He kingdom Plantae Is that group of living things that are commonly known as plants and / or plants. It is made up of approximately 260,000 species that are distributed in different classifications, such as woody plants, liverworts, mosses, ferns, herbaceous plants and shrubs.
Their way of life adapts to environments that are in the water and also in the earth, apart from being able to survive in extreme environments of heat and cold.
Therefore, the species of this kingdom are called plants or vegetables (Both terms are synonyms and can be used equally).
Generally, plants are divided into many biotypes that receive their classification according to their form.
They can also be classified according to other criteria that take into account their functioning, internal structure and other aspects that are inherent to these living beings, which are very complex in terms of their structure and internal functioning.
Given its great utility in various fields ranging from the medicine To biofuels, through cooking and textile products of plant origin, plants have been the subject of much study and consideration for centuries.
Both in the past and in the most recent times, the plants have a series of features that must be taken care of in order to correctly identify them and, consequently, to their use in which they are required.
Below is a list of ten characteristics of the kingdom Plantae Which are of vital importance when identifying some of their species.
Note that not all plants share the same traits because of their vast biodiversity, so it is possible that there are exceptions that do not invalidate the rule.
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Characteristics of the kingdom Plantae
1- Morphology
In general, plants are characterized by having three essential parts: the root, the stem and the leaf.
With the root, the plant is fixed to its substrate, which is commonly the soil, and absorbs the nutrients that come with water and also owns the land in which it is sown.
With the stem, the plant extends - usually upwards - and in its vascular tissue pass the organic fluids of the plant. With the leaves, the plant performs photosynthesis and respiration. In this sense, the Photosynthetic organisms Are essential for maintaining the planet's balance.
In this case you can put an example of a mango tree, in whose leaves the plant breathes and makes photosynthesis. Going further down is the trunk that carries the water and the nutrients that are absorbed by the root, which is buried underground.
The branches are but extensions of that trunk and within them is seen that vascular tissue through which flows that which gives life to the mango.
2- Growth
Plants grow by two factors: hormones and tropisms. Hormones comprise the most important mechanism for plants because they are the chemical components without which these living things would not exist.
In addition, they are also responsible for inhibiting the development of the stem when necessary and prevent the leaves, fruits and flowers from falling prematurely.
Hormones, therefore, serve as a biochemical means of regulation, as happens with animals.
On the other hand, the tropisms are those elements external to the plants that, together with the hormones, determine their growth.
In this way, plants have biological"clocks"that are properly timed to adjust to their flowering periods, wind and even gravity.
Of all tropisms, the best known is the response to light, in which the stem tends to grow towards that part of the environment from where there is more luminous stimulation.
3- Cell structure
An animal cell is not the same as a plant cell. The plant cell is internally very similar to the animal, but the former differs from the latter in that the former has cellulosic membrane, chloroplast, starch and vacuole.
This explains without a doubt why only plants are capable of carrying out photosynthesis and, above all, because they are living beings very self-sufficient in terms of their nutrition, growth and reproduction.
4- Life Cycle
Plants reproduce mainly through pollen, which can give rise to fertilization by two means; One, pollen travels in the wind, as in gymnosperms, and two, pollen can start a new plant by fertilization with pollinating animals, as in the case of angiosperms.
In addition, it should be noted that the life cycle of plants contemplates both mitosis and meiosis in terms of their cell division processes.
Of course, there are many plants that reproduce by themselves, but there are others that play the role of invaders, so they are classified as parasites.
This is often seen in weeds, or bad grass as it is known, because its life cycle needs plants from which it can absorb its water and nutrients to achieve its full development.
5- Sexuality
If there is something that distinguishes plants from other living things, it is their sexuality. This means that the kingdom Plantae Is full of specimens with patterns of unisexual, asexual, sexual or hermaphrodite reproduction.
These traits have much to do with their life cycle and their absence of locomotion (which is discussed in detail below), since that depends entirely on their survival and therefore the perpetuation of their species.
So when a plant is said to be unisexual it is because its flowers have male or female gametes, but they do not have both sexes in them.
If a plant reproduces asexually, it is because it does not use its flowers to procreate but other parts, like its tubers. A plant with sexual reproduction implies that it has spermatozoa that must be attached to the eggs. Generally, hermaphrodite plants have the two reproductive whorls, which are the androceus and the gynoecium.
6- Defense Mechanisms
Since plants can not move, they have no means to flee in the face of a threat. However, this does not mean that they have no way of counterattacking their potential predators or their unwanted guests.
To scare them away, plants can use chemical mechanisms that are, for example, in their flowers and fruits, so that they are not eaten, although they can also use the thorns of their stems and branches, such as roses.
7- Absence of locomotion
As specified above, specimens of the kingdom Plantae They are not able to move. This implies that their reproduction is not done through copulation in the style of more complex animals, such as mammals, but through passive methods such as wind pollination or pollinating animals such as bees.
Likewise, plants, given their null mobility of the substrate in which they are, can only be defended by the secretion of toxic substances or related media.
8- Autotrophic organism
Plants are autotrophic organisms; That is, they feed on their own without having to ingest or absorb what other living beings produce.
This means that plants obtain organic matter from inorganic substances; Of the carbon dioxide they obtain the carbon and of the light they obtain the typical chemical reactions of the photosynthesis that produce energy. Therefore, plants have a high level of autonomy.
9- Presence of chlorophyll
A unique feature that characterizes plants is that they have within them chlorophyll. With chlorophyll there are photosynthesis that would not be possible without the chloroplasts, which are within their cellular structure and allow the synthesis of sugars using only sunlight, water or carbon dioxide.
This explains why plants are autotrophic in terms of their diet; Its internal aspects are made to perform that kind of biochemical metabolism.
However, it is important to note that chlorophyll is not exclusive to plants, although it is mostly seen in plants. Chlorophyll is also present in certain species of bacteria where, in fact, there are chloroplasts.
10- Photosynthesis and respiration
While animals and the vast majority of organisms only breathe, plants do photosynthesis and breathing at the same time. This is possible because their morphology and cellular structure allows the specimens of the kingdom Plantae Get your energy and nutritious matter through both procedures.
As has been said, the main point at which plants do photosynthesis is the simple and straightforward reason they have chlorophyll.
The photosynthesis of the plants takes place during the day because it needs the sunlight to happen; Without the sun there is no stimulus of light and no light chloroplasts do not come into operation.
At night, instead, breathing occurs. In addition, oxygen is released into photosynthesis, while carbon dioxide is released into respiration. This serves as a basis not to suppose, but to assert categorically, that plants are the vegetable lungs of the planet.
References
- Allaby, Michael (2006). A Dictionary of Plant Sciences, 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Bailey, Jill (1999). The Penguin dictionary of plant sciences. London: Penguin Books.
- Canals, Rosa Maria; Peralta, Javier and Zubiri, Eduardo (2009). Botanical Glossary. Navarra, Spain: Public University of Navarra.
- Educastur (S / A). Plants with flower. Asturias, Spain: Ministry of Education and Science of the Government of the Principality of Asturias.
- Evans, Lloyd T. (1998). Feeding the Ten Billion; Plants and Population Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Project Biosphere (S / A). Classification of organisms. Madrid, Spain: Government of Spain, Ministry of Education.
- Watson, Leslie and Dallwitz, Michael J. (2016). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Beijing, China: The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany. Retrieved from delta-intkey.com.
- Weisz, Noah (2017). Plantae. Massachusetts, United States: Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved from eol.org.