CHAPTER

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 Linnaeus’s artificial system of classification was based on the androecium structure.

These are based on natural affinities among organisms. E.g. Classification for flowering plants given by George
Bentham Goseph Dalton Hooker.

Other sources to resolve the problems in classification:

It is based on all observable characteristics. It is easily carried out using computers. Number & codes are assigned to
all the characters and the data are processed. Thus, hundreds of characters can be considered giving equal
importance.

O Cytotaxonomy : It is based on cytological information like chromosome number, structure, behaviour etc.
O Chemotaxonomy : It uses chemical constituents of plants.

Reproduction:
• Vegetative reproduction: By fragmentation. Each fragment develops into a thallus.
• Asexual reproduction: By the production of spores. E.g. zoospores (most common). They are flagellated (motile)
and on germination gives rise to new plants.
• Sexual reproduction: Through fusion of two gametes. It is many types:
i. Isogamous : Fusion of gametes similar in size. They may be flagellated (e.g. Chlamydomonas) or non flagellated
(non motile, e.g. Spirogyra).
ii. Anisogamous : Fusion of two gametes dissimilar in size. E.g. Some species of Chlamydomonas.
iii. Oogamous: Fusion between one large, non motile (static) female gamete and a smaller, motile male gamete. E.g.
Volvox, Fucus.

• Through photosynthesis, they fix half of the total CO2 on earth and increase the level of dissolved oxygen.
• They are primary producers and the basis of the food cycles of all aquatic animals.
• Many marine algae (70 species) are used as food. E.g. Porphyra, Laminaria and Sargassum.
• Agar (from Gelidium & Gracilaria) is used to grow microbes and in ice-creams and jellies.
• Some marine brown & red algae produce hydrocolloids (water holding substances). E.g. algin (brown algae) and
carrageen (red algae). These are used commercially.
• Algae include 3 classes: Chlorophyceae, Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae.

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 • They are usually grass green due to the pigments chlorophyll a and b in
chloroplasts.
• The chloroplasts may be discoid, plate like, reticulate, cup shaped, spiral or ribbon
shaped in different species.
• Most of them have one or more pyrenoids (storage bodies) located in the
chloroplasts Pyrenoids contain protein besides starch

• Vegetative reproduction: By fragmentation or by formation of different types of

spores.
• Asexual reproduction: By flagellate zoo spores produced in zoosporangia.
• Sexual reproduction: Isogamous, anisogamous or oogamous.

• They vary in colour from olive green to brown depending upon the amount of a
xanthophyll pigment, fucoxanthin.
• Food is stored as complex carbohydrates, which may be in the form of laminarin
or mannitol.
• The vegetative cells have a cellulosic wall usually covered on the outside by a
gelatinous coating of algin.
• Protoplast contains plastids, central vacuole and nucleus.
• Plant body is attached to substratum by a holdfast, and has a stalk (stipe) and
leaf like photosynthetic organ (frond).
• E.g. Ectocarpus, Dictyota, Laminaria, Sargassum & Fucus.

• Vegetative reproduction: By fragmentation.

• Asexual reproduction: By pear-shaped biflagellate zoospores (have 2 unequal
laterally attached flagella).
• Sexual reproduction: Isogamous, anisogamous or oogamous. Union of gametes
occurs in water or within the oogonium (oogamous species). Gametes are pear-
shaped (pyriform) bearing 2 laterally attached flagella.

• They have the red pigment, r-phycoerythrin.

• The red thalli of most of the red algae are multicellular.
• Some of them have complex body organisation.
• The food is stored as floridean starch which is very similar to amylopectin and
glycogen in structure.
• E.g. Polysiphonia, Porphyra, Gracilariaand, Gelidium

• Vegetative reproduction: By fragmentation.

• Asexual reproduction: By non-motile spores.
• Sexual reproduction: Oogamous. By non-motile gametes. It has complex post
fertilization developments.

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 Classes Chlorophyceae (Green algae) Phaeophyceae (brown algae) Rhodophyceae (Red algae)

Chlorophyll a, d,
M a j o r pigments Chlorophyll a, b Chlorophyll a, c, Fucoxanthin
Phycoerythrin

Stored food Starch Mannitol, laminarin Floridean Starch

Cell wall
Cellulose Cellulose and algin Cellulose
Flagellar number &

position of insertion 2-8, equal, apical 2, unequal, lateral Absent

Fresh water (some), salt
Fresh water, salt water Fresh water (rare), salt
Habitat water (most) & brackish
& brackish water water & brackish water
water

• They are called amphibians of the plant kingdom because they can live in soil but need water for sexual reproduction.
• Their body is more differentiated than that of algae. It is thallus like and prostrate or erect, and attached to the
substratum by unicellular or multicellular rhizoids.
• The main plant body is haploid. It produces gametes, hence is called a gametophyte.
• The sex organs in bryophytes are multicellular.
• The male sex organ (antheridium) produces biflagellate antherozoids. The female sex organ (archegonium) is flask
shaped and produces a single egg.
• Antherozoids are released into water where they come in contact with archegonium. An antherozoid fuses with the
egg to form zygote.
• Zygotes do not undergo meiosis immediately. They produce a multicellular body called a sporophyte.

