| Land Plants |
Name |
Height |
Environment |
Special Adaptation |
|
Mud Flat plants: Precursor of land plants |
|
 |
Psilo |
Up to 2 feet |
Psilos dominate the moist soil,
swampy bogs, and mudflats. These plants support themselves upright by
developing some rudimentary vascular tubes which also act as channels for
the nutrients to travel from the roots to the rest of the plant. These
plants do not have leaves. Photosynthesis happens throughout the
plant's structure except for the roots. Hint: if it's green=it
could do photosynthesis |
To survive saturation by
saltwater, many plants concentrate the salt in sections that later break off
or excrete salt through glands. Some plants drifted so far inland that
they evolved to use fresh water from the rain. |
|
Primitive multi-cellular land plants |
|
Click for details |
Sessom |
2-4 inches |
Moist soil, usually under rocks. |
When Psilo
plants made it inland, they shed their bladerettes (bulbs to concentrate
salt) and many of their structures were minimized to adapt to their new
surroundings. A new type of plant emerged. Sessom is a
non-vascular plant. It doesn't have a system of tubelike structures
that transport water and other materials quickly. Also these plants have
only their rigid cell walls to provide support. With this type of
structure, these plants cannot grow very wide or tall. Consequently,
Sessom are small and grow low to the ground. |
|
Plants in different environments
Deciduous |
|
 |
Luxe tree |
20-30 feet |
The
highest elevation in the eastern coast of Penancea is about 4,000
feet. Many Luxe trees grow on this rising slopes. This part of Eupleides
experiences the four seasons. (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall) Luxe trees have many leaves during spring and summer but they shed all of
them during
fall to preserve their energies (food) for the harsh winters typical of
eastern Penancea. Before they shed their leaves, they change
color. |
Unlike Sessoms, Luxe trees
are vascular plants--plants that have vascular tissue. Little sessoms
evolved into big Luxe trees after a long period of time where the
competition for light (important for photosynthesis) selected the sessoms
that developed vascular tissues, which allowed the plant to grow taller and
taller. Vascular tissue
is like a handful of drinking straws bundled together with a rubber band.
The bundle of straws would be stronger and more stable than a single straw
would be. In a similar way, vascular tissue provides strength and
stability to plants. This structure allowed the development of bigger
and taller plants like Luxe tree because now, water moves up from the
roots quickly and efficiently throughout the plant's body. It also
transports the food produced in the leaves to other parts of the plant,
including the roots. |
|
Desert |
|
 |
Verde shrub |
3-4 feet |
Very little rain falls on Penancea valley. The vegetation is sparse
especially in the interior of the continent. |
Verde shrub
has deep roots that reach sources of water far below the surface of the
ground. To conserve their water, this plant has evolved special
stomata (under leaf cell openings) to open only at night when its not very
hot and to close during the daytime when it is very hot. Thus it enables the
plant to avoid the effects of the intense heat of the desert days and still
photosynthesize efficiently. |
|
Grassland |
|
 |
Luminous flower |
2-5 feet |
Temperate grasslands (prairies) cover much of Mandalea and Rhoneah
continents. Such grasslands are highly productive when they are
converted to agriculture. Grassland soil tends to be deep and fertile. |
The luminous
flower is a member of a grass-like family that carpets prairies. It
has big leaves that maximize Luminous' rays and its flowers produce many
seeds efficiently ensuring the next generation. |
