Welcome to the family

So Amadeus and Hyacinthus get a little bit from their mom's side and their dad's side, aka me. Well Amadeus is a dicot and Hyacinthus is a monocot. Does this mean we love one more than the other? Of course not! Let me explain the differences between the two along with some relatives that they also seem to get their looks from.

Monocots : 1 cotyledon
Parallel veined leaves
The primary vascular bundles are scattered.
Pollen is Monosulcate
Root system is Adventitious.
Some relatives/ex. : Uncle Corn, Aunty Grain Sorghum, Granddaddy Sugar Cane, and Cousin Grass.

Dicots :
2 Cotyledons.
Net - Veined leaves
Primary Vascular bundles are in a ring
Pollen is mostly tricolpate
Root system is Primary and Adventitious.
Relatives/ex. : Aunt Sunflower, Uncle Soybean, Little Magnolia, Prof. Oak, Miss. Willow, Sir. Maple, Grandmama Poison ivy, and Cotton the pet dog. 

Flower Power

Here we have a diagram of a flower. 

The Stamen, filament, and anther are different names for pollen-producing reproductive organs of a flower.

The ovary is the female part of the plant it is a part of the pistil which is made of one or more carpels. The stigma is the receptive tip of the carpel, it receives pollen.

The petals are there to attract pollinators and the sepals are the little green leaf looking things under the pedals that once help protect the pedals when the flower was a bud.

The sperm and ovule are the gametes of the plants. Ovules contain the reproductive cells of the female and sperm are the male reproductive cells.

Double fertilization is a complex fertilization mechanism that has in flowering plants. This process involves the joining of a female gametophyte with two male gametes. It begins when a pollen grain adheres to the stigma of the carpel, the female reproductive structure of a flower. The pollen grain then takes in moisture and begins to germinate, forming a pollen tube that extends down toward the ovary through the style. The tip of the pollen tube then enters the ovary and penetrates through the micropyle opening in the ovule. The pollen tube proceeds to release the two sperm in the megagametophyte. One sperm fertilizes the egg cell and the other sperm combines with the two polar nuclei of the large central cell of the megagametophyte. The haploid sperm and haploid egg combine to form a diploid zygote, while the other sperm and the two haploid polar nuclei of the large central cell of the megagametophyte form a triploid nucleus. The large cell of the gametophyte will then develop into the endosperm, a nutrient-rich tissue which provides nourishment to the developing embryo. The ovary, surrounding the ovules, develops into the fruit, which protects the seeds and may function to disperse them.

It's the Circle of Life

This is the plant life cycle. So to start it off the sporophyte produces spores through meiosis then those spores undergo mitosis and becomes gametophytes. Then through mitosis again they are either made into an egg or a sperm. Then using fertilization with another gametophyte they become a zygote. The zygote undergoes mitosis and development and becomes an embryo. Which grows into a plant which produces sporophytes and the cycle is repeated.

FOOD

Translocation is the of food through either the xylem or the phloem.

The Phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients, in particular, sucrose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed. Phloem tissue consists of: conducting cells, generally called sieve elements; parenchyma cells, including both specialized companion cells or albuminous cells and unspecialized cells; and supportive cells. All of this just to move some food!

Delivery for the Chau Family: Water!

Here is a crude drawing representing transpiration, or the process of losing water, similar to evaporation.

Turgor pressure pushes the plasma membrane against the cell wall of plant, bacteria, and fungi cells as well as those protist cells which have cell walls. This pressure is caused by the osmotic flow of water from area of low solute concentration outside of the cell into the cell's vacuole, which has a higher solute concentration. Below is a great diagram showing the movement of water.

Vascular tissue are found in vascular plants and the complex transports food and water inside of the plant. It is consisted of two components, the Xylem and the Phloem. The xylem is a long tracheary element that transports water. Xylem tend to have thick secondary cell walls, often deposited unevenly in a coil-like pattern so that they may stretch. More on the phloem in  the food section. 

The stomata is a pour in the plant that is used fro gas exchange, they are bordered by guard cells, which regulate the size of the opening, kind of like a door opener. The stomata's structure allows for it to easily open and close, kinda like a mouth. 

Another way to get food and water is through the soil. Soil helps plants station themselves against the weather but it also helps them collect water and provides nutrients to the plant.

