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3.2: Seed Plants

  • Page ID
    74940
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    • 3.2.1: The Evolution of Seed Plants
    • 3.2.2: Gymnosperms- Plants with "Naked Seeds"
      The first plants to colonize land were most likely closely related to modern-day mosses (bryophytes) and are thought to have appeared about 500 million years ago. They were followed by liverworts (also bryophytes) and primitive vascular plants, the pterophytes, from which modern ferns are derived. The life cycle of bryophytes and pterophytes is characterized by the alternation of generations. The completion of the life cycle requires water, as the male gametes must swim to the female gametes.
    • 3.2.3: Angiosperms- The Flowering Plants
    • 3.2.4: Seeds
      Angiosperms are the flowering plants; most are terrestrial and all lack locomotion. This poses several problems. Gametes are delicate single cells. For two plants to cross fertilize, there must be a mechanism for the two gametes to reach each other safely. There must also be a mechanism to disperse their offspring far enough away from the parent so that they do not have to compete with the parent for light, water, and soil minerals. The functions of the flower solve both of these problems.
    • 3.2.5: Fruit
      Angiosperms are the flowering plants; most are terrestrial and all lack locomotion. This poses several problems. Gametes are delicate single cells. For two plants to cross fertilize, there must be a mechanism for the two gametes to reach each other safely. There must also be a mechanism to disperse their offspring far enough away from the parent so that they do not have to compete with the parent for light, water, and soil minerals. The functions of the flower solve both of these problems.


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