4 NPS|NAFL NORTH

Living Things Plants

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Content
Adaptation in Plants Page 3
Aquatic Plants Page 7
Terrestrial Plants Page 10
Mangroves Page 20
Nutrition in Plants Page 22
How do Plants use their Food? Page 30
Some Unusual Plants and Their Feeding Habits Page 32
Movements in Plants Page 38
Activities Page 42
Vocabulary Page 43
 ADAPTATION
IN PLANTS
Plants grow all over the world. They
are of different sizes. Some grow in
hot deserts, while some in cold
regions.

Plants grow not only on land but also

in water. Thus, we find different kinds
of plants in different natural
surroundings.

Let us study in detail

about them.

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 At first, we need to familiarize ourselves with two terms
which we will come across often.

ADAPTATION- Plants and animals are able to change

themselves slowly in order to live in their
environment. This change is called adaptation. They
modify their parts over time, so that they can live
better and longer in their environment.

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 Here is the second term to remember:
HABITAT- The natural home or environment of an animal, plant or other organism
is called its habitat.
The habitat of a plant or an animal depends on several factors:
• climate and soil ( in case of plants)
• availability of food and water
• presence of enemies, if any

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 Plants grow in different places. Some grow on land and some in water.

Plants that grow on land are called Plants that grow in water are
Terrestrial Plants. called Aquatic Plants.

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AQUATIC PLANTS
Plants that grow in water are called aquatic
plants (Aqua: water). On the basis of their
features, they are classified into following the
categories:
They are:
1. Floating Plants
Duckweed Plants
2. Fixed Aquatic Plants
3. Under Water Plants

1. Floating plants: Some plants are seen floating

on the surface of water in ponds and lakes.
How do these plants adapt themselves to float?
• Wolffia, Pistia and Duckweed Plants float
due to their small size and light body.
• Water Hyacinth has swellings in its leaf stalk
Water Hyacinth
which help it to float.
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 2. Fixed Aquatic Plants
How do these plants adapt to the aquatic
environment?
• Some plants have roots fixed to the
soil under water.
• Lotus and Water Lilies have long stems
which are hollow and light that keep Water Lily
the leaves and flowers afloat.
• Broad leaves help in capturing the
sunlight for making food.
• Wax coated leaves prevent water from
entering the leaves.
• They have stomata only on the upper
surface. Can you explain why?

Lotus

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 3. Under Water Plants

Some plants grow and remain under the

water.

Example: Hydrilla, Vallisneria and Pond

Weed remain underwater.

• These plants have long, ribbon-like, Hydrilla

narrow leaves.

• These leaves arise in clusters from the

roots and do not have any stomata at all.

• They breathe through the body surface.

They use carbon dioxide from water for
photosynthesis and give out oxygen.

• These plants are introduced in Pond Weed

aquariums. Can you guess why?
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 TERRESTRIAL PLANTS

Some plants grow on land. They are called terrestrial plants (terrestrial : of the
earth) A big country like ours has different types of climate. So, we find different
types of plants growing in different places.

They have different shapes, sizes, and structures, according to their habitat.

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 1. Plants of the Desert
Deserts are hot and dry places with sandy soil and very little rainfall. Hot winds blow during
the day and the nights are cold. Desert plants are also called Xerophytes. A xerophyte is a
species of plant that is adapted to survive in an environment with little water, such as a
desert or an ice/snow-covered region in the Alps or the Arctic.
1
The roots are spread close to the surface of the
ground and are able to absorb even the first few
drops of rain.

2 The cactus plant absorbs plenty of water when it

rains and stores it in the stem. The plant survives
on this water for the rest of the year.

3 The stem of a cactus is green. The green stem

makes food for the plant. Most cactus plants have
thick and fleshy stems to store food and water.

Most cactus flower at night. If they were to bloom

4 during the day, the flowers would not survive the
heat of the desert.

