What do angiosperms eat

Angiosperm leaves have a simplistic or compounded form, which alternate going up the stem, or have an opposite arrangement on the stem. Whoried leaves originate from the same place on the stem. Angiosperm flowers consist of four whorls of leaves, including sepals small and green fenced in flowers , petals flat, widely spread, and brightly colored leaves , stamens threaded upright leaves , and pistils fruit bearing material.

Pistils consists of three different parts, including the ovary egg , style column or the "stalk" , and the stigma the outer, sticky spot where the pollen sticks as it lands. The angiosperm's fruit has a ripened ovary, which serves to protect seed dispersal. Angiosperms produce simple, aggregate, and multiple fruits. Simple fruits, such as walnut, tomato, orange, apple, and cherry arise from a single ovary in one flower.

Aggregate fruits, such as a strawberry, arise from multiple ovaries in a single flower. Multiple fruits, such as pineapple, mulberry, and breadfruit, arise from ovaries that stem from multiple, tightly clustered flowers. Botanists group angiosperms based on the plants characteristics.

Botanists examine the arrangement of flowers, and identify them based off predetermined classifications. For instance, complete flowers have all four layers of the angiosperm.

Conversely, incomplete flowers lack one or more layers. Perfect flowers have both sexes, including stamens and pistils. Monoecious plants, such as Easter lilies, peas, dandelions, and roses, have perfect flowers, or both sexes on the same plant.

Imperfect flowers do not have pistils or stamens. Dioecious plants, such as hops, persimmons, boxelders, and marijuana, have imperfect flowers on separate male or female plants. Regular flowers are radically symmetrical. Irregular flowers are bilaterally symmetrical. Petals collectively the corolla are located inside the whorl of sepals and usually display vivid colors to attract pollinators. Flowers pollinated by wind are usually small and dull. The sexual organs are located at the center of the flower.

As illustrated in [Figure 2] , the stigma, style, and ovary constitute the female organ, the carpel or pistil , which is also referred to as the gynoecium. A gynoecium may contain one or more carpels within a single flower. The megaspores and the female gametophytes are produced and protected by the thick tissues of the carpel.

A long, thin structure called a style leads from the sticky stigma , where pollen is deposited, to the ovary enclosed in the carpel. The ovary houses one or more ovules that will each develop into a seed upon fertilization.

The male reproductive organs, the androecium or stamens , surround the central carpel. Stamens are composed of a thin stalk called a filament and a sac-like structure, the anther , in which microspores are produced by meiosis and develop into pollen grains. The filament supports the anther. The seed forms in an ovary, which enlarges as the seeds grow.

As the seed develops, the walls of the ovary also thicken and form the fruit. In botany, a fruit is a fertilized and fully grown, ripened ovary. Many foods commonly called vegetables are actually fruit. Eggplants, zucchini, string beans, and bell peppers are all technically fruit because they contain seeds and are derived from the thick ovary tissue.

Acorns and winged maple keys, whose scientific name is a samara, are also fruit. Mature fruit can be described as fleshy or dry. Fleshy fruit include the familiar berries, peaches, apples, grapes, and tomatoes. Rice, wheat, and nuts are examples of dry fruit. Another distinction is that not all fruits are derived from the ovary. Some fruits are derived from separate ovaries in a single flower, such as the raspberry. Other fruits, such as the pineapple, form from clusters of flowers.

Additionally, some fruits, like watermelon and orange, have rinds. Regardless of how they are formed, fruits are an agent of dispersal. The variety of shapes and characteristics reflect the mode of dispersal. The light, dry fruits of trees and dandelions are carried by the wind. Floating coconuts are transported by water.

Some fruits are colored, perfumed, sweet, and nutritious to attract herbivores, which eat the fruit and disperse the tough undigested seeds in their feces. Other fruits have burs and hooks that cling to fur and hitch rides on animals. Like gymnosperms, angiosperms are heterosporous.

