An Introduction to

Plant Biology
(Botany)
 Characteristics of plants
Traditionally plants regarded as mostly land-based
multicellular eukaryotic autotrophic organisms
Traditionally classified into 2 large groups:
Non-vascular & Vascular or
Spore-bearing & Seed Plants
aka Non-embryophytes & Embryophytes
Autotrophic
Pigmentation
 Plant characteristics
Body (or thallus) organized into:
1. Shoot (aerial) photosynthesis, gaseous
exchange, reproduction
Main axis - support
Buds growth & development
Apical terminal
Axillary - lateral
Flower sexual reproduction
Branches
Leaves
Node & internode
Fruits & seeds
 Plant characteristics
2. Root (subterranean)
Tap, adventitious, fibrous
a. Absorption
b. Storage
c. Anchorage
d. Gaseous exchange
e. Reproduction
 Plant characteristics
Aquatic & terrestrial

Growth
Indeterminate
Meristematic
Movement
Tropic
Nastic
Plant products
Primary
Secondary
 Plant characteristics
Growth form / Morphology

Alternation of generations (a-o-g)

Sporic meiosis
The time taken for the completion of the life
cycle results in:
1. Annuals
2. Biennials
3. Perennials
 Viridiplantae
More recently the kingdom has been called
Viridiplantae (Green Plants) in contrast to the old
concept of plant (a photosynthetic multicellular
organism that developed from an embryo)

1. The life cycle of all land plants proceeds by means

of alternation of heteromorphic generations.
2. This type of life cycle is first encountered among
the algae & may suggest that certain algal groups
may have evolved to give rise to the plants.
 Viridiplantae - origin
The Chlorophyta and other plants share characteristics
such as:
1. Presence of chlorophyll a and b. Identical type of
chloroplast.
2. Presence of "plant" carotenoids such as beta-carotene,
xanthophylls
3. Cell walls containing cellulose
4. Presence of starch within the chloroplasts
5. Phragmoplast formation during cytokinesis
6. Oogamy within a sporic life cycle (egg and sperm)
7. Sporopollenin - a protective substance that covers
spores & pollen grains
 The Viridiplantae
1. Non-embryophyte Chlorophyta (green algae)
2. Embryophytes:
a. Hepatophyta*
b. Anthocerophyta* Bryophytes
c. Bryophyta*
d. Pteridophyta**
e. Spermatophyta**
Gymnosperms
Angiosperms
* Nonvascular plants
** Vascular (Tracheophytes) plants
 The Chlorophyta
Members of this group are the simplest eukaryotic autotrophs
Also classified as a group of autotrophic protists generally
known as the algae
Aquatic - freshwater & marine, psychrophilic
Terrestrial - damp soil
Form mutualistic associations with
Fungi ( lichens)
Coelenterates
corals ( zooxanthellae)
hydra
Flatworms
Primary producers
Oxygenators
Basal link in food chain / webs
 The Chlorophyta
Diverse morphology
Unicellular
Colonial
Multicellular, thalloid & macroscopic
Tremendous variety in morphological forms:
1. Unicellular
2. Colonial
3. Capsoid
4. Filamentous
5. Pseudoparenchymatous
6. Parenchymatous
Pediastrum Scenedesmus

Chlamydomonas

Spirogyra
 Caulerpa
Acetabularia

Cymopolia

Caulerpa

Ulva
 Green algae - role
1. Food energy source and source of materials & vitamins for
human consumption
e.g. Ulva, Chlorella.
2. Primary producers in aquatic habitats - food source for
many marine organisms.
3. Important in building coral reefs as a type of
zooxanthellae and calcified species contribute to reef-
building (for sandy beaches).
4. Niche (nesting sites) for many organisms.
5. Bioindicators
6. Some species may be used as source of biofuel.
 Threats to Plant Terrestrialisation