• Some mosses provide food for herbaceous mammals, birds and other animals.
• Species of Sphagnum (a moss) provide peat. It is used as fuel. It has water holding capacity so that used as packing
material for trans shipment of living material.
• They have great ecological importance because of their important role in plant succession on bare rocks/soil.
• Mosses along with lichens decompose rocks making the substrate suitable for the growth of higher plants. Since
mosses form dense mats on the soil, they can prevent soil erosion.
• The bryophytes are divided into liverworts and mosses.

• Asexual reproduction: By fragmentation of thalli, or by the formation of

gemmae (sing. gemma). Gemmae are green, multicellular, asexual buds that
develop in small receptacles (gemma cups) on the thalli. Gemmae are
detached from the parent body and germinate to form new individuals.
• Sexual reproduction: Male and female sex organs are produced on the same
or different thalli. Sporophyte is differentiated into a foot, seta and capsule.
After meiosis, spores are produced within the capsule. These spores germinate
to form free-living gametophytes.

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 • The predominant stage of the life cycle of a moss is the gametophyte. It consists of two stages.
• Protonema stage: The first stage which develops directly from a spore. It is a creeping, green, branched and frequently
filamentous stage.
• Leafy stage: The second stage which develops from the secondary protonema as a lateral bud. They consist of upright,
slender axes bearing spirally arranged leaves. They are attached to soil through multicellular and branched rhizoids.
This stage bears the sex organs.
• Vegetative reproduction: By fragmentation and budding in the secondary protonema.
• Sexual reproduction: The antheridia & archegonia are produced at the apex of leafy shoots. After fertilisation, zygote
develops into a sporophyte, consisting of a foot, seta and capsule. The sporophyte in mosses is more elaborate than
that in liverworts. The capsule contains spores. Spores are formed after meiosis. Mosses have an elaborate mechanism
of spore dispersal.
• E.g. Funaria, Polytrichum and Sphagnum.

• They include horsetails and ferns.

• In bryophytes, the dominant phase in the life cycle is the gametophytic plant body. In pteridophytes, the main plant
body is a sporophyte which is differentiated into true root, stem and leaves. These organs possess well-
differentiated vascular tissues.
• The leaves in pteridophyta are small (microphylls) as in Selaginella or large (macrophylls) as inferns.
• The sporophytes bear sporangia that are subtended by leaf-like appendages called sporophylls. In some cases
sporophylls may form distinct compact structures called strobili or cones (Selaginella,Equisetum).
• Sporangia produce spores by meiosis in spore mother cells. The spores germinate to give rise to inconspicuous,
small, multicellular, free-living, mostly photosynthetic thalloid gametophytes called prothallus.
• The gametophytes bear male and female sex organs called antheridia and archegonia respectively.
• Water is needed for transfer of antherozoids (male gametes from antheridia) to the mouth of archegonium.
• Antherozoid fuses with the egg in the archegonium to form zygote.
• Zygote produces a multicellular well-differentiated sporophyte (dominant phase of pteridophytes).
• Most of the pteridophytes produce similar kinds of spores (homosporous plants). Others produce two kinds of
spores, macro & micro spores. They are heterosporous.
• E.g. Selaginella &Salvinia.
• The megaspores & microspores germinate and give rise to female and male gametophytes, respectively. The female
gametophytes are retained on the parent porophytes for variable periods.
• Within female gametophytes, zygotes develop into young embryos. This event is a precursor to the seed habit. It is
considered as an important step in evolution.
• The pteridophytes have 4 classes:
1. Psilopsida: E.g. Psilotum
2. Lycopsida: E.g. Selaginella, Lycopodium
3. Sphenopsida: E.g. Equisetum
4. Pteropsida: E.g. Dryopteris, Pteris, Adiantum

• Roots in some genera have fungal association in the form of mycorrhiza (E.g.Pinus).
• In plants like Cycas, small specialized roots (coralloid roots) are associated with N2-fixing cyanobacteria.
• Reproduction:
• Gymnosperms are heterosporous. They produce haploid microspores andmegaspores.
• Some leaves are modified into sporophylls. They are compactly and spirally arranged along an axis to form lax or
strobili or cones.
• Sorophylls bear sporangia in which spores are produced.

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 • Sporophylls are 2types:
• Microsporophylls: They are arranged to male strobili
(microsporangiate). They bear microsporangia.The microspores develop
into male gametophytes. It is highly reduced and confined to only a
limited number of cells. This gametophyte is called a pollen grain. The
pollen grains are developed within the microsporangia.
• Megasporophylls: They are arranged to female strobili
(macrosporangiate). They bear megasporangia(ovules).
• The male or female cones may be borne on the same tree (Pinus) or on
different trees(Cycas).
• Megasporangium mainly consists of a body called nucellus. It is protected
by envelopes.
• Megaspore mother cell undergoes meiosis to form four megaspores. One
of the megaspores enclosed within the Megasporangium (nucellus)
develops into a multicellular female gametophyte that bears two or more
archegonia.
• The multicellular female gametophyte is also retained within
megasporangium.

• Angiosperms are flowering plant

• Specialised structures are flowers
• Seeds are enclosed in fruits
• Ovary – develops into fruit
• Ovules – develop into seeds
• Double – fertilization is characteristic feature of angiosperms.
• Pollination occurs by insects, birds, water and wind

• Seeds having only two cotyledon

• Mustard, Pea, Beans

• Seeds having only one cotyledon • Grasses, wheat, Rice

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