Lesson 16: Investigating Characteristics of Plants

Discover plant secrets! Learn about vascular and nonvascular plants and their amazing parts.

Lesson 16: Investigating Characteristics of Plants You can understand more about plants by studying the differences between vascular and nonvascular plants.Vascular plants - have special tubes that move water, nutrients, and food around the plantXylem - the tubes in a vascular plant that move water and nutrientsPhloem- the tubes in a vascular plant that move food made by the plantNonvascular plants - plants that do not have special tubesPlants come in all shapes and sizes. You can classify the thousands of different plants into two major groups: vascular and nonvascular.Vascular plants have special tubes in their roots, stems, and leaves. These tubes move water, nutrients and food through the plant. They also help support the plant so it can grow taller. There are two types of vascular tubes. Xylemmoves water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves. Phloemmoves sugars and other food the plant has made to the rest of the plant. Vascular plants can be divided into different groups based on the way the reproduce.Ferns and horsetails are simplevascular plants. They do not produce seeds or flowers. They reproduce with spores. A spore is a tiny, round cell that can grow into a new plant. Spores are so small ad light that they can be carried by the wind. They are also often transported by water.Pines, spruces and firs are vascular plants called conifers. These plants usually have long, thin leaves called needles. Conifers produce seeds but do not have flowers. Conifer seeds develop into cones. Male cones produce pollen. The wind carries pollen to female cones, where it fertilizes egg cells to create seeds. Other than the cone, conifer seeds do not have a protective covering.Fruit trees, roses, grass, corn, oak trees, and most other trees and plants you see are floweringvascular plants. These plants have flowers that produce seeds. Wind, insects, or other animals carry pollen from the male part of a flower to the female part. After fertilization, a seed develops. Fruit or another kind of protective layer covers the seeds of flowering plants.Nonvascular plants do not have vascular tubes. In these plants, water, nutrients, and food move from cell to cell without the aid of xylem or phloem. Mosses and liverworts are nonvascular plants. They are very small and have no real leaves, stems, or roots. They live in damp or wet places and reproduce with spores. What is a vascular plant? What are xylem and phloem? What does each one do? What do conifer seeds develop? How is a nonvascular plant similar to a simple vascular plant? How are the blood vessels in your body like the tubes in vascular plants? How is a pine tree different from a dandelion? a pine tree is a vascular plant a pine tree has roots a pine tree has tubes A pine tree produces cones Which of the following is a nonvascular plant? moss fern fir grass In a vascular plant, water travels inside the - phloem xylem cell walls heartwood In an oak tree, tubes carrying the food and water are found in the - bark heartwood sapwood acorns