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PLANT KINGDOM
Year Why it is important?
1969 Whittaker proposed 5 kingdom
classifications

➢ Scientist
- Linnaeus
• Gave Artificial classification system
- George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker
• Gave Natural classification systems

➢ Classification within angiosperms –

1. Artificial classification system –

- used only gross superficial morphological characters- habit, colour, number and
shape of leaves, etc.
- mainly on vegetative characters or on the androecium structure
- separated the closely related species since they were based on a few characteristics
- equal weightage to vegetative (more easily affected by environment) and sexual
characteristics

2. Natural classification systems –

- based on natural affinities among the organisms
- considered both internal and external structures - ultrastructure, anatomy,
embryology and phytochemistry.

3. Phylogenetic classification systems –

- based on evolutionary relationships
- become more important when there is no supporting fossil evidence.

4. Numerical Taxonomy –
- carried out using computers
- based on all observable characteristics
- each character is given equal importance and at the same time hundreds of
characters can be considered.

5. Cytotaxonomy –
- based on cytological information like chromosome number, structure, behaviour

6. chemotaxonomy –
- that uses the chemical constituents of the plant

➢ Algae
- chlorophyll-bearing, simple, thalloid, autotrophic and largely aquatic
- habitats: moist stones, soils and wood
- occur in association with
• fungi – lichen
• animals – sloth bear
- form and size- highly variable
- Vegetative reproduction - fragmentation.
- Asexual reproduction - different types of spores, common – zoospores
- Sexual reproduction - fusion of two gametes.
- half of the total carbon dioxide fixation on earth is carried by algae
- increase the level of dissolved oxygen in their immediate environment
- paramount importance as primary producers of energy-rich compounds
Examples –
1. form and size –
- unicellular - Chlamydomonas
- colonial form – Volvox
- filamentous - Ulothrix and Spirogyra.
- massive plant bodies – kelps

2. type of gamete –
- isogamous
flagellated and similar in size
non-flagellated and similar in size – Spirogyra
- anisogamous
gametes dissimilar in size
- oogamous – Volvox, Fucus

3. useful to mankind –
- Porphyra, Laminaria and Sargassum and 70 species of marine algae are used as food.
- algin (brown algae) and carrageen (red algae) produce large amounts of hydrocolloids
- Gelidium and Gracilaria are used to grow microbes and in preparations of ice-creams and
jellies
- Chlorella rich in proteins is used as food supplement even by space travellers

1. Chlorophyceae
- Common name - green algae
- unicellular, colonial or filamentous
- usually, green
- pigments chlorophyll a and b.
- pigments are localised in definite chloroplasts.
- chloroplasts shapes - discoid, plate-like, reticulate, cup-shaped, spiral or ribbon-
shaped
- storage bodies - pyrenoids, located in the chloroplasts.
- Pyrenoids contain protein and starch
- Cell wall- inner layer: cellulose, outer layer: pectose.
- Asexual reproduction- flagellated zoospores produced in zoosporangia
❖ Examples –
- Chlamydomonas, Volvox, Ulothrix, Spirogyra and Chara

2. Phaeophyceae
- Common name - brown algae
- marine habitats
- range from simple branched, filamentous forms to profusely branched forms
- Pigements- chlorophyll a, c, carotenoids and xanthophylls
- colour varies from olive green to various shades of brown (amount of fucoxanthin
present)
- food storage as - laminarin or mannitol
- vegetative cells have a cellulosic wall usually covered on the outside by a gelatinous
coating of algin.
- usually attached to the substratum by a holdfast, and has a stalk, the stipe
- leaf like photosynthetic organ – the frond
- Asexual reproduction - biflagellate zoospores, pear-shaped and have two unequals
laterally attached flagella.
- gametes are pyriform (pear-shaped) and bear two laterally attached flagella
❖ Examples –
- Ectocarpus (filamentous form), Dictyota, Laminaria, Sargassum and Fucus

