Plantae The Kingdom plantae can be defined as multicellular, autotrophic eukaryotes, which conduct photosynthesis. All member of this family comprises of true nucleus and advanced membrane bound organelles. They are quite different from animals. The Kingdom Plantae contains about 300,000 different species of plants. Among the five kingdoms, Kingdom plantae is a very important, as they are the source of food for all other living creatures present on planet earth, which depends on plants to survive.

Plantae

Reproduction in Kingdom Plantae

The species in Kingdom Plantae reproduce in a variety of methods. Some species reproduce sexual and others use asexual means. The kingdom also includes a variety of reproductive structures, such as seeds, pollen, sperm, cones, spores, flowers, and eggs. The ways plants spread their seeds is equally diverse. Plants may use wind, insects, of animals to disperse their seeds in their environment.

Asexual Reproduction:

This is a nonsexual form of reproduction in which an exact genetic copy of the parent is created. Examples include budding, fragmentation, gemmae production, and stolon production.

Picture of a gemmae cup. Some plants such as liverworts produce gemmae which are exact copies of the parent plant that produced them. These gemmae are held in cupules until rain water carry them away to a suitable location for growth.

Sexual Reproduction:

Active Reproduction is assisted by animals. A good example is seen with flowers and honey bees. As honey bees go from flower to flower collecting nectar, they carry pollen with them. This pollen is transferred from one flower to another, causing pollination. Pollination is the first step in reproduction. The honey bee is an example of an which is why it is an example of active reproduction.

This figure is showing a bee that is collecting nectar. Along with this nectar the bee will get some pollen which will likely fertilize another flower.

Passive Reproduction is not assisted by animals. Often instead the plant relies on the wind to carry pollen to reach and pollinate the other plants. Lots of grasses use passive reproduction and produce large amounts of wind blown pollen.

This figure is showing how the pollen grains from the Anther of one plant are carried passively by wind to the ovules of another plant on the plants Stigma.

Plantae

Plant Cell

Plantae

Interesting Facts about Kingdom Plantae

1. "Fruit" is a botanical term and "vegetable" is a culinary term, so certain vegetation such as tomatoes, green beans, eggplants, and cucumbers could be called either fruits or vegetables. 2. A herb is specifically from the leaf of a plant, and a spice is from the seed, berry, stem, bark, root or bulb. 3. Plants are capable of recognizing their siblings and will give them preferential treatment, competing less for valuable resources like root space than when surrounded by plants that are strangers. 4. One third of the plant life on the island of Socotra near Yemen can't be found anywhere else on Earth. It has been described as "most alien-looking place on Earth". 5. Scientists were able to revive a flowering plant from the fossilized fruit found in the stomach of an Arctic ground squirrel who was trapped in ice around 32,000 years ago. 6. Caffeine evolved as a natural insecticide. It paralyzes and kills insects that attempt to feed on the plants containing the chemical. 7. Native Americans planted corn, beans, and squash together because corn provides a structure for the beans to climb, beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants utilize, and the squash spreads along the ground preventing weeds. 8. The smell of freshly cut grass is actually a plant distress call. In fact, when some plants are being eaten by caterpillars, they send chemical signals to parasitic wasps who swarm and attack the caterpillars. 9. Mustard and wasabi aren't spicy until they are crushed. When the plant's cells are damaged, two otherwise harmless components mix and produce allyl isothiocyanate, the compound responsible for the familiar pungent taste. 10. The average tree is made up of 99% dead cells. The only living parts are the leaves, root tips, and phloem, which is a thin layer of under bark that acts as a food delivery system.