CHAPTER 1

• Contents
➢ Diversity among angiosperms
➢ Parts of a plant
➢ Diversity of plants
➢ Functions and modifications
➢ Summary

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 Angiosperms – Flowering Plants
• Parts of a Plant

❑ Underground Root – Main root – lateral root

❑ Aerial shoot system – Stem, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits

❖ Vegetative organs – Roots, Stem, Leaves

❖ Reproductive organs – Flowers, Fruits

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• Root
@ Non- green in color
@ grow beneath the surface of soil
@ Branched bearing numerous root hairs, actual absorbing organ of the root
• Stem
@ Aerial part, branches, bears leaves, flowers and fruits
@ Point from which leaf develop – node
@ Region between two successive node – internode
@ upper angle between leave and stem – axial
@ bud found in axil – axillary/lateral buds – lateral branch
@ tip of main stem/branches – terminal buds (elongation) 3
• Leaf

℗ Expended lateral outgrowth of the stem & arising from the node

℗ Possessing a bud in its axil

℗ leaf blade/lamina, slender stalk/petiole, two lateral outgrowth at the base

of the petiole/stipules

℗ Green - chlorophyl

• Flower

➢ Highly specialized branch for reproduction

• Fruit

✓ mature ovary of flower consisting fruit wall & enclosed one to many seeds

• Seed

§ fertilized and mature ovule, consisting of embryo, one/two cotyledons (seed leaves) and seed coat
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 Types of plants based on nature of stem and growth habit
o Tree – woody plant with one main trunk (e.g., mango, Kokko, kyun, thit-to, padauk, etc.,)

o Shrubs – medium-sized plant, many branches arising from the ground level

(Hibiscus khaung-yan, croton ywet-hla, rose hnin-si)

o Herbs – Soft stem (tomato kha-yan-chin, most grass, canna bode-dan-tharanan)

o Climbers – need support for them to grow upright (rattan kyein)

o Creepers – weak stem which trail on the ground or creep , creeper (grasses, strawberries)

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 Diversity among angiosperms
• Length of life

(1) annual – short-lived plant, produce flower and fruits within one growing season

(e.g. peas and beans)

(2) Biennials – live for 2 growing seasons, first – leafy shoot, second – flowers and fruits

(e.g. carrot “u-wah”, cabbage “gawbi-htoke”)

(3) Perennials – live for many years, aerial shoot persists and grow from year to year

(e.g. mango, padauk)

- underground system persists after all the leaves have withered and dried (thit-sa-pan)
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 Diversity among angiosperms

• Habitats

(1) Hydrophytes – live in water or wet soil (E.g. water lilies “kya”)

(2) Xerophytes – dry places (E.g. Cacti (kya-sha), Acacia species

“hsu-phyu, hta-naung)

(3) Mesophytes – grow intermediate between very dry and very

wet (E.g. peas, beans and tomatoes)

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 Diversity among angiosperms
• Mode of Nutrition

(1) Autophytes –manufacture own food

(2) Parasites – non-green plant lacking chlorophyll cannot manufacture their own food, have to
depend on other organisms for their nutrition (e.g. dodder “shwe-nwe:”)

(3) Saprophytes – live upon dead organic matter (e.g. fungi)

(4) Epiphytes – grow attached to other plants but do not obtain any food from them (e.g. orchids
“thit-kwa”)

(5) Insectivorous plants – obtain nourishment by feeding on insects

(e.g. sundew)
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 THE ROOT
• Tap root system - first root which develops from the radicle, primary root

- give rise to the main root of the plant and later becomes the tap root

- Branched of primary root are known as secondary or lateral roots

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 THE ROOT

• Fibrous roots –

• grow from any part of the plant body other than the radicle, adventitious
roots (E.g. sugarcane, bamboo, etc)

• Develop on stem and leaf cuttings

• Some monocotyledons, numerous slender roots of adventitious type

which are equal in size and grow from the base of the stem (E.g. grasses)

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 Regions of the root
• Root cap: Thimble-shaped root cap covers the tip of the root
: protects the delicate root tip from mechanical injury
: pushes its way through the soil
: growing tissue renews the root cap when worn out
• Region of cell division or meristematic region
: growing point of the root and lies just above the root cap
: Cells are dividing rapidly in this region

• Region of cell elongation: Lies above the region of cell division

: Cells in this region undergo enlargement particularly in length
• Region of maturation or differentiation:

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 Regions of the root
• Region of maturation or differentiation
: enlarged cell differentiated into various tissue of the
primary root
: upper portion – produce numerous fine and thread-like
structures – root hairs
: Root grow, older hairs die off and replace by new ones
: Root hairs intermingling with the soil particles keep the soil
firm around the roots and reduce erosion by wind and rain

