Plant Hunt

Plant Hunt

All plants can be put into 1 of 4 different groups.

Your task is to find an example of four different types in your garden.

Use the information in the classification key and in the notes to help you.

Classification Key

Don’t worry about algae, you would only find it if you had a pond!

Conifers • These are usually large trees which produce seeds or cones for reproduction. • They have strong stems and needle like leaves

Ferns

• Ferns are simple plants which do not produce flowers or seeds.

• They have a strong stem, roots and leaves • Ferns reproduce using spores look on the back of the leaf for clumps of spores.

Flowering plants • These are plants which produce flowers or fruit as a method for reproduction. • Not all flowering plants are small. For example an many trees are actually a flowering plants. You can use the leaf shape to identify and name many different types of tree. If you pick a tree what type is it?

Flowering Plant tree types

Mosses

• Mosses are simple plants which grow on damp rocks and walls. They have no proper roots or stems, do not produce flowers but use spores for reproduction instead.

Did you catch them all?

Extension Task Plants have been around since well before the dinosaurs, and like them we can find plant fossils. The task sheet plant fossils.pdf , has some drawings of plant fossils, can you now recognise these ancient plants?