Angiosperms

Question 1

what are angiosperms?

Answer 1

flowering plants

Question 2

when did angiosperms evolve?

Answer 2

bennettitales
225-56mya
Look like cycads but have flowers
Reproductive structures are condensed shoots of sterile bracts with highly modified male and female sporophylls—features similar to the highly condensed flowers of angiosperms
Ancestral lineage of angiosperms

Question 3

fossil evidence of pollen

Answer 3

140 mya
Israel, morocco, Britain
Pollen wall with tectum and columella layer suggesting it is angiosperm pollen

Question 4

what are monocots?

Answer 4

• Flower parts often in 3s
• Venation often parallel in leaves
• Very diverse: tiny or herbaceous or woody forms or tree forms

Question 5

description of orchidaceae

Answer 5

Orchids
25,000 species (largest angiosperm family)
Largely tropical but not all
Flowers often with distinct labellum, androecium and gynoecium fused in column

Question 6

reproduction of orchidaceae

Answer 6

Often with highly specialised interactions with pollinators eg. Labellum can mimic females of bee species (colour, feel and smell) and are pollinated by males trying to mate
Pollen in the column

Question 7

economic importance of orchidaceae

Answer 7

Oncidium is an important horticultural group
Vanilla

Question 8

what are poaceae? how do they reproduce? why are they econimically important?

Answer 8

• grasses
• wind pollination
• rice, wheat, maize

Question 9

what are the monocots?

Answer 9

orchidaceae and poaceae

Question 10

what are the eudicots?

Answer 10

• ranunculales, proteales, rosids and asterids

Question 11

what are ranunculales?

Answer 11

• Important horticultural plants
• Poison darts
• Poppy seeds and opium

Question 12

what are the proteales?

Answer 12

• Gondwana distribution
• Grevilleoideae such as banksias (paired flowers)
• Secondary pollen presentation by stigmas
• Pollinated by vertebrates
• Protea

Question 13

what are the rosids?

Answer 13

flowers with distinct parts like fabaceae, rosaceae, mrytaceae and brassicaceae

Question 14

fabaceae

Answer 14

• Nearly 10% of all eudicots
• Herbs, shrubs, trees, vines
• Often with root nodules harbouring N-fixing bacteria
• Economically important: legumes, clover

Acacia:
True acacias are in Australia and nearby

Question 15

rosaceae

Answer 15

• 3000 species, mostly woody, abundant in N hemisphere
• Apples, pears, cherries and many other fruits

Question 16

myrtaceae

Answer 16

• Trees and shrubs, mostly tropical and temperature species
• Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora (all eucalypts)

Question 17

brassicaceae

Answer 17

• Flowers with distinct cruciform pattern
• mustard family, kale, broccoli, turnips, radishes, canola
• Pungent compounds

Question 18

what are the asterids?

Answer 18

flowers with fused petals, often with epipetalous stamens
- solanaceae
- laminaceae
- campanulacea
- asteraceae

Question 19

solanaceae

Answer 19

• Potatoes and tomatoes and tobacco
• Flowers mostly corolla forming a wheel or funnel
• Calyx may be persistent on fruit
• Many species with poisonous alkaloids

Question 20

laminaceae

Answer 20

• Most members have flowers with 2 + 3 corollas forming two opposing lobes
• Mint family, herbs, lavender

Question 21

campanulaceae

Answer 21

• Widely distributed
• Stamens fused or nearly so, often forming a tube around the style
• Plunger pollination is common: pushes pollen out of the tube

Question 22

asteraceae

Answer 22

• Largest eudicot family
• Composite: daisies, everlastings
• Composites are not single flowers but a cluster of flowers
• Sunflowers and weed species like dandelions

Question 23

describe the angiosperm divergence

Answer 23

• A whole genome-duplication underlies the radiation of angiosperms: provided evolutionary opportunities
• Occurred in carboniferous