Leaving Cert Biology

NOTE: We’re in the process of adding the images back in to all notes pages – please check back soon!

Plants are:

• All multicellular
• All photosynthetic

Plants are divided into two groups:
1. Monocotyledonous
2. Dicotyledonous

• A cotyledon is an embryonic seed leaf.

During early development of the plant, cotyledons are used as a food source or for photosynthesis (depending on the type of plant).

Monocotyledonous plants have one embryonic seed leaf.
Dicotyledonous plants have two embryonic seed leaves.

Tissue types in flowering plants:
1. Dermal: outer covering – functions in protection, gas exchange or absorption of water and minerals (depending on its location).
2. Ground: makes up the bulk of the plant – functions in photosynthesis, storage or support (depending on its location).
3. Vascular: composed of xylem and phloem tissue – functions in water and mineral transport (xylem) and food transport (phloem).
4. Meristematic: develops into each of the above three types of tissue.

• Meristem: composed of unspecialised cells that are continuously dividing by mitosis.

Structure of the flowering plant

All plants are composed of a root system and shoot system.

Shoot system:

The shoot system consists of stem, branches, petioles, buds, leaves, flowers, seeds and fruits.
Functions include:

• Photosynthesis
• Support
• Transport
• Sexual reproduction
• Food storage
• Gas exchange

Stem:
Stem functions mainly in support and transport – but can function in photosynthesis (if it is herbaceous). The stem also functions in growth.
The stem is divided into nodes and internodes.

• Nodes are regions where branching occurs.
• Internodes are where no branching occurs.

Stems also have lenticels.

• Lenticels are small pores on a stem that function in gas exchange.

The structure of the stem differs between monocots and dicots.

Transverse sectional structure of stem in monocots:

Transverse sectional structure of the stem in dicots:

Longitudinal sectional structure of a dicot stem:

Leaf

• Thin organ with a large surface area.
• Organ that makes food.
• Contains the green pigment, chlorophyll.
• The outer dermal layer secretes a waxy cuticle to prevent excess water loss.
• Organ that also functions in transpiration.

Structure:

Leaf venation:
The veins on leaves are of two types:

Parallel:

• The veins run parallel, the entire length of the leaf; e.g. grass, tulip, daffodil.
• Most monocot plants have parallel venation.

Net/Reticulate:

• The veins spread out from a central vein called the midrib (see above).
• Most dicot plants have net or reticulate venation.

Internal leaf structure:

• The leaf contains many internal air spaces that gives greater surface area for gas exchange.
• The cells that make up the internal area contain many chloroplasts that carry out photosynthesis.
• The lower dermal layer has many pores, called stomata.
• Stomatal opening and closing is controlled by guard cells.

Flower arrangement between monocots and dicots

• Monocots have flower parts arranged in multiples of three.
• Dicots have flower parts arranged in multiples of four or five.

Bud

• Bud: undeveloped shoot

There are three types of bud:

1. Axillary bud: present at the axil of leaf (between the stem and the petiole).
2. Apical bud: present at the tip of the plant or the tip of a branch.
3. Adventitious bud: present in an unusual area of the plant – such as the stem, branch, root or even leaf.

Root system:
A network of underground branches that have various functions:

• Anchorage
• Absorbing water and minerals
• Transport of absorbed water and minerals to the shoot system
• Storage of food
• Support

Types of root system:

1. Tap root system: one main root growing downwards with small secondary roots; e.g. carrot, dandelion.
2. Fibrous root system: main roots of equal size; e.g. grass.
3. Adventitious root system: roots that grow in unusual places such as the stem or branches; e.g. bayan tree, ivy.

Root structure:
There are four zones of a young root.

1. Zone of protection: consists of a root cap, enabling the root to push its way through the ground.
2. Meristematic zone: consists of meristematic tissue that divides rapidly by mitosis, creating new root tissue.
3. Zone of elongation: area of the root affected by growth regulators, where the cells increase in size.
4. Zone of differentiation: area of the root where unspecialised cells start to become specialised, becoming ground, dermal and vascular tissues.

The transverse structure of a root is shown below:

Vascular system
The vascular system in a plant is composed of two types of tissue: xylem and phloem.Xylem:

• A dead tissue – there is no cytoplasm and no nuclei in xylem tissue.
• Contains lignin that gives the tissue high strength.
• Transports water and dissolved minerals upwards.
• Composed of two types of cell: tracheids (structure A in the diagram below) and vessels (structure B in the diagram below).

Phloem:

• A living tissue.
• Transports food (in the form of sucrose) upwards and downwards, depending on where food is needed.
• Composed of companion cells and phloem sieve tubes.

Mandatory Activity: to prepare and examine microscopically a transverse section of a dicot stem at 100x and 400x.

• Cut a section of stem from an internode of a herbaceous stem such as a geranium.
• Cut a triangular shaped slit along the length of a carrot and place the internode stem into the slit.
• Wet a backed blade and carefully cut (cutting away from fingers) a few sections through the stem and carrot (avoid wedge-shaped sections).
• Transfer the sections to a clock glass of water using a paint brush.
• Place a section on a glass slide with a drop of water (to prevent the section drying out).
• Carefully lower a glass coverslip from a 45º angle (this prevents the formation of air bubbles).
• View the section firstly under low magnification and then under high magnification.
• Make a sketch of each and label.