Transcript Plant Classification

Classifying Living Things
Plant Classification
Plants with Tubes
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Plants have many cells with nuclei, but make their own food
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Vascular plants = plants that have tubes
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Found in the roots, stems, and leaves
Water and nutrients are carried through roots to the stems
Stems carry water an nutrients to the leaves.
Food tubes carry the food to the other parts of the plants and from the leaves to
the roots
Fern tubes form a network that split apart and rejoin
◦ Cells that make these tubes are stiff for plant support
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Trees are vascular
◦ Dead tubes at the center of the trunk are called heartwood
◦ Tubes that carry water and food are called sapwood and are around the heartwood
◦ The bark is made of dead cells that protect the sapwood
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Any plant with flowers or cones is a vascular plant
Plants Without Tubes
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Nonvascular plant = a plant without tubes
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Moss
Water soaks into the plant from cell to cell
Food also soaks into the plant from cell to cell along with the water
These plants must live in damp places and don’t grow very tall
Need fertile, moist soil
◦ They can grow on rocks and other objects
◦ Their root-like structures break down rocks, etc. into the soil
◦ When they die, they make the ground even more fertile
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Have no roots, steams, or leaves
◦ The lobes (rounded parts) look like leaves, but they don’t have tubes