I.  INTRODUCTION
Because they are the producers, plants are the most important organisms on Earth.  Almost all life depends on plants.  Today we study plant taxonomy, and their value as living organisms.  Land plants evolved from the primitive to the advanced (phyta = phylum), but a variety of primitive plants are still around (links are at course resources page):
1    Non-vascular: Hepaticophyta: liverworts and Anthocerophyta: hornworts
2    Very primitive soft vascular tissue (often grouped with 1) : Bryophyta: mosses
3    Vascular, no seeds: Pterophyta: ferns, Lycophyta: club mosses, Sphenophyta: horsetails & Psilophyta: whisk ferns
4    Naked seeds (Gymnosperms):  Coniferophyta, Cycadophyta: cycads, Gnetophyta: shrub teas & Ginkgophyta: ginkgo
5    Flowers / boxed seeds: Anthophyta or Angiosperms (flowering plants, both monocots & dicots).

During their evolution plants overcame the obstacles to living on most land surfaces.  Plants accomplished this through the evolution of roots, of vascular tissue, of a waterproof cuticle, and by protecting the male gamete (during transfer as pollen) from drying out.  Today you will meet some neat plants which have evolved to fit particular ecosystems in specific ways.

II.  OBJECTIVES    you should be able to:
Explain the differences between groups 1-5 above, and give examples of each
Explain the importance of the development of vascular tissue
Explain how ploidy (= haploid or diploid) can give you evolutionary information about plants
Explain how plant reproduction changed as plants evolved to live further away from water
Describe the specializations of certain plants

III    LAB WORK & MATERIALS
Look at the plants in the room.  They are grouped by where they fall on the evolutionary tree.  Using the plants and the usual resources (it is best to draw from specimens) find the characteristics of each group with examples.

1    Non-vascular: Hepaticophyta: liverworts and Anthocerophyta: hornworts
2    Very simple soft vascular (often grouped with 1) : Bryophyta: mosses

Give three examples, one from each phylum:

State the entire goup's characteristics,
 

What makes them different from each other?
 
 

Draw & name one  (how big / small, short / tall, complex / simple?)
 
 
 

What kind of environment are they found in?
 

How complex are their structures, explain?
 
 

How do they reproduce?
 
 
 

3    Vascular but no seeds: Pterophyta: ferns, Lycophyta: club mosses, Sphenophyta: horsetails & Psilophyta: whisk ferns

Group characteristics:
 
 

What do they look like? Draw and name one
(how big / small, short / tall, complex / simple?)
 
 
 

What kind of environments are they naturally found in?
 

How complex are their structures?
 
 

How do they reproduce?
 
 
 

What is vascular tissue?
 
 

Describe how is each phylum unique:
Pterophyta: ferns,
 

Lycophyta: club mosses,
 

Anthrophyta: horsetails
 

Psilophyta: whisk ferns
 
 

4    Gymnosperms (naked seeds, so what is a gymnasium?______________________):  Coniferophyta: conifers, Cycadophyta: cycads, Gnetophyta: shrub teas & Ginkgophyta: ginkgo tree!

Coniferophyta
Five examples:
 
 
 

Characteristics: How are these different from the other subclasses within Gymnospermae?
 
 
 

Typical environments where they are found
 
 
 

Cycadophyta
Two examples:
 
 

Characteristics: How are these different from the other Gymnospermae?
 
 

Typical environments where they are found
 
 
 

Ginkgophyta
One example:

How are they different from the other Gymnospermae?
 
 
 

Typical environments where they are found
 
 
 

5    Flowers & seeds: Anthophyta or Angiosperms (boxed seeds, thus angina means__________________? ): flowering plants, both monocots and dicots.

Ten! examples by both common and species names:
 
 
 

Unique characteristics:
 
 
 

How do they reproduce?  Is this more or less complex than Gymnosperms?
 
 
 

Any environment where they are not found?
 
 

Dicotyledonae! &  Monocotyledonae! (as the Romans might have said): Complete this table

.	arrangements of vascular bundles in roots and stems	Leaf vein pattern	Flower parts in multiples of 3, 4, or 5?	amount of endosperm in seed
Monocots 50,000 species	.	.	.	.
Dicots 225,000 species	.	.	.	..

INVESTIGATION
1    Name one plant found somewhere in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore that is specialized to live in an unusual environment.  Describe the plant's specializations.
 
 

2    What are the deciding factors that help us classify plants?  It might help if you phrase these as questions that would help you separate the categories.
 
 
 

3    What distinguishes a primitive plant from one considered to be more "evolved"?  Address each of the following topics:
Reproduction
 
 
 

Living conditions
 
 
 

Structure/ Anatomy
 
 
 

4    What are the two types of vascular tissue and what is the particular function of each type?
 
 

What are the two general functions of vascular tissue?
 
 

5    What are the two categories of seed plants?
 
 

Compare and contrast these two categories on at least two separate points.
 
 
 

6   Beyond the obvious (we'ed all be dead if there were no plants) describe importance of plants in the NW Indiana environment.  What roles do they play, here on campus and in other environments in this area?  How can their value be enhanced?  Write at least a page!