3. Rhodophyceae –
- Common name- red algae
- Pigment- r-phycoerythrin
- Marine, found in the warmer areas
- occur in well-lighted regions close to the surface of water and also at great depths in
oceans
- multicellular
- food stored as - floridean starch (similar to amylopectin and glycogen in structure.)
- asexual reproduction - non-motile spores
- sexual reproduction – non- motile gametes, ogamous and accompanied by complex
post fertilisation developments
❖ Examples –
- Polysiphonia, Porphyra, Gracilaria and Gelidium

➢ BRYOPHYTES –
- Common habitat - moist shaded areas in the hills
- called amphibians of the plant kingdom
- occur in damp, humid and shaded localities
- important role in plant succession on bare rocks
- thallus-like and prostrate or erect
- attached to the substratum by unicellular or multicellular rhizoids.
- main plant body – haploid
- main plant body produces gametes, hence is called a gametophyte
- sex organs – multicellular
- male sex organ – antheridium, produce biflagellate antherozoids
- female sex organ – archegonium, flask-shaped and produces a single egg.
- Zygotes do not undergo reduction division immediately
- produce a multicellular body called a sporophyte, attached to gametophyte
- sporophyte undergo reduction division – haploid spores - gametophyte
- Mosses along with lichens are the first organisms to colonise rocks
- mosses form dense mats on the soil, prevent soil erosion

Examples -
Species of Sphagnum-

- provide peat that is used as fuel

- packing material for trans-shipment of living material because of their capacity to
hold water

1. Liverworts –
- thallus is dorsiventral and closely appressed to the substrate
- leafy members have tiny leaf-like appendages in two rows on the stem-like structures
- Asexual reproduction – fragmentation of thalli, specialised structure – gemmae
- gemmae become detached from the parent body and germinate to form new
individuals
- sporophyte is differentiated into a foot, seta and capsule.
- spores are produced within the capsule.
❖ Example – Marchantia

2. Mosses –
- predominant stage – gametophyte, consists of two stages: protonema and leafy
stage
- protonema stage:
• develops directly from a spore.
• creeping, green, branched and frequently filamentous stage.
- Leafy stage:
• develops from the secondary protonema as a lateral bud.
• upright, slender axes bearing spirally arranged leaves.
• attached to the soil through multicellular and branched rhizoids.
• bears the sex organs
- Vegetative reproduction – fragmentation and budding in the secondary protonema.
- sex organs antheridia and archegonia are produced at the apex of the leafy shoots
- sporophyte in mosses is more elaborate
❖ Examples –
- Funaria, Polytrichum and Sphagnum

➢ Pteritophyta –
- used for medicinal purposes and as soil-binders
- frequently grown as ornamentals.
- first terrestrial plants to possess vascular tissues
- main plant body – sporophyte
- sporophytes bear sporangia that are subtended by leaf-like appendages called
sporophylls.
- sporangia produce spores
- germinate to give rise to inconspicuous, multicellular, free-living gametophytes called
prothallus.
- gametophytes require cool, damp, shady places to grow.
- gametophytes bear male and female sex organs called antheridia and archegonia
- all the spores are of similar kinds - homosporous.
- two kinds of spores, macro and micro spores – heterosporous
- The megaspores and microspores germinate and give rise to female and male
gametophytes

- development of the zygotes into young embryos take place within the female
gametophytes, precursor to the seed habit

Examples –
Microphylls –Selaginella
Macrophylls – ferns
sporophylls may form distinct compact structures called strobili or cones – Selaginella,
Equisetum
Psilopsida (Psilotum)
Lycopsida (Selaginella, Lycopodium)
Sphenopsida (Equisetum)
Pteropsida (Dryopteris, Pteris, Adiantum)

