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exist five kingdoms In nature. Kingdoms are ways of classifying living beings based on certain characteristics they have in common. This classification helps to understand the relationships that organisms establish with each other, but also to highlight the particularities of each species within the generalities of their kingdom.
The kingdom is a general classification. Furthermore, each genus is subdivided into phylum (or division), class, order, family, and finally species. The species They are the basic units of biological classification, that is, the minimum unit of classification.
The fact that the kingdom is one of the broadest classifications (lower than only the 3 domains), implies that within each domain there are a huge number and variety of species that have only a few characteristics in common, which nevertheless they radically distinguish them from the species of other kingdoms.
Besides Kingdom Plantae, the other kingdoms of nature are:
- Animalia (also called Animal Kingdom): They are eukaryotic organisms, that is, they have cells with a differentiated nucleus. They have the ability to move voluntarily. Their cells do not have a cell wall. They are heterotrophs, that is, they consume organic matter from other living beings.
- Fungi (also called fungi): They are also eukaryotic organisms but they do not have the ability to move. They have cell walls made up mainly of chitin.
- Protista: Eukaryotic organisms that cannot be classified in any of the other three eukaryotic kingdoms (fungi, animalia and plantae).
- Monera: Kingdom of prokaryotic organisms, that is, their cells do not have a differentiated nucleus but the genetic material is free in the cytoplasm.
This kingdom is also known as the Vegetable Kingdom. Their characteristics are:
- Eukaryotic cellsPlants are eukaryotic organisms, that is, they have cells with a differentiated nucleus separated from the cytoplasm by a membrane.
- Displacement: Plants do not have the ability to move voluntarily.
- Autotrophs: An autotrophic organism is one that does not require organic material from another living being to feed itself. In other words, it produces its own food from inorganic substances. Plants differ from other autotrophic organisms (such as some bacteria) by the process by which they create organic material: photosynthesis. In other words, all species within the kingdom plantae are photosynthetic.
- Cell walls: The cells of these organisms are characterized by having a cell wall. They are distinguished from fungi (which have the same structure in their cells) because in plants the cell walls contain cellulose instead of chitin. Although some rare examples of unicellular algae lack a cell wall, they are still considered plants because they have chloroplasts.
- Multicellular or unicellular: There are differences regarding the division of the kingdom plantae in this regard. Some recent classifications include unicellular organisms (glaucophytes) while other more traditional classifications consider plants to be only multicellular organisms.
- Reproduction: The reproduction in plants is very varied, since there are so many species with asexual reproduction, as species with sexual reproduction, that is, gametes, zygotes and spores are involved.
Examples of Kingdom Plantae
- Braunia imberbis: Type of moss (non-vascular land plant) with stems up to 4 centimeters. It has a characteristic yellowish green color. It grows on rocks.
- Cyanidioschyzon: Alga cyanidiophytina, unicellular, belonging to the red algae. It does not have a cell wall and therefore has a rounded shape.
- Royal fern (osmunda regalis): Native plant of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. It grows in swamps. It belongs to the seedless vascular land plants.
- Magnolia: Perennial trees with white petal flowers for ornamental use. Dicotyledonous species.
- Sago palm (cycas revoluta), Also called cica, church palm or false palm tree. It comes from Japan. It looks very similar to a palm tree, like all cycads (a specific type of gymnosperm).
- Cembra pine (Pinus cembra): Tree up to 25 cm high with needles (needle-shaped leaves) grouped by five. It is a gymnosperm.
- Banana plant (musaceae): It has large leaves that grow in a spiral along the stem. They have flowers with 5 tepals. It is a monocotyledonous plant.
- Snow watermelon (scientific name: chlamydomona): unicellular green alga that inhabits alpine snowdrifts.
- Yew trees (taxus): Coniferous tree. It grows in mountainous and humid areas. It can reach 20 meters in height. As it is a gymnosperm, it does not have fruits but it does have an aril: a fleshy covering of the seed.
- Tulip: Perennial and bulbous plant. Monocotyledonous flowering plant.
The classification detailed below is the traditional classification. There is also a phylogenetic classification that includes other organisms not considered plants, but that have chloroplasts.
Classification
Algae
They are the plants that live in aquatic environments. They may be unicellular or multicellular.
- Red algae: Also called rodófitas. Despite containing chlorophyll, which allows photosynthesis, they are characterized by their red color due to pigments that cover the green color of chlorophyll.
- Cyanidiophytina: Unicellular algae that according to some classifications are considered protists. They inhabit hot springs, volcanic calderas and other acidic environments. They have high resistance to toxic metals, that is, they are Extremophilic organisms (beings capable of living in extreme conditions).
- Rhodophytina: They are the red algae themselves. Its coloration is due to phycoerythrin. The vast majority are marine. They live in shallow waters up to 100 meters deep and in some cases up to 250 meters. This is because they need light to photosynthesize.
- Green algae: They are the species most related to terrestrial plants. At least 10,000 species have been discovered. They live in both fresh and salt water.
- Chlorophyta: Also called chlorophytes. Although most of them are aquatic, there are species that adapt to frozen environments. To this group belong the algae that are related symbiotically with fungi to form lichens.
- Charophyta: Also called carophytes. Some species are mobile thanks to flagellate cells. In other species, flagellate cells are involved in sexual reproduction.
Terrestrial plants
They are also called embryophytes (embryophyta). They are descendants of certain species of green algae but are distinguished from them because they are capable of living outside the water. In other words, they are the species that colonized the earth.
Terrestrial plants are characterized by going through an embryo stage, which is why they are called embryophytes. This is a difference with all algae, more general than the fact of being adapted to the terrestrial environment, since there are a few species of algae that live outside the water.
Embryophytes also have multicellular cellular structures in the sporophyte, gametophyte, cuticle, and thick-walled spores.
- Non-vascular land plants: Also called bryophytes. They do not have conduction vessels (xylem or phloem), they do not have roots, stems or leaves themselves. Despite being among terrestrial plants, some species are aquatic. Due to the absence of roots, they have the ability to adhere to a wide variety of surfaces and grow in dark places, where they can absorb moisture from the environment.
- Seedless vascular plants: Also called pteridophytes (pteridophyta) or ferns and the like. They are tracheophytes, that is, plants that alternate a gametophytic generation and another sporophytic one. The spores have a stem with a stem (from which roots later grow) and in this way the plant can reproduce.
- Vascular plants with seeds: Also called spermatophytes or phanerogams (spermatophyta).
It can serve you:
- 50 Examples from Each Kingdom
- Examples of Forests
- Examples of Jungles
