
• A ripened ovary
• Fertilized mature
ovules ( seeds),
• ovary wall
• Fleshy ( melons)
• Dry (pecan)
In apples, the ovary wall becomes the
fleshy part of the fruit.
Simple Fruits
• Develop from a single
ovary.
• cherries, peaches
(drupe)
• Apples Pears( pome)
• Tomato( berries)
• Dry-Peanut, maple
(samara), Walnut
(nut)
Aggregate Fruit
• Single flower with
many ovaries.
• One corolla, calyx
and one stem.
• Many pistils or
ovaries.
• Fertilized separately.
• Edible enlarged
receptacle.
Multiple Fruits
• Tight clusters of
separate independent
flowers borne on a
single structure.
• Own calyx and
corolla.
• Pineapple, fig
The Seed
• Mature ovule
• No sign of “life”
• Dormancy- period of
inactivity.
• Viable--------Dormant
• Capable of
germination .
Parts of the Seed
• Embryo- miniature
plant – dormant state
• Endosperm- food
source.
• Seat coat- hard
covering, protection
Germination
Protective Mechanisms that must
be overcome during seed
propagation:
seed dormancy
acid pretreatment requirements
germination inhibitors in seed coat
tough seed coats that have to be
Seed Coat
mechanically opened
Need for scarification-
seed surface etching
Need for stratification-
Cotyledon Moistened and given extended
Period of low temperature
Monocot seed
One cotyledons
Seed coat
Endosperm Plumule (shoot)
Cotyledon Radicle (root)
Monocot emergence
True leaf
Coleoptile Adventitious
root
Seed with
cotyledon
Secondary
Primary root root
Dicot seed
Two cotyledons
Plumule (shoot)
Hypocotyl
Radicle (root)
Seed coat
Cotyledon
Dicot emergence
Trifoliate leaf
Primary leaf
Cotyledon
Hypocotyl
Hypocotyl
Plant Physiology-
Growth and Development
• Photosynthesis
• Respiration
• Transpiration
• Absorption
• Translocation
Photosynthesis
The combining of carbon dioxide and water to
form carbohydrates and oxygen.
This process is essential to life on earth.
Basis of all food chains.
Dependent on light availability, water, CO2
Temperature- 65 to 85 degrees
Photosynthesis (to put together with light)
Carbon dioxide
+ Water
+ energy 2
carbohydrates CO
(starches and sugars)
+ Oxygen O2
6 CO2 + 6 H2O + energy
C6H12O6 + 6 O2
nu
r
tri
te
en
wa
ts
Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts located
in the mesophyll layers of plant leaves
(and in some instances, in mesophyll cells in the stem)
l Chloroplasts are incredibly small. One square millimeter, about the
size of a period on a page would contain 400,000 chloroplasts.
l Chlorophyll, the pigment
that makes leaves green,
is found in the chloroplasts.
It is responsible for trapping
light energy from the sun.
Respiration
• The release of chemical energy by plant and
animal cells.
• Reverse of photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis Respiration
Produces food Uses
Stores energy Releases
Uses water and carbon dioxide Releases
Releases oxygen Uses
Sunlight occurrence Light & dark
Transpiration
• The process by which a plant losses
water, primarily from leaf stomata.
• Involved in water absorption by roots.
Transpiration
accounts for 90% of the water use by plants
Functions of transpiration
l Transporting minerals from soil throughout the plant
l Moving sugars and plant chemicals
l Cooling via evaporation
l Maintaining cell firmness (turgor pressure)
Transpiration
• Dependant on:
Transpiration
• temperature - increases accounts for 90% of the water use by plants
will cause transpiration
to increase.
• humidity - increases will
cause transpiration to
decrease.
• air movement - increases
will cause transpiration H20 CO2
to increase.
Adsorption
• Process where water and minerals are
moved into the plant.
• Occurs through roots and root hairs.
Translocation
• Movement of water, minerals and food
through a plants vascular system.
• Move from root to upper plant parts.
• Active process requiring respiration energy
to move upward and downward in the
plant.
Environmental Factors affecting
Plant Growth
• Light- quantity, quality and duration.
• Temperature
• Water-photosynthesis
• Nutrition
Light
• Quantity-intensity or concentration of light and varies with
season.
• Quality -color or wavelength.
• Duration- photoperiod- amount of time that a plant is
exposed to sunlight.
Light duration: photoperiod
Short-Day Plants Long-day Plants
(long-night plants) (short-night plants)
critical night length
vegetative flowering
flowering vegetative
vegetative flowering
Poinsettias Spinach
Christmas cactus Onions
Chrysanthemums
Temperature
• Productivity and growth of plants
• Warm season /cool season
• Low temps=decrease in photosynthesis=
lower yields.
Temperature effects
• Photosynthesis- increase with temperature
• Respiration- rapidly increase with
temperature.
• Transpiration- increase with temperature
• Flowering- partially triggered by.
• Sugar Storage- low temps reduce energy
use- store sugar.
• Dormancy- warmth after a low period will
break dormancy- active growth.
Nutrition
• Refers to the needs and uses of the basic
chemical elements in the plant.
• 16 elements for growth.
• Macronutrients- Carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium,
magnesium, calcium, sulfur.
• Micronutrients- iron, zinc, molybdenum,
manganese, boron, copper and chlorine.
• CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
• YOU HAVE SURVIVED
BASIC BOTANY!!!!!