The Casparian strip is a band of cell wall material deposited on the radial and transverse walls of the endodermis, which is chemically different from the rest of the cell wall. It is used to block the passive flow of materials, such as water and solutes into the stele of a plant. It forces water through the endodermal cell in a way that it regulates the amount of water entering the xylem.

Some More Fun Plant Terminology

 A meristem is the tissue in most plants consisting of undifferentiated cells, found in zones of the plant where growth can take place. The meristematic cells give rise to various organs of the plant, and keep the plant growing.


Primary Growth occurs at the apical meristems, where the structure is elongated. Secondary growth occurs at the vascular cambium and cortex cambium, where the structure is increased in width. 


Vascular cambium arises from the primary meristem, the vascular cambium is a part of the morphology of plants. It consists of cells that are partly specialized, for the tissues that transport water solutions, but have not reached any of the final forms that occur in their branch of the specialization graph.


Auxins are a class of plant hormones with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins have a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant's life cycle and are essential for plant body development. The pattern of auxin distribution within the plant is a key factor for plant growth, its reaction to its environment, and specifically for development of plant organs. It is achieved through very complex and well coordinated active transport of auxin molecules from cell to cell throughout the plant body; by the so-called polar auxin transport. Thus, a plant can react to external conditions and adjust to them, without requiring a nervous system. Auxins typically act in concert with, or in opposition to, other plant hormones


Cytokinins are a class of plant growth substances that promote cell division, or cytokinesis, in plant roots and shoots. Cytokinins are involved in many plant processes, including cell division and shoot and root morphogenesis. They are known to regulate axillary bud growth and apical dominance.

Here we have an example of Tropism, the growth movement of a living organism has towards an external stimulus, as you can see the plant is growing in the direction of the light. You're doing great buddy!

Roots

Here we have a look at the taproot system. A taproot is a root that grows straight downwards. The taproot systems are composed of one primary root which is thick and penetrates deeply, while other smaller roots grow off of this primary root. Taproot systems have an extremely  large surface area, and so are very good at absorbing water when there is enough available near the surface. At the tip of the root are little tiny hairs called root hairs, these little buggers help cover more area and absorbs more water for the plant, but very microscopic. 

Coleoptile and Cotyledons

Hyacinthus' coleoptile, what that basically does is protect the emerging shoot of monocots.

This is an updated picture of Amadeus and as you can see in the picture are his little cotyledons. Those little tiny leaves. Isn't he cute?

Buds and Stuff

So the babies are growing now. Lots of interesting stuff popping out. Here's a pic of Amadeus from the doctor's office. As you can see the thing in the middle is the terminal bud. And what that is is basically a bud at the tip of a stem. And a bud is basically an underdeveloped shoot that will develop into a flower or a short shoot. You can also see clearly the nodes and internodes. A node holds buds which grows into leaves or flowers, depending on the plant. And internodes are the space between each node. Here you can also see leaves. Leaves maximize the surface area that is exposed to light, therefore photosynthetic function. You can't tell but those leaves are actually covered in cuticles. A waxy cover that helps conserve water.

Germination

The babies have germinated!!! YAYY!!! :D 

At the top you can see Amadeus germinating and at the bottom his brother. For those of you who don't know what germinating is let me explain. Germination is basically when a seed sprouts and begins taking that first step on the 1000 step stairway to adulthood. Factors that affect germination includes sufficient amounts of water, oxygen, the right temperature, and sometimes light and darkness play a factor in triggering germination.

Dicot Anatomy

As you can see here, from a theoretical because I would never cut my own baby in half, you see what Amadeus' cotyledon would look like as well as his plumules aka the developing embryo. Quite fascinating really, I feel sorry for the parents who donated this embryo for science's sake, but someone had to get the pictures. As for the endosperm, that's all the white you see surround this embryo, just sittin' there chillin' and nourishing that baby. 

Monocot Anatomy

Upon closer inspection of the monocot, narrow leaves, a network of very fine roots, and leaves that are often sappy with parallel veins, baby, we can see the endosperm, cotyledon and the developing embryo. The endosperm surrounds the embryo and nourishes it. The cotyledon will eventually grow to be the plants first leaves! And the embryo is the embryo, pretty self explanatory. It's basically the "baby".

Embryo Pictures! So cute :3

This is Amadeus as an embryo.

 And this is Hyacinthus.