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 Modified roots
• Preform various functions in addition to their normal ones

• Modified tap root: Tap root of biennials and perennial become thick and fleshy due to the storage
of food

: Various shape (E.g. carrot “U-wah”, radish “mon-la-u”, sugar beet “u-ni”)

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 Modified roots
• Modified Adventitious Roots
❖ Prop roots : Banyan tree produce numerous aerial roots which grow downwards until they strike
the soil
: Before they reach the soil, drop roots
: Reach the soil, prop roots – serve to support the spreading branches

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 Modified roots
• Modified Adventitious Roots
❖ Climbing roots : Weak stem produce adventitious roots from nodes and often from internodes
: Give support to the climbing stem (E.g. betel “kun”)

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 Modified roots
• Modified Adventitious Roots
❖ Respiratory roots : Aquatic plant, Jussiaea “ye-ka-nyut” consists of two types of adventitious
roots produced from nodes of floating branches, hang down in the water
: Respiratory roots/ pneumatophores which stay above the surface of water
: White, soft and spongy and serve to store air and help in respiration

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 Modified roots
• Modified Adventitious Roots
❖ Sucking roots or Haustoria
: Parasitic plant produce certain special roots that penetrate into the tissue of the host plant and
absorb food and water from it (E.g. dodder “shwe-nwe”, Loranthus “kyee-paung”)

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 Function of the roots
• Anchorage : anchor the plant firmly in the soil
• Absorption : absorb water and minerals from the soil
• Food storage : storage a certain amount of food
• Economic importance : food and drug
: medicinal importance
(carrot and radish – eaten raw or cooked, beet root source of sugar)

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 THE STEM

• Develop from the plumule of the embryo

• Produce leaves and flowers

• A young stem with its leaves – shoot

• All the stem , branches, and leaves of a plant constitute its

shoot system

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 Modified stem
Stem are normally slender and upright

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 Underground Stem Modification
❖ Rhizome – Fleshy, horizontal stem, growing at or beneath the surface of the soil
- Stores food
- has distinct nodes with scale leaves enclosing the bud

• parallel to the ground, the upper portion - scaly leaves, the bottom portion - adventitious roots and contain,
nodes, internodes and buds, store food
Examples: Ginger, turmeric., banana - rootstock, which is rhizome growing vertically.
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 Underground Stem Modification
❖ Tuber - swollen tip of a special underground branch
- Store food and grows either obliquely or more or less horizontally
- A number of buds or eyes on the surface of the tuber
1.terminal of the stem is fleshy and stores food. The
stem contains nodes and internodes but due to
swelling, they are not very distinct. Presence of scaly
leaves at nodes can be seen as eyes or
scars.Examples: Potato, Artichokes pe-poe thee)

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 Modified stem
❖ Runner : stem of creeping plant

: Grow horizontally along the surface of the ground, and has long internodes
: the node encounter the soil, produce adventitious roots (E.g. Grass, Strawberry)

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Bulb – Stem is reduced and surrounded by scale leaves

Examples: Tulips, Lilies, Daffodils, Onion, Garlic

Corm – It is a short upright stem, covered with scaly leaves

Examples: Colocasia, Saffron (kaon-ka-man)

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 Modified stem
❖ Twiner : weak stem twine around the support to climb higher and expose the leaves favourably
to light (E.g., Ipomoea “ka-zun”)

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 Modified Stem
❖ Tendril climber – Spirally coiled structures ( tendrils) of cucurbits twine around the support
- keep it erect
- expose the leaves favourably to light

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 Modified stem
• Phylloclade – stems are flattened, green and become leaf-like in appearance
- Perform both the functions of leaves and stems ( E.g., cactus)

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 Function of the stem
• Support : (a) main trunk the support the whole plant
(b) branches that bear leaves, flowers, fruits and emergences
• Conduction : conduct water from the root to all the aerial parts
: conduct food manufactured by the leaves to the other parts of the plant
• Economic importance : medicinal importance
: Bamboo, Kayin, Pyin-ka-doe, sugarcane – sugar, Rubber

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 Parts of a leaf

❑ various types of leaf form for functions other than food

manufacture

❑ Cotyledons/seed leaves of the seeds, scale leaves/ bracts and

flora leaves of the reproductive shoot

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 THE LEAF
❑ Three main parts ( E.g., Hibiscus)