Plants lose water through their leaves. A desert

plant cannot afford to lose water. Thus, in cactus
5 plants, the leaves are reduced to sharp and
pointed spines to prevent loss of water. These
spines also protect the plant from grazing animals.

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 Cactus Adaptations

▪ Thick, waxy skin to reduce loss of

water and to reflect heat
▪ Large, fleshy stems to store water
▪ thorns and thin, spiky or glossy
leaves to reduce water loss
▪ Spikes protect cacti from animals
wishing to use stored water
▪ Deep roots to tap groundwater
▪ long shallow roots which spread
▪ over a wide area
▪ Plants lie dormant for years until
rain falls

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 2. Plants of the Coastal Region

Plants growing in warm coastal regions

have to adapt to strong winds, sandy
soil, bright sunlight, very high humidity
(water vapour) in the air and heavy
rainfall.

Examples: coconut palms, areca palms

• Coconut palms have adapted to

growing in warm coastal regions.

• They have long roots that grow

deep into the sandy soil and firmly
anchor the plant.

• They have a sturdy flexible stem

that can withstand strong winds.

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 • The leaves are thick and formed of
many long strips to bear the force of
strong winds.

• They also have a shiny surface to

reflect strong sunlight.

• Large fruits remain afloat in sea water

for many days and can give rise to new
plants on reaching the shore.

Can you guess why there is water inside

a coconut?

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 3. Plants of the Mountainous Region
In cold hilly regions, the temperature is cold
and sometimes, there is snowfall.
Examples: pine, fir, deodar and spruce.
A different way of describing the Plants of
the Mountainous Region.
like in Desert Plants and Aquatic Plants
Trees are tall and straight.
• Leaves are needle-like so that if there is
snowfall it slides off easily.
• Instead of flowers, these trees bear
cones.
• Seeds develop in these cones.
• The trees are evergreen. They do lose
leaves, but each tree loses its leaves
gradually and not all at once.
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 ADAPTATIONS

• To withstand the cold winter

conditions the trees, have a trunk
with a thick bark.

• The leaves are thin and broad and

are able to capture lots of sunlight.

• The leaves change colour during

autumn because they stop
producing chlorophyll.

• During winter, the trees shed

leaves. New leaves grow again in
the spring, which marks the onset
of summer.

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 5. Plants of the Rainforest
HABITAT
• Rainforests are forests located
around the tropics, which is a
zone around the equator.

• Rainforests are found in warm

regions that get heavy rains
throughout the year.

• Plants growing in rainforests are

adapted to flooding.

• The growth of trees in a rainforest

is so dense that very little sunlight
reaches the forest floor.
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 Rainforests produce 20% of the oxygen that all of us in the world need to breathe.

Examples: Orchids, Figs, Ebony, Mahogany, Rubber Tree, Amazon Water Lily

ADAPTATIONS

• The trees have a thin smooth bark which allows water to quickly flow towards
the ground.

• The leaves have a waxy surface and drip tips. Such leaves do not hold water
but make raindrops run off quickly.

• To get enough sunlight, trees in a rainforest grow very tall. Some plants climb
on trees to reach the sunlight available at the top.

• A variety of shade-loving plants grow below the trees.

Why is the Amazon rainforest called the pharmacy of the world ?

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 6. Plants of the Mangrove
Mangroves grow in soil that is sticky and clayey, and in areas where soil is low on oxygen
and the water is salty and brackish. Example: Sundari tree found in Sunderbans in West
Bengal.
ADAPTATIONS
• The trees have breathing roots also called knee roots to absorb oxygen directly from the
air.
• The mangrove trees have stilt roots and prop roots that provide extra support to the
trees. This feature helps the mangroves to grow well at the edge of the ocean and get a
grip on the slippery soil.
• The leaves are 5 cm to 15 cm long, oval or elliptic in shape. They have smooth edges,
thick leathery surfaces.
• As fresh water is limited, mangrove plants limit the amount of water they lose through
their leaves by restricting the opening of the stomata.
• They also vary the orientation of the leaves to avoid the midday sun and to reduce
evaporation from leaves.
• To counteract the salinity of the water salt glands are also present in the leaves.
• The flowers are pale yellow or white, inconspicuous and fragrant.
• The mangrove plant seeds are buoyant and suitable for water dispersal.
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Why are the mangroves important to the coastline?Go to Contents page
 Mangroves reduce the impact of severe weather conditions and control the flow of water