➢ Gymnosperms –
- ovules are not enclosed by any ovary wall
- seeds are naked post fertilisation
- include medium-sized trees or tall trees and shrubs
- generally, roots are tap roots
- fungal association – mycorrhiza
- coralloid roots are associated with N2 - fixing cyanobacteria
- leaves are well-adapted to withstand extremes of temperature, humidity and wind
- conifers, the needle-like leaves reduce the surface area.
- Heterosporous
- produced within sporangia that are borne on sporophylls which are arranged spirally
along an axis to form lax or compact strobili or cones
- microspores highly reduced and is confined to only a limited number of cells.
- reduced gametophyte - pollen grain
- megaspore mother cell is differentiated from one of the cells of the nucellus
- nucellus is protected by envelopes
- the composite structure is called an ovule.
- megaspore mother cell divides meiotically to form four megaspores
- One of the megaspores enclosed within the megasporangium develops into a
multicellular female gametophyte, bears two or more archegonia
- gametophytes do not have an independent free-living existence, retained on
sporophyte

Examples –
Mycorrhiza- Pinus
Nitrogen fixing bacteria – Cycas
stems are unbranched – Cycas
branched – Pinus, Cedrus
pinnate leave – Cycas
male or female cones or strobili borne on the same tree – Pinus
borne on different trees – Cycas
Examples – Pinus, Cycas, Cedrus, Gingko

➢ Angiosperms –
- the pollen grains and ovules are developed in specialised structures called flowers
- seeds are enclosed by fruits.
- range in size from tiny, almost microscopic Wolfia to tall trees of Eucalyptus
- provide us with food, fodder, fuel, medicines etc
- two classes: the dicotyledons and the monocotyledons
- male sex organ – stamen
- stamen consists of a slender filament with an anther at the tip
- anthers, following meiosis, produce pollen grains
- female sex organ – pistil or carpel
- Pistil consists of an ovary enclosing one to many ovules
- Within ovules are present highly reduced, embryo-sacs
- embryo-sac is haploid
- embryo-sac has a three-celled egg apparatus – one egg cell and two synergids,
three antipodal cells and two polar nuclei
- One of the male gametes fuses with the egg cell to form a zygote – syngamy
- other male gamete fuses with the diploid secondary nucleus to produce the triploid
primary endosperm nucleus (PEN).
- Two fusions – Double fertilisation
- zygote develops into an embryo
- PEN develops into endosperm, provide nutrition to embryo
- synergids and antipodals degenerate after fertilisation
- ovules develop into seeds and the ovaries develop into fruit

➢ ALTERNATION OF GENERATIONS
- haploid plant body produces gametes by mitosis – gametophyte
- Following fertilisation the zygote also divides by mitosis - diploid sporophytic plant
body
- Haploid spores are produced by this plant body by meiosis

➢ Haplontic life cycle –

- Sporophytic generation is represented only by the one-celled zygote.
- no free-living sporophytes.
- Meiosis in the zygote results in the formation of haploid spores.
- haploid spores divide mitotically and form the gametophyte.
- The dominant, photosynthetic phase in such plants is the free-living gametophyte.

❖ Examples – mostly algae - Volvox, Spirogyra and some species of

Chlamydomonas

➢ Diplontic life cycle –

- sporophyte is the dominant, photosynthetic, independent phase of the plant
- gametophytic phase is represented by the single to few-celled haploid gametophyte

❖ Examples – all seed earing plants i.e., gymnosperms and angiosperms,

alga fucus

➢ Haplo-diplontic life cycle –

- Bryophytes –
A dominant, independent, photosynthetic, thalloid or erect phase is represented by a
haploid gametophyte, alternates with the short-lived multicellular sporophyte totally or
partially dependent on the gametophyte.

- Pteridophytes –
diploid sporophyte is represented by a dominant, independent, photosynthetic,
vascular plant body, alternates with multicellular, saprophytic/autotrophic,
independent but short-lived haploid gametophyte.

- Some algae also follow haplo-diplontic life cycle - Ectocarpus, Polysiphonia, kelps