1-3 Flashcards
What are fibers in plants?
The tissue of plants from the
stem, leaves seeds, or roots.
By using these fibres, we are
able to use plants for much
more than just food
What are the 5 main purposes of plants?
Food
Fibre
Medicine
Transportation and Construction
Fuel
What do plants produce?
Plants produce the oxygen
that living things require in
order to survive, in addition
to using up the carbon
dioxide that is polluted
into our atmosphere.
What are the 7 main crops?
Wheat
Rice
Maize (corn)
Potatoes
Barley
Cassava
Sorghum
How do we get sugar?
Almost half of the world’s
sugar comes from sugar
beets
These are grown around the
world, in places like Russia,
France, Germany, Poland,
and the US
The sugar is found in the
roots of the plant.
The roots are shredded and
then heated in running
water
A clear liquid remains,
which is concentrated and
crystallized to make sugar
What are the 3 main types of fiber we use?
Cotton, hemp, and flax
What is a taproot?
A taproot system is one single, predominant root, with numerous small roots coming out of it.
These smaller roots are covered in tiny root hairs
The tiny root hairs increase the ability to the plant to absorb water and nutrients from the soil
What are the functions of a stem?
Transport the water and nutrients from the root of the plant to the leaves
Support the leaves to ensure they have adequate light, which the plant needs to produce food (this is why most stems are above ground)
Store food for the plant that the leaves have produced. Food for the plant is usually stored as either starch (like in potatoes), or as sugar (like in sugar cane)
What are runners?
Plants (like strawberry plants) sometimes have a horizontal stem that grows along the topsoil. From various spots along this runner, roots will grow
What are corms?
Corms are underground stems. Crocus and gladioli grow from corms
What are rhizomes?
Cattails have fleshy, horizontal stems called rhizomes, which enable them to spread underground. They differ from runners because rhizomes are usually found with fibrous systems
What are cacti?
Cacti, like the prickly pear, have flattened stems, which enable them to turn away from the sun in order to retain their water
What are the parts of a tree trunk?
Heartwood – dead wood at the center of the trunk – gives the tree its strength
Xylem – carries water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves. As new layers are made, old ones die and become heartwood
Cambium – the growing part of the trunk (the part where you would count the rings to find out how old the tree is). Each year cambium produces new xylem and phloem
Phloem – The layer of cells that carry sugars from the leaves to the rest of the tree. When these cells die, they become bark
Bark – Protects the tree from drying out, and insulates the tree
How does photosynthesis work?
During warm months, a pigment called chlorophyll make leaves green
Most of the chlorophyll is in the top of the leaves.
Leaves combine carbon dioxide (from the air) and water to create sugar, which is stored for energy.
The Carbon dioxide enters the plants through tiny holes called stomata or stoma, Because leaves usually have more stomata on the lower surface, more carbon dioxide reaches the spaces in the spongy layer and water is stored there.
What is diffusion?
The tendency of particles in a gas or liquid to become evenly distributed by moving from areas of greater concentration to lesser concentration. The particles spread until they are evenly dispersed
What is osmosis?
Is the diffusion of water through a semipermeable membrane (also called differentially permeable)
What is a Semi (differentially) permeable membrane?
a barrier that only allows certain types of particles to pass through it
What is respiration?
the process by which plants release carbon dioxide and let oxygen into their cells. Guard cells, which are on each stoma, control the size of the stomata’s opening and regulate the gas intake and release
What is transpiration?
The loss of water from a plant through evaporation (open stoma). When guard cells lose water, they relax and the stoma closes.
What is selective breeding?
Selective breeding means that people choose specific plants
with particular characteristics and encourage these plants to reproduce.
What characteristics are plants bred for?
- their ability to withstand certain environmental conditions
(hardiness) - how much food they produce (yield)
- their resistance to disease
- their appearance
What is genetic modeling?
Scientists can change plants by going inside an
individual plant cell and modify some of its material, by
removing parts of the cell that control particular
characteristics.
This genetic material ( genes of the plant ) can then
be combined with genetic material from another plant
to create a new plant - having characteristics from
both plants. This process is called genetic modification,
or genetic engineering.
How does asexual reproduction in plants work?
Plants can reproduce in two very different ways. Sexual
reproduction involves the production of seeds and fruits
from specialized cells of two plants. Asexual, or vegetative
reproduction, occurs when a ‘parent’ plant grows new
plants from its roots, stems, or leaves.
In asexual reproduction, the new plant will be identical to
the parent plant
What are the 4 types of the traditional vegetative reproduction?
Cuttings are when a small
section of leaf and stem
that have been cut from
the parent plant grow into
an identical plant
Runners are the stem
system that grows on
ground, which will allow
for multiple stems to
sprout from the same
parent plant
In grafting, one type of
plant is attached to
another, which, in time,
will share nutrients and
allow the new tree branch
to become part of the
main tree
Sometimes, buds will form
on the parent plant, which
will later break off and
develop their own root
system.