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 NUTRITION IN PLANTS
Have you ever looked at parks,
gardens and forests carefully?
They are green and beautiful.
They contain plants, trees,
bushes, shrubs and herbs
growing around.

Why do plants have green

leaves? The leaves are green in
colour due to the presence of
green substances called
chlorophyll.

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 Chlorophyll helps to make food for the plants. On our Earth, only plants can make
their own food. So, they are known as autotrophs (Auto: self, trophs: plants). As
food is made only in the green leaves, the green leaf is known as “the food factory
of the plant” or “the kitchen of the plant “

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Take a leaf and look at it against the light?

What do you observe? You see a main vein

running through the middle of the leaf.
This is called as the Midrib. The petiole is a
stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant stem.

There are also small veins branching out of

the Midrib. These are called side-veins.
Several smaller veins branch out from the
side veins to form a network of veins.

The veins have two pipelines -

• One pipeline is used to bring water and
minerals to the leaf from the stem.
• The other pipeline takes the prepared
food from the leaf to the other parts of
the plant.
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 HOW DO LEAVES MAKE FOOD?
For making food, a plant gets water and minerals from the earth, and carbon dioxide from
the air. The energy needed to make food is taken from sunlight. It is the chlorophyll that
traps sunlight for this purpose. Leaves make food by a process called photosynthesis.
Photo means light and synthesis means putting together.

In the presence of sunlight, green leaves mix water, minerals and carbon dioxide together to
make food. This plant–food is a kind of sugar called glucose. When leaves make food, they
give off oxygen. This process of making food by green plants is called photosynthesis.
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 WHAT MAKES LEAVES GREEN?
Leaves have a green-coloured pigment called chlorophyll. Even leaves of plants
such as crotons have chlorophyll, but it is hidden by red or yellow pigments.
Plants make food in their leaves with the help of chlorophyll.

green leaves of plants Crotons

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 How do leaves get sunlight, water and air to make food?

Sunlight
Leaves absorb the sunlight that falls on them. That is why leaves are flat. The leaves
are arranged on a plant in such a way they receive enough sunlight.

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 Water

Roots have narrow

tubes. Such tubes form
a continuous network
in the whole plant

The leaf is attached

to the stem of a
plant with a stalk.

Roots absorb water from soil. This water travels through the network of tubes and
reaches the leaves and every other part of the plant.
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 Air

You may remember from what you have learnt in grade 3 that there are tiny holes
called stomata mostly found on the lower surface of the leaf. Air enters the leaf
through the stomata. Leaves absorb the carbon dioxide gas present in the air to
make food.

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 HOW DO THE PLANTS USE THEIR FOOD?
During the process of photosynthesis, the food that the leaf prepares is a
kind of sugar called glucose.

What happens to the food made by plants?

After using the food prepared for its own growth and repair of damaged
tissues, plants store the excess food as starch in the leaves, roots, flowers,
fruits and seeds.
These parts are consumed by us for their nutritive value.
For example, we eat the following parts of the plants:

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 roots flowers

stems fruits

leaves seeds

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 SOME UNUSUAL PLANTS AND THEIR FEEDING HABITS

Moulds and Mushrooms

Moulds and Mushrooms

are non-green plants. They
do not have chlorophyll. Mushrooms

They cannot make their

food.

They get their food from

dead and decaying plants
and animals.

