Morphology of Flowering Plants: Roots, Stems and Leaves
BiologyPlant PhysiologyAges 11–12
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Plant Physiology
Explore real flowering plants drawn as labelled diagrams: tap and fibrous roots and their modifications (storage, prop and stilt roots, pneumatophores), stem modifications (tuber, rhizome, tendril, thorn, phylloclade), simple and compound leaves, reticulate and parallel venation, and phyllotaxy. A sorter groups plants as monocots or dicots and as herbs, shrubs, trees, climbers and creepers.
Lesson: Morphology of flowering plants: root systems and their modifications, stem modifications, leaf types, venation and phyllotaxy; monocots and dicots; herbs, shrubs, trees, climbers and creepers
What it shows
Flowering plants share the same basic parts, but their roots, stems and leaves are often changed to store food, hold the plant up, climb, protect it or let it survive in dry or waterlogged places. Each specimen here is a real plant, such as mustard, maize, banyan, grey mangrove, potato, ginger, prickly pear or neem, drawn as a labelled diagram with its common and scientific names. Numbers on the drawing match the list of parts. The sorter then asks students to group plants as monocots or dicots from their roots, veins and seeds, and as herbs, shrubs, trees, climbers or creepers from their stems.
How to use
Choose Roots, Stems or Leaves and pick a specimen from the list; match each number on the drawing with the parts listed under it, then answer the question in Tasks. On Sorter, choose Monocot or dicot or Growth habit under Sort by, then drag each plant card into a group or tap a group. Set Clues to One feature for a harder round, and press New deck to start again.
Parameters you can change
- View Roots, Stems, Leaves, Sorter
- Root Tap root, Fibrous roots, Storage tap root, Storage adventitious roots, Prop roots, Stilt roots, Pneumatophores
- Stem Typical shoot, Stem tuber, Rhizome, Stem tendril, Thorn, Phylloclade
- Leaf feature Simple leaf, Pinnately compound leaf, Palmately compound leaf, Reticulate venation, Parallel venation, Alternate, Opposite, Whorled
- Sort by Monocot or dicot, Growth habit
- Clues All three features, One feature
Questions to explore
- Why is a potato a stem, while a sweet potato is a root?
- Which features of a maize plant show that it is a monocot?
- How do pneumatophores help a mangrove live in waterlogged mud?
