Anthophyta

Anthophyta
By: Reeyannah Quinto, Brandon Carter, Jalilah Smith & A'janae Lyles

What is Anthophyta?
Anthophyta are flowering plants, the group of plants that dominate the globe with more than 230,000 individual species. There are many plants in this particular phylum, but here are a few examples. There are Garlic Mustard, Ragweed, Corn Chamomile, Common Milkweed, and Butterfly Weed etc. Many flowering plants feature beautiful blooms. However, it may surprise you to learn that some -- like oak trees, ivy and grass -- do not resemble typical flowers yet also qualify as Anthophyta. One of the major classes of Anthophyta are "monocotyledons" or plants with one seed leaf to store food. Monocots include various grasses, palm trees, bamboo, agaves and orchids. The other major classes of Anthophyta, “dicotyledones,” have two seed-leaves to store food. Such plants include larger species like apple trees, magnolia trees, oak trees and cacti, and some are smaller species like sunflowers and pea plants. We ingest many dicots, including beans, coffee, melons, squash and strawberries.

How do you know if it is Anthophyta? What are some classes?
Anthophyta phylum branches off into three classes Bennettitales, Anagiosperms, and Gnetales. Bennettitales are an extinct species of seed plants that first appeared in the Triassic period. These seeded plants became extinct toward the end of the Cretaceous time period. Bennettitales are characterized by thick trunks and pinnately compound leaves. Anagiosperms are the most diverse group of land plants. They’re characteristics include flowers, endosperm within the seeds, and the production of fruits that contain the seeds. Gnetales are also known as Gnetophyta or gnetophytes. They consist of three genera of woody plants grouped in the gymnosperms. The living Gnetophyta consists of around 70 species across the three genera Gnetum, Welwitschia, and Ephedra. Gnetophytes differ from other gymnosperms. Anthophyta: is divided into two different classes known as Monocotyledons (monocots) and Dicotyledons (dicots). The monocots include grass, palm trees, corn, and orchids, these plants produce only one cotyledon. The dicots include apple trees, sunflowers, and peas, these plants have two cotyledons. Also monocots have vascular that bundle scattered while the dicots bundle in a ring.

How do plants work? What are the functions?
In a plant you can only be three things, a root, stem or leaf. Each of these play a very important role in the plant. A root is a part of the plant that attaches to the ground to support. Roots also are used to help nourish the plant with water and minerals that are gotten from the soil around the plant. A stem is a axes of a vascular plant. Stems hold, support and elevate the fruit, flower or bud of the plant. Stems also keep the leaves in the light so they can get the proper nutrition needed. Stems also transport fluids between the roots and the xylem and phloem; they also store nutrients for the plant to use later. The last thing stems are in charge of is that they produce new tissues and cells. The function of a leaf is to go through the process of photosynthesis and to go through cellular respiration. Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction where the plant turns light into food energy or glucose. The products of this process are oxygen, water and glucose. Cellular respiration is where glucose is taken and made into usable food energy for the plant. Phloem carries sugars from photosynthesis throughout the plant. The Phloem also contains specialized cells. Although unlike xylem cells phloem tissue is alive. Plants actively transport sugar from photosynthetic leafs. The sugar flows to the sink of the leaf roots of fruit due to pressure differences.

**What is a vascular system?** The plants within the Anthophyta phylum have vascular systems. A vascular system in a plant allows for the transport of water, minerals, and sugars. The water, minerals, and sugar are allowed to move through the plant because of xylems and phloem. Water and dissolved minerals move through xylem, which are located in roots. Xylem contains specialized cells; they are long and narrow, and the cells die at maturity. Once the water or minerals are dissolved they move the way up to the top of the plant. There they reach the top transpiration begins to take place. Transpiration is the loss of water vapor through leaves. This process helps pull water to the top branches of the plant.

Why is Anthophyta successful ?
Anthophyta is the largest and youngest phylum of plants and the one whose members dominate the vegetation of the modern world. As they evolved over time, they developed adaptations that made them ever more successful in the competition for a place in the sun. The success of the Anthophyta is not just that they have flowers but because they have a combination of other structural, developmental, and ecological features not found in other groups. Plants play a very huge role in our daily lives. Sometimes we don’t even realize what would happen if we didn't have them. Anthophyta is a phylum which contains many different types of plants, some being fruit bearing plants and others just being flowering ones. The biggest reason that we need plants is because they produce oxygen that all species need to survive. Though many other organisms produce oxygen the biggest producers are plants. Anthophyta also feed us fruits such as apples, bananas, coffee and many other things. Plants help nourish us, and keep us breathing healthy air. We need plants, they are our friends.

How do plants reproduce?
The reproduction of the phylum Anthophyta is very complicated, because there are so many classified species of “flowering” plants. These “flowers” all have reproductive organs that make it so the plants can reproduce. All flowering plants are made of several of the same parts some being: pedicel, sepals, carpel/pistil and stamen. The carpel/pistil is the female reproductive organ in a flower and the stamen is the male reproductive organ. Stamens are made up of long stalks which support the anther. The anther is what contains pollen grains which act as the plants sperm because they are haploid. The pistil/carpel is made of a stigma, ovary and style. The stigma is a sticky fluid that catches the pollen, the style holds up the stigma so it can be exposed to the pollen and the ovary contains an ovule which is where the embryo sac develops. In the embryo sac is where the egg is held and that is where the seed is developed. Plant hormones, which regulate plant physiological processes, fall into five major molecular classes: auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, and ethylene. Each has its own special function. Briefly, auxins promote elongation in shoot cells, gibberellins stimulate growth, break seed dormancy, and delay senescence, cytokinins stimulate cell division and release apical dominance, abscisic acid stimulates closure of stomates, inhibits shoot growth, and plays a role in pathogen defense, and ethylene stimulates fruit ripening, flower opening, flower and leaf senescence, and the release of dormancy. Some also suggest jasmonates, brassinosteroids, salicylates, and polyamines to be major groups. A hormone is any chemical produced in one part of the body that has a target elsewhere in the body. Plants have five classes of hormones. Animals, especially chordates, have a much larger number. Hormones and enzymes serve as control chemicals in multicellular organisms. One important aspect of this is the obtaining of food and/or nutrients.

What are the characteristics leaves in Anthophyta?
Paleobotany is the branch of botany that studies the plants that existed in former geologic periods, chiefly by studying fossils. A palmate leaf has a hand-like structure. It has more than three lobes that branch from a single point at the base of the leaf. A leaf with palmate venation has the main veins arising from a point at the base of the leaf. A leaf with parallel venation (also called longitudinal-striate venation) has its veins arranged almost parallel to one another. The peanut plant is a legume that is native to South America (it now grows around the world). The peanut plant grows to about 60 cm tall and has yellow flowers (1-2 cm long). The flower blooms for about half a day the petal is one of the leafy structures that comprise a flower. Petals are often brightly-colored and have many different shapes. They are located between the sepals and the flower's reproductive organs. Petrified wood is fossilized wood. Minerals seeped into buried logs, replacing the original tissues with rock. A leaf with pinnate venation has its veins arranged in pairs coming from a main central midrib vein. The pistil is the central set of female reproductive organs in a flower. The pistil is composed of one or more carpals and produces the ovule.

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