Green algae evolving towards terrestrialisation have had to

solve many problems:
1. living in a less dense medium: anchorage & support
2. limited water supply: threat of desiccation
3. scarcity of minerals
4. harmful effect of direct ultraviolet and cosmic rays
5. increased atmospheric CO2 higher rates of photosynthesis
[CO2] in water is 2% that of atmospheric [CO2]
6. harmful effect of ROS due to increased O2 in the atmosphere and
production from faster photosynthesis
7. pronounced fluctuations of temperature
8. attacks from new and diversified microbes.
 Stages in Plant Terrestrialisation

Many adaptations took place such as

1. modification of the life cycle
2. organ diversification
3. production of complex phenolic compounds
4. vascularization
5. accumulation of new water-proofing compounds
6. development of specialized cells
7. establishment of symbiotic interactions
 Stages in Plant Terrestrialisation

8. Becoming multicellular

9. Development of gametangia for oogamous life cycle

10.Development of sporangia for protected spores

11.Development of a large sporophyte, strengthening tissue

12.Removal of dependence on free water

BRYOPHYTES

aka The
Lower Plants
 General bryophyte features
1. Simplest terrestrial plants
2. Inhabit moist, shady habitats
3. Thalloid body

4. Anchored to substratum by rhizoids

6. Non-vascular plants
7. Epidermal layer with poorly developed cutin-like substance
8. Pigmentation: chls. a, b & carotenoids Starch stored in
chloroplasts
9. These plants show alternation of generations with the
gametophyte (n) dominating the life cycle
 Similarities with the green algae
1. Simple thalloid body
2. Nonvascular
3. Limited tissue differentiation into stem, root, leaves
4. Cuticle development: little or none, restricted to areas with much
water
5. Some have a single, large chloroplast per cell in the simpler
bryophytes
6. Reproduction depends on free water
7. Water and mineral absorption directly through thallus
8. Anchoring rhizoids analogous to holdfast of algae
9. Oogamous life cycle
10. Alternation of generations with dominant gametophyte
11. Protonema of the Hepatophyta resembles the filamentous green algae in
form
 Similarities with Plants
1. Terrestrial (amphibious)
2. All macroscopic, except for the protonema (young gametophyte)
3. Greater support mechanism in less dense medium of air
4. Greater level of development of the gametophyte with differentiated
epidermal layer
5. Tissues produced through activity of apical meristem
7. Development of water-absorbing rhizoids in more complex bryophytes
8. Multicellular gametangia with sterile, protective jacket of cells
9. Multicellular sporophyte, producing many more spores in sporogenous
tissue.
10. No zoospores produced
11. Meiospores with sporopollenin covering
12. Spore dispersal by wind and water
13. Some have many small chloroplasts per cell
 Importance of bryophytes
1. Bryophytes provide food for herbivores, birds and other animals
2. Bog mosses and peat mosses are used as water absorbing and
water retaining material in seed beds and green houses
3. They are also used as shock absorbing (packing) material for
shipment
4. Dead and decaying mosses form humus which increases fertility
of soil
5. Bioindicators of air, water pollution
7. Mineral indicators: Merceya and Mielichhoferia indicate high
levels of copper in soilsErosion control
8. Soil building
9. Soil mineral retention
 Importance of bryophytes
10. In Chinese traditional medicine ~40 kinds of bryophytes used to
treat illnesses of the cardiovascular system, tonsillitis, bronchitis,
tympanitis, cystitis, skin diseases and burns
11. Mosses (e.g. Polytrichum and Sphagnum) possess antimicrobial
substances
12. Anti-leukaemic activity has also been demonstrated in several
compounds from leafy liverworts
13. Wound dressing: great absorptive & adsorptive capacity
14. Peat reserves, e.g. Sphagnum used for:
Fuel
Electricity generation
Methane production
Horticulture
Water-holding medium
 Importance of bryophytes
14. Cushioning the foot and absorbing moisture and odours in hiking/work
boots
17. Tribal peoples make bedding, mattress, cushion and pillow material by
stuffing mosses into coarse linen sacksWaste water treatment
high adsorptive capacity
18. Source of activated charcoal
19. Insulation material
Construction
Appliances refrigerators
20. Synthetic construction material
Peatwood
Peatcrete
Peatfoam
Peatcork
 Bryophyte taxonomy
Traditionally all bryophytes were placed in a single phylum,
intermediate in position between algae and vascular
plants.
Modern cell ultra-structure and molecular analysis confirm
that bryophytes comprise three separate evolutionary
lineages
1. Liverworts: Phylum Hepatophyta or Marchantiophyta
2. Mosses: Phylum Bryophyta
3. Hornworts: Phylum Anthocerotophyta
 Phylum Hepatophyta

