Biology 1A Nov 5, 1998
Lecture 19 - Pteridophytes
Page Contents :
Reading Assignment:
Overview of Lecture:
Vascular plants evolved in the Late Silurian.
The first vascular plants had a pteridophyte life cycle.
Ferns are the most common pteridophytes today.
Lycophytes, horsetails, and whisk ferns are also pteriodphytes.
Overview of Lab:
(A bullet indicates a handout.)
- Pteridophytes.
Lecture Outline:
I. Vascular plants evolved in the Late Silurian.
II. The first vascular plants had a pteridophyte life cycle.
III. Ferns are the most common pteridophytes today.
IV. Lycophytes, horsetails, and whisk ferns are also pteridophytes.
Vocabulary:
adventitious roots fiddlehead Psilotum
annulus heterospory pteridophyte
bryophyte hygroscopic rhizome
coal indusium Rhynie Chert
dichotomous leptosporangium rhyniophyte
dioicous lignin silica
elaters Lycophyta siphonostele
embryophyte megaphyll sorus
enation microphyll Sphenophyta
endodermis polysporangiate sporophyll
Equisetum prothallium strobilus
eusporangium protostele vascular plants
fern Psilotophyta whorled
Study Questions:
- When did plants first appear on land? When did vascular plants first appear?
- Why are the chert beds of Rhynie, Scotland, so important for understanding the evolution of plants?
- Describe the external morphology and internal anatomy of a rhyniophyte. How do rhyniophytes differ from typical pteridophytes such as ferns? How do rhyniophytes differ from bryophytes?
- How many times have leaves evolved in vascular plants? What are the major kinds of leaves?
- Are bryophytes monophyletic, paraphyletic, or polyphyletic? What about pteridophytes? embryophytes? vascular plants?
- What is a "pteridophyte"? How is a pteridophyte life cycle different from that of bryophytes? from that of seed plants?
- What is a prothallium? Which plants have one? What is its ploidy?
- Where does a pteridophyte embryo develop? How does this compare to bryophytes?
- What is a sporophyll? What is its function? How do the sporophylls of ferns and lycophytes differ? How are they similar? What is a cone-like cluster of sporophylls called?
- Why is it a bad idea to eat fiddleheads from some ferns?
- How is the mosquito fern used in rice farming?
- Describe the external morphology and internal anatomy of a typical fern stem. Where do ferns produce roots? What are the largest organs of a fern?
- Explain the difference between a eusporangium and a leptosporangium. Which one is found only in ferns? Which is found in most other vascular plants?
- What term describes a cluster of sporangia on a fern leaf? What is an indusium, and what is its function?
- How do ferns disperse their spores? What structure does this, and where is it found?
- How can you tell that a club moss is NOT a moss? What kind of plant is it?
- What is a strobilus? Which groups of pteridophytes produce them?
- Which pteridophytes are heterosporous? What does this mean? Is a species is heterosporous, does it have to be dioicous? If it is dioicous, does it have to be heterosporous?
- Describe the phyllotaxy in a horsetail.
- What makes horsetails rough to the touch? How is this useful for humans? How might it be useful to the horsetail?
- Which hygroscopic structure controls water loss through the epidermis? Which disperses liverwort spores? moss spores? fern spores? horsetail spores?
- In what ways is Psilotum different from other pteridophytes? Why is it considered to be a pteridophyte?
- In what ways is Psilotum similar to a rhyniophyte?
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