Description

Plant kingdom includes algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms. Algae are chlorophyll-bearing simple, thalloid, autotrophic and largely aquatic organisms. Depending on the type of pigment possesed and the type of stored food, algae are classfied into three classes, namely Chlorophyceae, Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae. Algae usually reproduce vegetatively by fragmentation, asexually by formation of different types of spores and sexually by formation of gametes which may show isogamy, anisogamy or oogamy.

Bryophytes are plants which can live in soil but are dependent on water for sexual reproduction. Their plant body is more differentiated than that of algae. It is thallus-like and prostrate or erect and attached to the substratum by rhizoids. They possess root-like, leaf-like and stem-like structures. The bryophytes are divided into liverworts and mosses. The plant body of liverworts is thalloid and dorsiventral whereas mosses have upright, slender axes bearing spirally arranged leaves. The main plant body of a bryophyte is gamete-producing and is called a gametophyte. It bears the male sex organs called antheridia and female sex organs called archegonia. The male and female gametes produced fuse to form zygote which produces a multicellular body called a sporophyte. It produces haploid spores. The spores germinate to form gametophytes.

In pteridophytes the main plant is a sporophyte which is differentiated into true root, stem and leaves. These organs possess well-differentiated vascular tissues. The sporophytes bear sporangia which produce spores. The spores germinate to form gametophytes which require cool, damp places to grow. The gametophytes bear male and female sex organs called antheridia and archegonia, respectively. Water is required for transfer of male gametes to archegonium where zygote is formed after fertilisation. The zygote produces a sporophyte.

The gymnosperms are the plants in which ovules are not enclosed by any ovary wall. After fertilisation the seeds remain exposed and therefore these plants are called naked-seeded plants. The gymnosperms produce microspores and megaspores which are produced in microsporangia and megasporangia borne on the sporophylls. The sporophylls – microsporophylls and megasporophylls – are arranged spirally on axis to form male and female cones, respectively. The pollen grain germinates and pollen tube releases the male gamete into the ovule, where it fuses with the egg cell in archegonia. Following fertilisation, the zygote develops into embryo and the ovules into seeds.

In angiosperms, the male sex organs (stamen) and female sex organs (pistil) are borne in a flower. Each stamen consists of a filament and an anther. The anther produces pollen grains (male gametophyte) after meiosis. The pistil consists of an ovary enclosing one to many ovules. Within the ovule is the female gametophyte or embryo sac which contains the egg cell. The pollen tube enters the embryo-sac where two male gametes are discharged. One male gamete fuses with egg cell (syngamy) and other fuses with diploid secondary nucleus (triple fusion). This phenomenon of two fusions is called double fertilisation and is unique to angiosperms. The angiosperms are divided into two classes – the dicotyledons and the monocotyledons.

During the life cycle of any sexually reproducing plant, there is alternation of generations between gamete producing haploid gametophyte and spore producing diploid sporophyte. However, different plant groups as well as individuals may show different patterns of life cycles – haplontic, diplontic or intermediate.

EXERCISES

1. What is the basis of classification of algae?

2. When and where does reduction division take place in the life cycle of a liverwort, a moss, a fern, a gymnosperm and an angiosperm?

3. Name three groups of plants that bear archegonia. Briefly describe the life cycle of any one of them.

4. Mention the ploidy of the following: protonemal cell of a moss; primary endosperm nucleus in dicot, leaf cell of a moss; prothallus cell of a ferm; gemma cell in Marchantia; meristem cell of monocot, ovum of a liverwort, and zygote of a fern.

5. Write a note on economic importance of algae and gymnosperms.

6. Both gymnosperms and angiosperms bear seeds, then why are they classified separately?

7. What is heterospory? Briefly comment on its significance. Give two examples.

8. Explain briefly the following terms with suitable examples:-

(i) protonema (ii) antheridium (iii) archegonium (iv) diplontic (v) sporophyll (vi) isogamy

9. Differentiate between the following:- (i) red algae and brown algae (ii) liverworts and moss (iii) homosporous and heterosporous pteridophyte (iv) syngamy and triple fusion

10. How would you distinguish monocots from dicots?

11. Describe the important characteristics of gymnosperms