BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S.
BIOLOGY STUDENTS
Lesson 1
Introduction
Botany is the scientific study of plants and plant-like organisms. It
helps us understand why plants are so vitally important to the world.
Plants start the majority of food and energy chains, they provide us
with oxygen, food and medicine. Plants can be divided into two
groups: plants1 and plants . Plants contain all photosynthetic
organisms which use light, H2O, and CO2 to make organic
compounds and O2.
Plants are living entities, and material presented within Biology will
have relevance here, most particularly at the cellular and subcellular
levels of organization (Chapter 2). Both plants and animals deal with
the same problems of maintaining life on planet Earth — their
approaches seem quite different, but the end result is the same:
continued existence in an organized state, as part of a universe whose
tendency is towards greater disorganization. Back on Earth, however, it
is a fact that microbes, plants, and animals comprise a very
interdependent system. We divide them apart, because our minds
work best that way. We categorize and learn common features or
properties of the categories. This approach is neither right nor wrong,
but is clearly efficient for our minds. Nonetheless, it is desirable to
regularly step back and realize that the boundaries between
categories are often just constructs, and exceptions to our categories
usually abound.
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LESSON 1
Botany
PLANT
Like many words in common usage that apply to biological
entities or concepts, the term plant is more difficult to define than
might be at first obvious. Although botanists describe a Kingdom
Plantae, the boundaries defining members of Plantae are more
inclusive than our common concept of a "plant". We are tempted to
regard plant as meaning a multicellular, eukaryotic organism that
generally does not have sensory organs or voluntary motion and has,
when complete, a root, stem, and leaves. However, botanically only
vascular plants have a root, stem, and leaves, and even some
vascular plants, such as certain carnivorous plants and duckweed, fall
afoul of that definition. But to be fair, the vascular plants are the plants
we tend to encounter every day and that most people would readily
regard as "plants".
A more significant point of departure between Plantae and
plants occurs among the seaweeds. Technically, only a relatively
minor group of seaweeds (the chlorophytes or green algae) are
members of the Kingdom Plantae. The majority of seaweeds, like the
kelps (very large brown algae from the Order Laminariales), despite a
superficial appearance of such, lack true stems, leaves, roots, and any
kind of vascular systems as found in higher plants. Thus, the kelps are
not Plantae; but are they plants? Certainly if we regard the green
algae as plants, it is difficult to exclude the more prominent red and
brown algae of our coastal waters.
Another, much broader definition for plant is that it refers to any
organism that is photoautotrophic—produces its own food from raw
inorganic materials and sunlight. This is not an unreasonable definition,
and is one that focuses on the role plants typically play in an
ecosystem. However, there are photoautotrophs among
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
the Prokaryotes, specifically photoautotrophic bacteria and
cyanophytes. The latter are sometimes called (for good reasons) blue-
green algae. Then there arises the problem that many people would
consider that a mushroom is a plant; a mushroom is the fruiting body of
a fungus (Kingdom Fungi) and not photoautotrophic at all,
but saprophytic. However, there are more than a few species of
flowering plants, fungi, and bacteria that are not autotrophic,
but parasitic.
THE PLANT
Plants are an incredibly important kingdom of organisms. They
are multicellular organisms with the amazing ability to make their own
food from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They provide the
foundation of many food webs and animal life would not exist if plants
were not around. The study of plants is known as botany and in this
introduction to plants we look at key topics such as the process of
photosynthesis, different types of plants and the different parts of a
plant such as roots, stems and leaves.
By using the sun’s energy to fix carbon dioxide, plants are able to
produce sugars through a process known as photosynthesis. The sugars
produced through photosynthesis provide plants with the energy to
survive, grow and reproduce. As plants grow they become a food
source for animals and other organisms.
There are over 400,000 species of plants currently on Earth and
the majority of them produce flowers and fruit for reproduction. Plants
that produce flowers belong to a group called angiosperms.
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
Other woody plants include a group known as the gymnosperms. This group includes pine
trees and their relatives plus other non-flowering trees. Less advanced plants include ferns,
lycophytes and mosses.
Plants made the move from water to land around 500 million
years ago. Living on land is significantly different to living on water and
plants have had to make serious changes to their body plans in order
survive on land.
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PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Photosynthesis is a key topic for an introduction to plant biology.
It is a process that occurs in plant cells that uses the sun’s energy to
produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water. The process is simply a
series of chemical reactions, probably the most important chemical
reactions of Earth.
The green color of plants is caused by a molecule called
chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll a has the ability to absorb light energy from
the sun. The energy that is absorbed is used to force reactions with
water and carbon dioxide. The result of these reactions is the
production sugars and oxygen gas.
Photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,
converts it into sugar and releases oxygen back into the atmosphere.
Over time photosynthesis changed the atmosphere of the Earth by
increasing the amount of oxygen in the air.
VASCULAR VS. NON-VASCULAR
A critical step in the evolution of current plant species was the
evolution of vascular tissue. Like humans have vascular tissue that
transports blood through our bodies, the majority of species of plants
have vascular tissue that transports water and nutrients around their
bodies.
