Looking out the window or walking down the street, you can endlessly admire the beauty of the surrounding nature. And all this beauty is mainly made up of plants. So diverse, bright, lively and juicy, they just beckon to touch them, enjoy their aroma and admire their magnificence.
Diversity of plant organisms
Ah, what a variety of plants there is! In total, today there are over 350 thousand species of these unique creatures of nature. All of them are not the same both in external structure and in lifestyle and internal features.
In the system of the organic world, plants occupy an entire kingdom. The simplest classification for these organisms would be:
- lower (the body is not divided into organs, these are algae and lichens);
- higher (the body is divided into organs, these are those that have a root, stem and leaves).
In turn, the species diversity of plants of the highest category is manifested in the division intothe following groups:
- Spore (mosses, ferns, horsetails, club mosses).
- Gymnosperms (coniferous, ginkgo, cycad).
- Angiosperms, or flowering plants.
Each systematic group has its own classes, genera and species, which is why the diversity of plants on our planet is so great.
Life forms
One of the most important features by which representatives of the flora differ from each other is their appearance. It is this feature that underlies the classification by life forms. Plant diversity can be seen by classifying them into groups:
- Trees (coniferous: pine, spruce, fir and others; deciduous: birch, oak, poplar, apple and others).
- Shrubs (lilac, hazel, honeysuckle, etc.).
- Shrubs (currant, wild rose, raspberry).
- Semishrubs (wormwood, astragalus, teresken, s altwort).
- Subshrubs (lavender, sage).
- Herbs (feather grass, sedge, forget-me-nots, kupena, lilies of the valley and so on).
This classification covers only higher angiosperms, which are the majority on the planet.
Algae
The variety of plants and animals in the seas and oceans has always been admired by all researchers and simply lovers of the underwater world. Beautiful and unusual, bright, dangerous and defenseless, they make up a whole world, not fully explored, and therefore alluring and mysterious.
What kind of flora are found here? These are algae and aquaticplants that float near the surface of the water or are immersed in it with roots and part of the stems.
Algae are divided into several departments:
- Blue-green (like cyanobacteria).
- Green unicellular (Chlamydomonas, Volvox).
- Green multicellular (ulotrix, spirogyra, ulva).
- Brown algae (fucus, kelp, sargassum).
- Red (porphyry, radimeria).
The main distinguishing features of these plants are that their body (in multicellular representatives) is not divided into organs. It is represented by thallus and rhizoids, which perform the function of attachment to the substrate.
Flowering aquatic species
The diversity of aquatic plant species is not limited to algae. A lot of beautiful flowering representatives delight with their splendor, floating on the surface of the water or plunging into it only partly.
These include:
- different types of water lilies;
- cala wing;
- common water paint;
- lake reed;
- tail;
- monetary loosestrife;
- host;
- needle swamp;
- mannik;
- ditch the water;
- Siberian iris;
- water ranunculus;
- calamus and many others.
The variety of plants in s alt and fresh water is so great that you can create entire landscapes, both artificial and natural. People use representatives of the flora to decorate aquariums,design of ponds and other artificial sources.
Spore
This group includes about 43 thousand species from various departments of higher plants. The main ones are as follows:
- Bryophytes (liver mosses, anthocerotes, bryophytes);
- Lycopterids (moss);
- Horsetails (horsetails).
The main feature is the method of reproduction, which is reduced to the formation of specialized cells - spores. It is also interesting that these plants live by alternating generations in the development cycle: the sexual generation of the gametophyte is replaced by the asexual sporophyte, and vice versa. Such representatives are not able to bloom and form seeds and fruits, and therefore belong to the category of spores. Their life is very dependent on water, as reproduction occurs only in a humid environment.
Representatives are of great economic importance and are widely used not only in nature, but also in human life. Ornamental, medicinal use is their significance to people.
Conifers
Conifers include plants that have the following features:
- leaves are modified into a special needle shape and are called "needles";
- the life form of these plants are trees and shrubs;
- internal composition is replete with essential oils, resins and terpenes;
- seeds form, but never flowers;
- the seed is enclosed in the scales of a cone and is bare, hence the other name -Gymnosperms.
There are a lot of species of coniferous trees, about 630. They make a great contribution to the overall diversity of the plant world, are long-lived and valuable tree species. According to some reports, there are pine trees that are over 5,000 years old! The appearance of conifers very much enlivens any area, delights and fascinates with its grandeur. The most common types can be called:
- pines;
- ate;
- cedars;
- larches;
- cypresses;
- tuyu;
- juniper;
- yew.
One of the main attractive features of these plants is that they are evergreen and do not shed their leaves during the winter cold (the exception is larch).
Flowering or angiosperms
This is the largest group of plants known today, numbering more than 280,000 species. The main feature is the formation of the reproductive organ of the flower, which has special structures adapted for reproduction.
The ovary and seed are formed in the flower, which is then protected by the tissue of the fruit. That is why these plants are called angiosperms. The flowers themselves are so diverse in appearance, shape, color of the corolla, size that one can only admire and be surprised.
Great importance among flowering plants is given to medicinal plants. They help people and animals in the fight against various diseases, affect almost all body systems.
The classification of flowering plants is extensive, so we will consider only the most common families of the two main classes - monocots and dicots.
- Monocots: cereals (rye, wheat, oats, sorghum, millet, corn), lilies (tulips, lilies, hazel grouse), bulbous (onions, garlic, perennial meadow grasses).
- Dicotyledons: Rosaceae (rose hips, pears, plums, apples, raspberries, strawberries, roses), butterflies, or legumes (peanuts, lupins, acacia, soybeans, peas, clover, beans, beans), cruciferous (cabbage, rapeseed, mustard, horseradish, radish), nightshade (tomatoes or tomatoes, peppers, nightshade, eggplant, petunia and others), Asteraceae (dandelions, chamomile, cornflowers, sunflowers, coltsfoot and others).
The variety of flowering plants is so great that it is, of course, impossible to cover them all in one article. After all, each family has hundreds and thousands of species, has its own individual characteristics in structure and appearance.
Poisonous plants
Unfortunately, despite their unsurpassed beauty, many plants have strong toxic properties, that is, they are poisonous, contain substances in various concentrations that can paralyze or kill a person, animals, any other living creatures.
It is worth acquainting children with such representatives from childhood so that they understand how dangerous the world around them can be. The variety of poisonous plants is quite large, there are thousands of species. To name just a few common representatives:
- snowdrop snow;
- hyacinth orientalis;
- autumn colchicum;
- daffodils;
- amaryllis;
- May lily of the valley;
- sleeping poppy;
- dicentra gorgeous;
- common buttercup;
- iris;
- dieffenbachia;
- rhododendrons;
- oleanders and many others.
Obviously, medicinal plants can be attributed to the same group. In an increased dose, any medicine can become poison.
Insectivorous flowers
Some plants of the tropics and the equatorial part of the planet are interesting in terms of nutrition. They are insectivorous and emit not a pleasant and exciting aroma, but a fetid smell. Main types:
- Venus flytrap;
- sunflower;
- nepentes;
- sarration;
- pemphigus;
- fatty.
Outwardly they are very interesting in shape and bright in color. They have different mechanisms and adaptations for capturing and digesting insects and small rodents.