They produce microspores, which develop into pollen grains the male gametophytes , and megaspores, which form an ovule containing the female gametophytes. Each pollen grain contains two cells: one generative cell that will divide into two sperm, and a second cell that will become the pollen tube cell. If a flower lacked a megasporangium, what type of gamete would it not be able to form? If it lacked a microsporangium, what type of gamete would not form? In the ovules, the female gametophyte is produced when a megasporocyte undergoes meiosis to produce four haploid megaspores.

One of these is larger than the others and undergoes mitosis to form the female gametophyte or embryo sac. Three mitotic divisions produce eight nuclei in seven cells. The egg and two cells move to one end of the embryo sac gametophyte and three cells move to the other end. Two of the nuclei remain in a single cell and fuse to form a 2 n nucleus; this cell moves to the center of the embryo sac. When a pollen grain reaches the stigma, a pollen tube extends from the grain, grows down the style, and enters through an opening in the integuments of the ovule.

The two sperm cells are deposited in the embryo sac. What occurs next is called a double fertilization event [Figure 4] and is unique to angiosperms. They also have pollen with a single furrow or pore. Their flower parts are in multiples of three. Their leaf veins are parallel to each other; they have a network of roots and scattered vascular tissue systems. Some familiar monocots are orchids, grasses and lilies.

Dicots have two cotyledons, and their pollen has three pores or furrows. They have net-like leaf veins, a vascular system in a ring, a taproot and flower parts in multiples of four or five. Dicots often have secondary growth and woody stems. Some familiar dicots are roses, daisies and peas.

Fruits, grains, vegetables, trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers are angiosperms. Most of the plants that people eat today are angiosperms. From the wheat that bakers use to make your bread to the tomatoes in your favorite salad, all of these plants are examples of angiosperms.

The grains that you love, such as corn, wheat, barley, rye and oats, come from flowering plants. Beans and potatoes are also important angiosperms in the global food industry. Not only do people depend on flowering plants for food, but they also use them for other items like clothing. Cotton and linen come from angiosperms. In addition, flowers provide dyes and perfumes. Trees that people cut down can be used as lumber and as a source of fuel.

Even the medical and scientific industries rely on angiosperms. For example, aspirin is one of the most popular drugs in the world, and it originally came from the bark of the willow tree. Digitalis is a heart medication that helps people with congestive heart failure. It comes from the common foxglove flower. In some cases, a single flower can provide many drugs , such as the rosy periwinkle Catharanthus roseus , which has different alkaloids that are used as chemotherapy medications.

Coevolution is the process through which two species adapt to each other over time, so they influence each other. There are different types of coevolution , including:. Plants and insects display many examples of coevolution because of pollination. As flowering plants evolve, insects have to keep up with them and vice versa. Most people do not think of flowering plants as prey, but there are multiple examples of the predator and prey relationship in nature that involve plants.

In these cases, the predators are usually animals. For instance, plants want seed dispersal without sacrificing all of their leaves, stems, roots and flowers. They do not want a rabbit to consume the entire plant. Plants have developed different mechanisms to keep predators away , such as strong scents, poisons and thorns. Marigolds have a strong fragrance that rabbits and deer do not like.

They also have a bitter taste that is not pleasant or appealing to animals, which makes it less likely that a deer or rabbit will want to munch on them. Thorns and spines are some of the most effective ways for plants to stop predators. From roses to cacti, their defense structures provide animals a quick lesson on why they should not try to eat these plants.

Stinging nettle's spiky hairs serve as a reminder for people not to get too close to the plant. Sometimes angiosperms become hosts to parasites. They may have to deal with attacks from insects, diseases or other things. On the other hand, there are examples in nature of angiosperms being the parasites. Almost all of the parasitic plants that are alive today are angiosperms. Some common examples of parasitic plants include epiphytes and vines.

Mistletoe is a popular parasitic plant that grows on top of trees and shrubs. It attaches to the host's vascular system to extract nutrients and grow. This damages the tree's health because it is constantly losing water and nutrients to the mistletoe.

Although they do not typically kill a tree, parasitic plants can make it weaker. Dodder is another example of an angiosperm that is a parasitic plant. The vine can quickly take over an entire garden. It has become invasive in many parts of the country and is difficult to eliminate.