What Makes a Plant a Plant

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What Makes a Plant a Plant?

• Chapter 4 Section 1

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Plant Characteristics

• Plants Make Their Own Food
• Plants have plant cells that contain chloroplasts
  which give them their green color.
• Chloroplasts contain green pigment called
  chlorophyll.
• Chlorophyll absorbs light energy from the sun to
  make glucose.
• This process is called photosynthesis.

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Plant Characteristics

• Plants Have a Cuticle
• Cuticle is the waxy layer that coats the surface
  of the stems, leaves, and other plant parts which
  are exposed to the air.
• A cuticle is an adaptation which keeps plants
  from drying out.

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Plant Characteristics

• Plant Cells Have Cell Walls
• Plant cells have a rigid cell membrane which
  surrounds the cell membrane.
• This cell wall helps to support and protect the
  plant.

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Plant Characteristics

• Plants Reproduce with Spores and Sex Cells
• Sporophyte the stage where the plant produces
  the spores.
• Gametophyte the stage where the plant produces
  the egg cells and sperm cells.
• Spores and sex cells are tiny reproductive cells.
  Spores that land in a suitable environment can
  grow into new plants.

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How Are Plants Classified?

• Plants Without Plumbing
• Nonvascular plants plants that have no pipes
  to transport water and nutrients.
• These plants depend on diffusion and osmosis to
  move materials from one part of the plant to the
  other.

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How Are Plants Classified?

• Plants with Plumbing
• Vascular plants have tissues to deliver water
  and nutrients throughout the plant. These are
  called vascular tissues.
• Vascular plants can be divided into two groups
• Gymnosperms nonflowering plants
• Angiosperms flowering plants

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Section Review

• What are two characteristics that all plants have
  in common?
• What type of organism is thought to be the
  ancestor of all plants? Why?
• How are ferns, horsetails, and club mosses
  different from angiosperms?
• How would you decide whether an unknown organism
  is a type of green algae or a plant?

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