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Chapter 25
The Plant Kingdom: Flowering Plants
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Flowering plants
The two classes of flowering plants are the monocots and eudicots
The life cycle of flowering plants
A survey of 12 flowering plant families
The magnolia family includes ornamentals and timber trees
The walnut family provides nuts and wood for making furniture
The cactus family is important for its ornamentals
The mustard family contains many important food crops
Plants and People: The Medicinal Value of Flowering Plants
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
1. Summarize the features that distinguish flowering plants from gymnosperms.
2. Describe the ecological and economic significance of the flowering plants.
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7. Distinguish between basal angiosperms and core angiosperms.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. What distinguishes flowering plants from all other groups?
A. What structure contains the ovules?
B. What are the two classes of flowering plants?
C. What characteristics distinguish eudicots from monocots?
II. Describe the life cycle of angiosperms.
A. What is the nature of the gametophyte?
B. Review the structure of the flower.
F. How does double fertilization occur? What are the two products?
G. What is the fate of endosperm in most eudicots? In most monocots?
H. What are the functions of the fruit?
I. How are seeds produced without fertilization?
III. Why are flowering plants so successful?
A. What features of the reproductive process contribute to their success?
B. What features of their vascular tissues are an advantage?
C. What leaf modifications enhance their photosynthetic ability?
KEY TERMS
angiosperm, p. 486
apomixis, p. 492
economic botany, p. 487
embryo sac, p. 489
ovary, p. 486
ovule, p. 486
TEACHING TIPS
1. Take a short tour of the campus near your classroom. Point out features of the flowering
3. Use visual aids such as overheads to discuss the life cycle of flowering plants and double
fertilization. Compare it to the life cycle of gymnosperms.
5. Discuss the different adaptations in flowering plants for pollination. An excellent
resource is the classic book by Bastiaan J. D. Meeuse, The Story of Pollination, (1961,
6. Discuss the different adaptations in flowering plants for seed dispersal. Collect examples
of seeds with wings, barbs, and fluff. Geranium seeds have an appendage like a
corkscrew. Many grass seeds have stiff hairs pointing in one direction all over the
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7. Display vegetation maps showing the distribution of vegetation associations and point
8. The relationship between humans and food is always an interesting subject. All of the
major centers of early civilizations had a specific set of grains and legumes as the basis