Experiment:

INSTRUCTIONS -To be done in lab files

a) Cut and paste pictures on the blank side
b) Write against each diagram the
respective characteristics on the ruled
side
Objective:
To study the characteristics of Spirogyra, Agaricus, Moss, Fern, Pinus
(either with male or female cone) and an angiosperm plant.
Apparatus and materials required:
A slide of Spirogyra, specimen of Agaricus, moss, fern, Pinus with a
male female cone, an angiosperm plant, like mustard, hand lens and a
compound microscope.
Theory:
Diverse organisms have a wide range of sizes, structures, forms,
shapes and distributions on the earth. There are more than 10 million
organisms on the earth. About 1.7 million of them (1.2 million animals
and 0.5 million plants) have been identified, scientifically named and
classified.

Spirogyra (green algae):

Characteristics:
1. Spirogyra is a green alga having a filamentous, unbranched,
multicellular and threadlike structure.
2. Each filament has a large number of rectangular cells.
3. Each cell has two parts: the thick, two-layered cell wall (outer wall
made up of pectin and the inner wall is cellulosic) and the protoplasm.
4. The filaments of Spirogyra are slimy to touch due to the dissolution
of their outer pectin layer.

5. The cytoplasm has a large vacuole at the centre and ribbon-shaped,

spirally coiled chloroplasts. Each chloroplast has a number of small
round bodies called pyrenoids.
6. A large nucleus is suspended in the centre of the cell by a number of
cytoplasmic strands.

Characteristic features of the group:

1. The green algae Spirogyra belongs to the group Thallophyta. The
members of this group have an undifferentiated body called thallus.
2. No vascular system is found in the members.
3. Algae are autotrophic, i.e., they synthesize food by photosynthesis
as they have the chlorophyll pigments.

Agaricus (mushroom):
Characteristics:
1. Agaricus is a common, white, fleshy edible mushroom.
2. It grows in the rainy season on damp logs of wood, trunks of trees
and decaying organic matter.

3. It is a saprophytic fungus.
4. The body is umbrella-shaped and is divided into a fleshy stalk, or
stipe, and a fleshy pileus, or cap.
5. The pileus is dome-shaped, present at the top of stipe. The under
surface of the pileus has many radiating strips called gills.

6. A membranous, ring-like structure called annulus is present on the

stalk
7. The function of the gills is to produce spores.
Characteristic features of the group:
1. A mushroom is a fungus that belongs to the group Thallophyta.
2. The modes of nutrition in fungi are saprophytic or parasitic.
3. They do not possess chlorophyll, hence depend either on dead
organic matter or on other living organisms for food.

Funaria (moss):
Characteristics:
1. Mosses are commonly found growing in tufts on moist and shady
walls, damp soil and on tree trunks.

2. The main plant body is a gametophyte (haploid) which is green,

erect (1-3 cm high) and sparsely branched.
3. The plant body is differentiated into root like structures called
rhizoids, axis, or stem(stem like) and spirally arranged leaves(leaf like)
4. The rhizoids are branched and multicellular which fix the plant to
the soil and absorb water and minerals.

5. The plant is monoecious or dioecious, i.e., bear both male and

female sex organs on the same plant.
6. The mature plant bears sporophyte which consists of foot, seta and
capsule for asexual reproduction.
Identifying features of the group:

1. Mosses belong to Bryophyta.

2. Proper root and shoot systems are absent. Vascular tissues are
absent in this group.
3. Rhizoids present in this group function as roots.

Dryopteris (fern):
Characteristics
1. Dryopteris is commonly found in shady and moist areas in tropical,
subtropical and warm, temperate regions.
2. The plant body is a sporophyte (diploid) which is differentiated into
roots, rhizome (underground stem) and leaves.
3. The primary root is short-lived. It is replaced by adventitious roots
which grow from the rhizome.
4. The rhizome represents the modified stem. It is a creeping structure
and its surface is covered with leaf bases and numerous thin brown
hair called ramenta.
5. The leaves are large and bipinnately compound. The entire leaf is
called a frond. It has a rigid, scaly petiole elongated to form a rachis
bearing two rows of leaflets. Young leaves show circinate vernation
(coiled inwards like a spring).
6. The lower (ventral) surface of mature leaves bear spore-producing
structures called sori. Such sori-bearing leaves are called sporophyll.
7. Each sorus has many saclike sporangia (spore-bearing structures),
which produce spores.

Identifying features of the group:

1. Ferns belong to Pteridophyta.
2. The plant body is differentiated into root and shoots systems.
3. Vascular system is present in the members of this group.

Pinus:
Characteristics:
1. Pinus is commonly found on temperate and tropical hills.
2. The adult plant is a tall, evergreen tree with widespread branches
giving a typical pyramidal shape.
3. The plant body is differentiated into tap root, stem and leaves.
5. The leaves are needle-like and green

6. The male and female reproductive parts in the form of male and
female cones are present on the same plant, i.e., the plant is
monoecious.
Male cone (staminate strobilus):
1. The male cones are present in clusters
2. These are small dark brown, compact, oval structures which develop
earlier than the female cones.

3. Each male cone has many microsporophylls

4. Each microsporophyll bears two microsporangia, or pollen sac, on
its lower surface.
5. The microsporangia release winged-pollen grains which are carried
by the wind to ovules.

Female cone
1. The female cones are solitary
3. Each female cone consists of megasporophylls.
4. Megasporangia in the form of two naked sessile ovules are present
on the dorsal surface of each megasporophyll.
5. The female cones take 3 years to mature. The first-year cones are
very small and greenish in colour. The second-year cones are larger
and woody with compact sporophylls which get separated during the
third year due to elongation of the cone axis.
Identifying features of the group:
1. Pinus is a Gymnosperm.
2. The plant body has root and shoot systems with vascular tissues, but
flowers are absent.
3. The members of this group bear naked seeds on the scales of cones.

A dicotyledonous Angiosperm (mustard):

Characteristics:
1. The plant is an annual herb.
2. The plant body consists of the vascular shoot and root systems.
3. The root is a tap root.
4. The shoot system consists of stem, leaves, flowers and fruits.
5. The stem is green, erect, herbaceous, branched, solid and smooth,
bearing prominent nodes and internodes.
6. The leaves are sessile, alternate and have reticulate venation

7. The flowers are yellow, tetramerous (4 petals and 4 sepals) and

bisexual. All the four whorls of a flower, i.e., calyx, corolla, androecium
(male) and gynoecium (female) are present.
8. After fertilization ovary of the flower develops into a fruit and the
ovules present inside the ovary develop into seeds. The seeds are used
for extracting mustard oil.
Identifying features of the group:
1. The angiospermic plants have well-developed root system and shoot
system.
2. The plants bear flowers, fruits and seeds.
3. These plants are either monocotyledonous (seeds with one
cotyledon) or dicotyledonous (seeds with two cotyledons). Monocots
have leaves with a scattered arrangement of vascular bundles. Dicots
have reticulate venation in leaves and their vascular bundles are
arranged in ring.