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Two - Flowering Plants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2023

By
Sara Oldfield  and
Lauren Gardiner
Edited by
Norman Maclean
Norman Maclean
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
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Summary

The importance of plant diversity to humankind is immense. Plants are primary producers defining and supporting ecosystems worldwide and providing a wide range of ecosystem goods and services. Vascular plants are species characterised by a well-developed system of specialised cells that transport water, minerals and photosynthetic products and provide structural support enabling plants to grow on land. Flowering plants, also known botanically as angiosperms, are by far the largest group of vascular plants. They are characterised by their distinctive reproductive structures, the flowers. Designed to be pollinated by wind, insects or other animals, all flowers have ovules, which become seeds after fertilisation, enclosed within an ovary. In contrast, the gymnosperms (see Box 2.1), which include conifers and cycads, have reproductive structures with naked seeds that are not enclosed. The other groups of vascular plants are ferns and fern allies which do not produce seeds.

Keywords

Plant diversityAngiospermsGymnospermsTree speciesOrchidsThreatsConservation statusGlobal strategy for plant conservation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Living Planet
The State of the World's Wildlife
 , pp. 18 - 36
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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