What Three Organisms Are in Kingdom Plantae?

About Kingdom Plantae

• There are about 250,000 species in Kingdom Plantae. Plants come in an amazing diversity of color, size and shape, and each type of plant, as well as each individual species, survives and adapts in different ways. However, all of the plants in this kingdom use chlorophyll, the green pigment plants use to capture energy from the sun.

Flowering Plants

• Flowering plants, Anthophyta, are the largest group of plants in the Kingdom Plantae. The plants, as their name suggests, develop flowers. Flowers aid in the plants' reproduction by growing both male and female plant parts which produce pollen or are pollinated, respectively. This pollination then creates a seed, which is often encased in a fruit or vegetable. Flowering plants include roses and other garden flowering plants, grasses, trees and many other types of plants.

Ferns

• Ferns are some of the most ancient plant species in this kingdom. Fossils help to date them back to the Devonian period, which was about 417 million years ago. There are about 10,000 different species of ferns broken into three main groups. They are the Ophioglossales, Marattiales and Leptosporangiate groups. Many ferns are found in tropical regions. These ferns have stems that grow above ground, to amazing heights, some 40 feet or taller. Other ferns grow in more temperate regions. These ferns have stems, called rhizomes, which grow underground. The leaves of the fern are the only part above ground. Ferns reproduce with spores, a reproduction method more primitive than any other plant reproduction, such as cones or seeds. Fern types include the maidenhair fern, Christmas fern and Boston fern.

Conifers

• Conifers include any plant that develops a cone. These cones contain seeds but are not considered to be true fruits, and are therefore separate from other plants. The difference between fruits and cones is in the way the cones develop. Conifers are gymnosperms, meaning they produce pollen but no flowers, and are pollinated and germinate in a more primitive manner than flowering or fruit-bearing plants. Conifers can be either trees or bushes. Most conifers have needles and are evergreens, meaning they never lose their leaves, although this is not true of all conifers. Conifers include pines, cedars, larches and yews.