A school flowerbed has flowering plants such as balsam, while mosses and ferns grow without flowers in the shade at the foot of a wall.
Even the huge variety of plants can be sorted into a few groups by checking whether they flower, whether they sprout with one seed leaf or two, and what their leaf veins and roots look like.
Plants in the same group look alike, and some, like a desert cactus or a pond water lily, have bodies shaped to suit where they live.
In the first picture, open the levels one at a time to see how plants branch into groups; in the second, compare monocots and dicots.
Sorting plants into groups
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How plants are sorted: first by whether they flower, then by seed leaves and body features
🌿 How plants are sorted
①First check whether the plant flowers, and split plants into flowering and non-flowering
②Flowering plants are split into monocots and dicots by the number of seed leaves
③Non-flowering plants include ferns and mosses, which spread by spores instead of seeds
④Using features anyone can check the same way means everyone gets the same groups
Monocots and dicots
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Comparing the seed leaves, leaf veins, roots, and petals of monocots and dicots
🌾 How to tell them apart
①Seed leaves: monocots have one, dicots have two
②Leaf veins: monocots have parallel veins running side by side, dicots have net-like veins that branch
③Roots: monocots have fibrous roots all about the same thickness, dicots have a thick main taproot with side roots
④Petals: monocots usually have multiples of 3, dicots usually multiples of 4 or 5
Plants suited to where they live
🏜️ Bodies suited to where they live
①A desert cactus stores water in its thick stem, and its leaves have turned into spines so less water escapes
②A pond water lily floats its wide leaves on the water to catch sunlight
③A pine on a cold mountain has thin needle leaves that lose less water, even in winter
④Plants on the dark floor of a tropical forest gather the little light that reaches them with wide leaves
First check for flowers, then sort by the number of seed leaves
Monocots
1 seed leaf + parallel veins + fibrous roots
rice, corn, barley, lily
Dicots
2 seed leaves + net-like veins + taproot
rose, bean, sunflower, apple tree
🎯 Key points
①Plants are sorted using features you can see and check
②Flowering plants are split into monocots and dicots
③Non-flowering plants include ferns and mosses
④Monocots and dicots are told apart by seed leaves, leaf veins, and root shape
⑤A plant's shape suits the environment where it lives
Examples and Unit Test
Example 1
A plant has leaf veins that run side by side and fibrous roots. Is it a monocot or a dicot?
1
Monocots have one seed leaf, parallel veins, and fibrous roots.
2
Its veins run side by side and its roots are fibrous, so it is a monocot.
▸ A monocot
Look at a rice or corn leaf and you will see the veins running side by side all the way to the tip.
Example 2
A cactus lives well even in a desert where it hardly ever rains. Which features help it?
1
A cactus has a thick, plump stem that stores a lot of water.
2
Its leaves have turned into thin, sharp spines, so less water escapes through leaves.
▸ A thick stem that stores water and leaves turned into spines
Besides saving water, the spines stop animals from chewing the stem.
Unit-test style
Which statement about the classification and features of plants is correct?
①Monocots have net-like veins
②Dicots have two seed leaves
③Mosses are flowering plants
④A cactus has wide leaves that let out a lot of water
⑤Rice is a dicot
▸ ② Dicots have two seed leaves
1
Dicots have two seed leaves, net-like veins, and a taproot.
2
Monocots have parallel veins (①), mosses do not flower (③), a cactus loses less water because its leaves have turned into spines (④), and rice is a monocot (⑤).