1 Name Date Classifying Plants
The Structure of Plants 2 3 main parts: 1. Roots- take in water and nutrients from the soil. 2. Stems- move water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves. 3. Leaves- capture the energy of sunlight and use it to make food for the plant All plants are producers they make their own food. Photosynthesis: the process by which plants use sunlight to make food. Plants take in water from the soil and carbon dioxide gas from the air. In the leaves, a green material called chlorophyll traps sunlight. The energy of sunlight changes water and carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen. Plants then use the sugar for food and release the oxygen into the air.
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Tubes or No Tubes 4 One way scientist classify plants is by if they have tubes or not. Vascular: means having tubes. o Tubes carry water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves. o Other tubes carry food from the leaves to the rest of the plant. o Examples: trees, grasses, and most garden plants. o Water in the tubes hold the plant upright and when the weather is dry, plants use up the water in their tubes, and then the plant wilts. Nonvascular : do not have tubes o Soak up water from the soil, like sponges. o Usually smaller than vascular plants. o Grow low to the ground because much of the plant must touch the soil. o Example: mosses and liverworts grow low to the ground in moist places like under rocks or the trunks of trees. They have tiny threads that hold the plants in place but these roots do not take up water.
Seeds or spores 5 Another way to classify plants is by how they reproduce, or make new living things of the same kind. Seeds Most plants you see reproduce from seeds. A seed is a plant part that contains a tiny new plant, or embryo. The seed protects the new plant and contains food to help it grow. Most vascular plants make seeds. Spores Some plants reproduce from spores. A spore is a plant cell that can grow into a new plant. Mosses, ferns, and other nonvascular plants reproduce from spores. Spores form on the leaves, or fronds, of ferns. When a spore drops off into the soil, it may grow into a new plant. Scientist divide seed plants into tow more large groups: plants with flowers and plants with cones. Most plants form seeds in parts of flowers, but some plants such as pine trees, make seeds in cones. Coniferous: Plants that form seeds in cones. They are also evergreens. They do not lose their leaves in the winter. o Ex. A pine tree: it s needle shaped leaves stay on the tree all year long. Decididuous: tree that l oses its leaves before winter.
Classifying Plants into Smaller Groups 6 Scientist divide the big groups of plants into smaller and smaller groups. All the plants in each group are more like each other than they are like other plants. They compare plants roots, stems and leaves. Leaves have many different shapes and sizes. The vein patterns in leaves are also different. Flowering plants have different kind of flowers and seeds. Flowers have different sizes, shapes, and colors. Poppy seeds are small, round, and black. Avocado seed is big, egg-shaped, and brown Scientist use these differences and others to classify plants.
Vocabulary Words to Know 7 1. Photosynthesis: the process by which plants use the energy of sunlight to make their own food. 2. Vascular plants: a plant that has tubes that carry water, nutrients, and food to different parts of the plant. 3. Nonvascular plant: a plant that does not have tubes. 4. Reproduce: to make more of one s own kind. 5. Seed: a plant part that contains a tiny new plant, or embryo. 6. Spore: a plant cell that can grow into a new plant. 7. Coniferous: having cones in which seeds form. 8. Deciduous: having leaves that fall off each year.
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