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
Before plants evolved vascular tissue, water was only able to
enter into a plant by diffusing through the plant’s cells. These meant
plants were unable to grow very large because diffusion is not efficient
enough to support large plants. Once plants evolved vascular tissue,
they were able to grow much larger and which allowed the evolution
of the giant trees that now grace the Earth’s lands.
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There are still many species on non-vascular plants but the vast
majority of plant species contain vascular tissue. Non-vascular plants
include organisms such as mosses and liverworts. Some biologists also
consider the green algae to be non-vascular plants. Because non-
vascular plants rely on diffusion to absorb water they are typically
found in moist environments.
Vascular plants make up over 90% of all plant species that are
currently found on Earth. More primitive vascular plants include
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lycophytes and ferns. These two groups reproduce with spores rather
than seeds and are unable to produce wood.
Gymnosperms and angiosperms are the two most recently
evolved groups of vascular plants. They can both produce wood and
reproduce with seeds rather than spores.
PLANT BODY PLAN
Plants have a relatively simple body plan. A plant can be split
into two sections: the underground system known as roots and the
above ground system referred to as shoots. The shoots typically
include stems, branches and leaves.
The evolution of roots was key to the success of plants on land.
Roots grow underground in search for water and nutrients in the soil.
Often almost half of a plant’s mass is hidden underground in the root
system.
Roots also help to anchor a plant to the ground so it doesn’t get
blown away in the wind or in a flood. They can also be used to store
excess food to be used at a later date.
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Stems and branches connect leaves and roots to each other.
They are the ‘highways’ that water, nutrients, and sugars travel
through to nourish the various parts of a plant.
Branches and stems influence the height and size of a plant
which in turn affects how much light it will receive from the sun. A stem
and branch can be green and fleshy but in many plants, they are
brown, woody and covered in bark.
Leaves are the main place where photosynthesis occurs. The
leaves of the plant have the responsibility of producing enough
energy to feed the entire plant. Leaves are optimized for this
challenge.
A typical leaf is full of a green molecule called
chlorophyll a which is the magic ingredient in photosynthesis.
Chlorophyll a is able to use energy from the sun to kick start the
process of photosynthesis. Leaves are also usually flat and have large
surface areas to capture as much light from the sun as possible.
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
ANGIOSPERMS
An angiosperm is any plant that produces flowers, fruit, and
seeds. They are the most advanced, diverse and abundant group of
plants. Angiosperms include the majority of the plants that most
people are familiar with such as grasses, orchids, roses, lavender,
magnolias, plus the plants that produce the fruits, vegetables, grains
and nuts that we regularly eat.
Flowers and fruit evolved as a part of a plant’s reproduction.
Flowers produce pollen and an ovary. Pollen from one flower is
delivered to the ovary of another flower – this is known as pollination. A
sperm cell found in a pollen grain fertilizes an egg located in an ovary.
Once the egg is fertilized, it develops into a seed and the ovary
develops into a fruit.
Angiosperms have a close relationship with animals, in particular
insects and birds. The pollination of flowers is most commonly assisted
by animals. Flowers provide animals with nutritious foods such as
nectar and pollen.
As animals move between flowers feeding on nectar and pollen,
they transfer pollen between flowers. The newly delivered pollen then
has the ability to fertilize the egg of the new flower.
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
Many angiosperms and animals have evolved alongside each
other and their survival depends on one another. If the angiosperm
goes extinct, the animal loses its food source. If the animal goes
extinct, the plant loses it pollinator and cannot reproduce.
GYMNOSPERMS
Gymnosperms are the closest relatives of angiosperms. They are
a group of woody plants that produce seeds but no flowers or fruit. The
seeds of gymnosperms are usually found in cones rather than inside
fruit.
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
The world’s largest, tallest, oldest and widest organisms are all
gymnosperms. They are incredible plants and some species are known
to survive for over 2000 years.
There are four different groups of gymnosperms. These include
the gingko, gnetophyta, cycads and conifers. Conifers contain the
majority of species and include the well-known pine trees.
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BOTANY MODULE SERIES FOR B.S. BIOLOGY STUDENTS
FERNS AND LYCOPHYTES
Ferns and lycophytes are non-woody plants and also don’t
produce seeds, flowers or fruit. Instead, ferns and lycophytes
reproduce using tiny structures called spores.
These two groups were once the most common plants of Earth
but they have since been outgrown by gymnosperms and
angiosperms. Still, around 12,000 species of ferns and 1,200 species of
lycophytes remain on Earth.
The main difference between ferns and lycophytes is in the
vascular tissue of their leaves. Ferns have fronds with multiple veins
whereas the leaves of lycophytes are very simple and only have one
vein.
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FERNS
Lycophytes
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NON-VASCULAR PLANTS
Besides lacking tissue, non-vascular plants also lack wood, roots
and flowers. This group of often ignored plants includes mosses,
hornworts, liverworts and (depending on who you’re talking to) some
algae. Compared to vascular plants, non-vascular plants are small
and they struggle to grow taller than a few centimeters.
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Mosses are the most common and best known of the non-
vascular plants. They include over 14,000 species that are found all
around the world.
Liverworts and hornworts are two groups of underappreciated
plants. They are flattened plants that are typically only a few
millimeters tall but grow sprawling across moist surfaces and are
commonly mistaken for mosses and algae.
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Life Cycle of a Moss
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