Traditional 5 Kingdom System

(Whittaker 1969)

EUKARYOTIC

PROKARYOTIC
 Biological Classification*
Kingdom Major Characteristics
Monera • Prokaryotic (lack nucleus)
• Unicellular

Protista • Eukaryotic (have nucleus)

• Mostly unicellular (many exceptions)

Animalia • Eukaryotic, multicellular

• Lack cell walls
• Heterotrophic, internal digestion

Fungi • Eukaryotic, most are multicellular

• Cell walls with chitin
• Heterotrophic, external digestion
• Saprobes (decomposers), pathogens

Plantae • Eukaryotic, multicellular

• Cell walls with cellulose
• Autotrophic, contain chlorophyll
*Whittaker (1969)
The Three Domain System
What defines a plant?

• Photosynthesis
• Non-motility
• Cell walls
• Growth as behavior
• Long-distance reproduction
• Alternation of generations
Alternation of Generations
The plant life cycle has both haploid and diploid stages.
Alternation of Generations
The plant life cycle has both haploid and diploid stages.
Major Evolutionary Lineages of the Plant Kingdom
 Green algae are photosynthetic
eukaryotes, ancestors to land plants
Chlorophytes Charophytes

Ostreococcus
tauri

Volvox spp
10 μm
Chara braunii
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Bryophytes are “non-vascular” plants

Liverworts Mosses (~12,000 Hornworts (~200 species)

(~7000 species) species) Vascular plants

Green algae

Land plants (450 mya)

 Tracheophytes are vascular plants

Lycophytes Ferns Gymnosperms Angiosperms

(~ 1200 species) (~ 13,000 species) (~ 1000 species) (~ 250,000 species)

Bryophytes

Seeds
Vascular tissue (400 mya) (350 mya)
Angiosperms: The Largest Group of Plants
 Angiosperms - Flowering Plants

• Most abundant group of plants

• Over 300 families; 250,000 species

• Extreme diversity of form and habit

• Woody and herbaceous species
• Deciduous and evergreen species

• Reproduction is unique!
• Flowers (attract pollinators)
• Ovaries (contain seeds)
• Fruits (disperse seeds)

• Evolutionary success due to adaptive coevolution

with pollinators (mainly insects) and agents of fruit
dispersal (mainly mammals)
 Taxonomic Hierarchy
CATEGORY
1. Kingdom Plantae
2. Phylum Angiosperms
3. Class Dicotyledons
4. Order Asterales
5. Family Asteraceae
6. Genus Helianthus
7. Species Helianthus annus

King Philip Came Over For Good Soup

Use this mnemonic to help remember the taxonomic hierarchy.
 Familiar Families of Flowering Plants

Sunflower Family - Asteraceae

Lily Family - Liliaceae
19,000 species
6500 species

Grass Family
Poaceae
10,000 species
Mint Family - Lamiaceae
3,500 species
Angiosperms Contain Two Major
Classes: Monocots and Dicots