The simplest of the bryophytes

Thallus may be
Dorsiventrally flattened
Marchantia sp.
Leaf-like appendages on stem-like axis
Bazzania sp.
Lophocolea sp.
 Hepatophyta
Marchantia
Dorsiventrally flattened & dichotomously
branched
Deeply lobed
Central portion of each lobe has a midrib region
Tip of each lobe has an apical notch in which the
growing point is located
Dorsal (adaxial) surface of the thallus is
demarcated by polygonal areas (areolae) with a
raised pore in centre
 Dichotomously branched
lobes
apical notch

Liverwort with gemma cups on thallus

Hepatophyta

Bazzania sp.

Lophocolea sp.
 Hepatophyta
Epidermis
punctuated by simple raised
pores that are continuous
with air chambers of each
areola

lacks elaborate waterproofing

material
 Hepatophyta
Internally
upper photosynthetic region
consists of an air chamber,
from the floor of which
arise short, branched
filaments of small rounded
cells containing chloroplasts
lower storage / support
region
Cells lack chloroplast
Store starch and oils
 pore
chlorenchyma

air chamber

parenchyma

Starch grains
 Hepatophyta
unicellular rhizoids
found on the ventral surface
mostly for anchorage
(however peg rhizoids help
to conduct water).
 Bryophyte reproduction
Sexually:
Antheridia and archegonia produced by mitosis on
separate plants (dioecious)
Spherical or elongated antheridia
Sterile jacket of cells
Mass of sporogenous cells
Numerous biflagellated sperm cells
Flask-shaped archegonia
Sterile jacket of covering cells
Long neck canal
Basal venter in which the oogonium is produced
Zygote develops within & nurtured by fertilized archegonium into
a multicellular embryo (matrotrophy),
A Placenta connects the new sporophyte (embryo) to the parent
gametophyte through transfer cells
 LS moss
antheridium
 Ultrastructure of antheridia.
The antherocytes develop into biflagellate spermatozoids
 The archegonia
bear the egg cell
or oogonium.

At maturity the
canal cells
disintegrate and
give rise to a
mucus mass, in
preparation for the
arrival of the
sperm
 LS moss
archegonium
 Hepatophyta - Reproduction
Sexually
As the embryo develops the venter expands,
protecting the embryo by forming a calyptra
The sporophyte will be dependent on the
gametophyte for nutrition
When fully developed the new sporophyte is
organized into
Foot: anchors it to the gametophyte
Seta: stalk that supports the capsule
Capsule: the sporangium (contains sporogenous cells)
that produces the meiospores
LS moss sporophyte
 Meiospores
produced within
the sporangium
(sporophyte) by
meiosis from
sporogenous cells.
note the
sporopollenin walls
 Meiospores then germinate to give rise to the
protonema from which the thallus will develop
(cf. filamentous green algae)
 Hepatophyta - Reproduction
Asexually
Fragmentation
Gemmae: asexual spores (cf.
aplanospores of algae) produced in
gemma cups on the adaxial surface of
the thallus
 Gemma
cup
Gemmae

Thallus

rhizoid
 Life cycle of a bryophyte
n

A-O-G

Sperms

2n