Variety of plants. What is the species diversity of plants

Looking out the window or strolling along the street,you can admire the beauty of the surrounding nature endlessly. And all this charm is mainly plants. Such diverse, bright, lively and juicy, they simply beckon to touch them, to enjoy their fragrance and admire in plenty the splendor.

Variety of plant organisms

Oh, what a variety of plants there are! In total, today there are over 350 thousand species of these unique creatures of nature. All of them are not the same both in their external structure, and in their way of life and internal characteristics.

In the organic world, plants occupy a whole kingdom. The simplest classification for these organisms will be:

• The lower ones (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 into the following groups:

1. Spore (mosses, ferns, horsetails, mosses).
2. Gymnosperms (conifers, ginkgoids, and cadavers).
3. Angiosperms, or flowering.

Each systematic group has its own classes, genera and species, which is why the variety of plants on our planet is so great.

Life forms

One of the most important features on whichrepresentatives of the flora differ from each other, is the external appearance. It is this feature that is the basis of the classification of life forms. Variety of plants can be seen if they are classified into groups:

1. Trees (coniferous: pine, spruce, fir and others, deciduous: birch, oak, poplar, apple and others).
2. Shrubs (lilac, hazel, honeysuckle, etc.).
3. Shrubs (currant, dog rose, raspberry).
4. Semishrubs (wormwood, astragalus, teresken, solyanka).
5. Semi-shrubs (lavender, sage).
6. Herbs (feather grass, sedge, forget-me-nots, kupena, lilies of the valley and so on).

This classification covers only the higher angiosperms, which are the majority on the planet.

Seaweed

Variety of plants and animals in the seas andoceans have always been admired by all researchers and just lovers of the underwater world. Beautiful and unusual, bright, dangerous and defenseless, they make up a whole world, not fully known, and therefore beckoning and mysterious.

What representatives of the flora are found here? These are algae and aquatic plants that stick to the water surface or are immersed in it by roots and part of stems.

Algae are divided into several departments:

1. Blue-green (for example, cyanobacteria).
2. Green single-celled (chlamydomonas, volvox).
3. Green multicellular (ulotriks, spirogyra, ulva).
4. Brown seaweed (fucus, kelp, sargassum).
5. Red (porphyry, radium).

The main distinguishing features of these plantsconsist in the fact that their body (in multicellular representatives) is not divided into organs. It is represented by thallus and rhizoids, performing the function of attachment to the substrate.

Flowering water species

Variety of plant species related to waterenvironment, is not limited only to algae. A lot of beautiful blooming representatives pleasing with their splendor, floating on the surface of the water or plunging into it only a part.

These include:

• different types of water lilies;
• callist;
• ordinary water-grass;
• bulrush;
• tail;
• coarse verbaine;
• host;
• needle swamp;
• manna;
• to water the water;
• Iris Siberian;
• buttercup watermark;
• ayr marsh and many others.

Variety of plants of saline and fresh water bodiesso great that you can create entire landscapes, both artificial and natural. People use flora to decorate aquariums, design ponds and other artificial sources.

Spore

This group includes about 43 thousand species from various departments of higher plants. The main ones are:

• Bryophytes (hepatic mosses, anthocerot, mossy);
• Plain-like (placenta);
• Horsetail (horsetails).

The main feature is the method of reproduction,which reduces to the formation of specialized cells - a dispute. Also interesting is that these plants live by alternating generations in the development cycle: the sex generation of gametophyte is replaced by asexual sporophyte, and vice versa. Such representatives are not able to blossom and form seeds and fruits, and therefore belong to the category of spore. Their life is very dependent on water, since 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. Decorative, medicinal use is their significance for people.

Coniferous

Conifers include plants that have the following features:

• the leaves are modified into a special needle-like shape and have the name "needles";
• the life form of these plants - trees and shrubs;
• the internal composition is replete with essential oils, resins and terpenes;
• seeds are formed, but flowers never happen;
• the seed is enclosed in the scales of the cones and bared, hence the other name - Gymnosperms.

There are very many species of coniferous trees, around 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 more than 5000 years old! The appearance of conifers is very animating any area, fascinates and fascinates with its greatness. The most common species are:

• pine trees;
• ate;
• cedars;
• larch;
• cypress trees;
• thuy;
• 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 (except for larch).

Flowering, or angiosperms

This is the most numerous of all known onToday groups of plants, which is estimated more than 280 thousand species. The main feature is the formation of the reproductive organ of the flower, in which there are special structures adapted for reproduction.

In the flower, the ovary and the seed are formed, which thenprotected by a fetal tissue. That is why these plants are called angiosperms. The flowers themselves are so diverse in appearance, shape, color of the corolla, in size, which only admires and marvels.

Great value among flowering plants is given to medicinal plants. They help people and animals in the fight against various diseases, have an impact on virtually all systems of the body.

The classification of flowering plants is extensive, so we will consider only the most common families from the two main classes - monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous.

1. Monocotyledons: cereals (rye, wheat, oats, sorghum, millet, corn), lily (tulips, lilies, hazel grouses), onion (onions, garlic, perennial meadow grasses).
2. Dicotyledons: Rosaceae (rose hips, pear, plum, apples, raspberries, strawberries, rose), butterflies, or legumes (peanuts, lupine, acacia, soybeans, peas, clover, beans, beans), cruciferous (cabbage, rape, mustard, horseradish, radish ), nightshade (tomatoes or tomatoes, pepper, nightshade, eggplant, petunia and others), composite flowers (dandelions, chamomiles, cornflowers, sunflowers, coltsfoot and others).

The variety of flowering plants is so great,that it is impossible to cover them all with one article. After all, each family is numbered in hundreds and thousands of species, has its own individual characteristics in structure and appearance.

Poisonous plants

Unfortunately, despite of unsurpassed beauty,many plants have strong poisoning properties, that is, they are poisonous, in various concentrations contain substances capable of paralyzing or killing a person, animals, any other living things.

With such representatives it is worth to familiarize the children withchildhood, so that they understand how dangerous the surrounding world can be. The variety of plants belonging to the poisonous is quite large, there are thousands of species. Let's name only a few common representatives:

• snowdrop snowdrop;
• hyacinth of the east;
• autumn autumnal;
• daffodils;
• amaryllis;
• lily of the valley May;
• poppy sleeping pills;
• the dicentra is magnificent;
• buttercup ordinary;
• tangents;
• diffenbachia;
• rhododendrons;
• oleanders and many others.

Obviously, the same group can include medicinal plants. In an increased dose, any medicine can become a poison.

Insectivorous flowers

Interesting on the way to eat are someplants of the tropics and the equatorial part of the planet. They are insectivorous and produce a not pleasant and exciting scent, but a fetid smell. Main types:

• Venus flytrap;
• sundew;
• non-pentes;
• sarrachenia;
• pemphigus;
• the piscary.

Outwardly they are very interesting in form and bright in color. They have different mechanisms and devices for capturing and digesting insects and small rodents.