Karthikeyan

🌿 Ferns

General Features

• Ferns are land plants with:

  • Well-developed roots, stems, and leaves

  • Structures similar to flowering plants

Stem and Roots

• Stem is usually underground

• In bracken, the stem grows horizontally below ground

• Roots grow directly from the stem

Transport Tissues

• Have water-conducting cells and sieve tubes

• Similar in function to xylem and phloem

Leaves

• Leaves vary between species

• Always:

  • Several cells thick

  • Have upper & lower epidermis

  • Contain palisade mesophyll and spongy mesophyll

• Similar internal structure to flowering plant leaves

Reproduction

• Do not produce seeds

• Produce gametes

• Zygote develops into a fern plant

• Fern plant produces single-celled spores

• Spores formed in sporangia (spore capsules)

• Sporangia:

  • Found on the lower surface of leaves

  • Arranged in compact groups

🌸 Flowering Plants

General Features

• Reproduce by seeds

• Seeds are formed in flowers

• Seeds are enclosed in an ovary

Classification

Flowering plants are divided into:

1. Monocotyledons (Monocots)

2. Dicotyledons (Dicots)

🌱 Monocotyledons (Monocots)

• Seed has one cotyledon

• Cotyledon = embryonic leaf (often stores food)

• Leaves are usually:

  • Long and narrow

  • Have parallel veins

• Examples:

  • Grasses

  • Daffodils

  • Bluebells

🌿 Dicotyledons (Dicots)

• Seed has two cotyledons

• Leaves are usually:

  • Broad

  • Veins form a branching network