❑ Leaf blade or lamina – expended portion, green, thin,

flat, network of veins on it

❑ Petiole – stalk, connect limina with the stem, cylindrical

or flattened

❑ Stipules – lateral outgrowth one on each side of the

petiole base, to protect the leaf when young, to protect
the bud in its axil

❑Vary greatly in shape and size

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 Venation

❑ Arrangement of veins on a leaf surface

❑ Two types:

(1) Unicostate or pinnate venation

- veins originate from single distinct midrib, continuation of petiole into the lamina

- Leaves of dicots (e.g., mango, ponna-yeik, jasmine “sa-be) have unicostate and reticulate (netted)

- leaves of monocots (e.g., canna, banana) have unicostate and parallel venation
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 Venation
(2) Multicostate or palmate venation

- 3 or more equally prominent veins, which extend from the lamina base

- (e.g., Urena “kat-say-ne), palm “htan”)

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 Modified Leaves
❑ Have specialized functions in addition to their chief one of photosynthesis

₰ False trunk or supporting leaf sheaths

- Leaf bases transform into leaf sheaths

- Greatly elongated, expended and overlap

one another to produce false trunk

- (e.g., Banana)

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 Modified Leaves
₰ Buoyancy by leaf floats

- Petiole are swollen and spongy, consisting

of numerous air spaces which makes the
plants lighter and enables them to float on
water

- (E.g., hyacinth “beda”)

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 Modified Leaves
₰ Insectivorous or carnivorous plants – obtain part of their nitrogen food by catching insects in
various ways by means of modified leaves and afterwards absorbing the soft part of the insect

₰ (E.g., pitcher plant “ye-ta-gaung”, sundew “nay-hnin-pauk”, venous-fly-trap and bladder-wort)

(a) Pitcher plant (Nepenthes)

- Leaves are modified in pitchers which are borne on

long tendrillar, leaf like petiole

- Petioles are flattened and laminar in structure

while the leaf blade becomes modified into
pitchers with lids
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 Modified Leaves

(b) Sundew

- Glandular hairs cover the upper surface

of the leaf

- (E.g., Drosera “sundew”)

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 Modified Leaves

(c) Venus flytrap

- The leaf blade of Dionaea consists of two

halves

- each of which has three bristle like sensitive

hairs on the upper surface and long strong
spines on the margins of the leaves

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 Modified Leaves
(d) Bladder-wort

- Floating aquatic plant, Utricularia, common in pond and flooded paddy fields

- Consists of greatly segmented leaves, segments are modified into bladders

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 Modified Leaves

₰ Bryophyllum – Leaf with crenated margins sown

in moist soil produces adventitious
roots from each crenated area from
which develop a new shoot

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 Modified Leaves
₰ Water storage leaves – The plant which grow in dry regions have thickened leaves

- These leaves are able to store water

- (E.g., Sansevieria “sin-swe-gamon”

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 Modified Leaves
₰ Food storage leaves – The leaves of onion bulb arise from the upper part of the condensed underground stem

- The outer scale leaves are dry, and they prevent loss of water from the bulb

- The inner scales are fleshy as they store food and water while adventitious roots emerge
from the base of the stem

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 Function of the Leaves
• Food manufacturer : manufacture food from CO2 and H2O2 with the help of chlorophyll using
radiant energy of the sun (photosynthesis)
• Exchange of gases : CO2 and O2 through opening of the leaves called stomata
• Respiration : convert the potential energy stored in food to kinetic energy for various
physiological processes
• Transpiration : Loss of water form the surface of the plant
• Economic importance : vegetables (cabbage, chin-baung, kin-mon-ywet)
: economically and medicinal importance

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 Summary
• Two main parts (1) Aerial shoot system (stem, branches, leaves, flowers & fruits)
(2) Underground root system (tap root system & fibrous root system)

Radicle Any part of the plant body

• 4 regions of the root (1) Root cap

(2) Region of cell division or meristematic region
(3) Region of cell elongation
(4) Region of maturation or differentiation
• Root, stem and leaves perform various functions in addition to their normal ones

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 Modified Tap root Carrot, Radish, Sugar beet

Modified root
Prop root (Banyan tree), Climbing root (Betel), Respiratory root
Modified Adventitious root
(Jussiaea), Sucking rootor Haustoria ( Dodder)

Runner (Strawberry), Twiner (Ipomoea), Tendril climber (Cucurbit), Rhizome (Ginger),

Modified stem
Tuber (Potato), Phylloclade (Cactus)

False trunk or supporting leave sheath (banana)

Buoyancy by leaf float (hyacinth)

Insectivorous or carnivorous plants Pitcher plant, Sundew, Venus flytrap, Bladder-wort

Modified
leave
Bryophyllum

Water storage leaves Sansevieria

Food storage leaves Onion

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