Moulds

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 Crotons
The leaves of some plants like crotons, have chlorophyll, but they appear dark
red in colour.

This is because the red pigment present in the leaves hides the presence of
green colour of the chlorophyll.

So, such leaves can make food by the usual process of photosynthesis.

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 Dodder – a total parasite
Dodder
Plants that do not make food.

Some plants like dodder, do not have

chlorophyll. So, they cannot make
their own food.

They depend totally on other plants

for food and water. They grow on
other plants and use their food and
water.

Such plants are called total parasites.

They kill the plants on which they
grow.

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 Mistletoe – a partial parasite
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on trees such as mango and chickoo.

It is a partial parasite. It has chlorophyll and makes its food but depends on other
plants for water and certain nutrients.

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 Plants that feed on animals

Some plants like the Pitcher plant and Venus

Flytrap feed on insects. They are called
insectivorous or carnivorous plants.

The Pitcher plant has a pitcher (pot-like structure)

with nectar in it. The nectar attracts insects.

When an insect enters the pitcher, it touches the

hair-like structures present inside the pitcher, and
on being disturbed, close the opening of the
pitcher by lowering the flap. The insect then gets
trapped inside it. The plant secretes juices to
digest the insect.

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 The leaves of the Venus Flytrap
looks like a flower.

They have spine-like structures

around them.

When an insect enters the Venus

Flytrap, it closes, and the insect is
trapped inside.

Although the Pitcher plant and the

Venus Flytrap feed on insects, these
plants also make their own food
with the help of chlorophyll in their
leaves.

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 MOVEMENT IN PLANTS
Different parts of the plant show movement in
response to various external stimuli.
Touch, light, gravity, wind and water are the various
stimuli that trigger plant movements.
Plant movements are categorized into two types.
• Tropic movements or Tropism
• Nastic movements
Tropic movement (Tropism) - It is the movement of
a plant towards stimulus.

If the growth is towards the direction of the stimulus,

the tropism is called positive.
If it is against the direction of the stimulus, it is referred
to as negative.

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 Phototropism
Plants are very sensitive to light,
and the shoots tend to grow
towards the light.

This type of movement in response

to light is known as phototropism.

In phototropism, shoots are

positively phototropic. They grow
towards the light. Roots, however,
are negatively phototropic. They
grow away from the light.

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 Geotropism
The roots of plants grow downward while
their shoots grow upwards against gravity.

This type of plant movement in response to

gravity is known as geotropism.

In geotropism, the shoot is negatively

geotropic, and the root is positively
geotropic. Roots display positive geotropism
when they grow downwards, while shoots
display negative geotropism when they grow
upwards.

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 Nastic movement
This kind of movement has no relation
to the direction of stimulus.

Examples:
• The folding of the leaflets of
sensitive plants like Touch–Me-
Not.

• The closing of pitcher of

insectivorous plants.

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 Activities

Activity 1
1. Take a white carnation flower with a stem.
2. Make a fresh slanting cut at the end of the stem.
3. Take a vase with lukewarm water and add a little
food colour to it.
4. Now place the flower in the vase.

•Observe the flower after a few hours.

•Observe the petals with a magnifying lens.
•Has the coloured water reached the petals?
Activity 2
Test for Starch
Dissolve a pinch of starch in hot water. Cool the solution. Take a few drops of this
solution in a dish. Add one drop of iodine solution to it. The solution turns
blue-black. It is because iodine gives a blue-black colour with starch. No other
substance gives this result. We can do the iodine test on different food items to
test for the presence of starch.
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 Vocabulary

• Adaptations - body features and habits that help a living thing

live in its surroundings

• Chlorophyll - green pigment present in plants

• Humidity - the amount of water vapour in the air

• Insectivorous plants - plants that also feed on insects

• Midrib - the vein in the centre of a leaf

• Nastic movement - movement of a plant part in response to an

external stimulus
• Negative tropism - movement of a plant away from an external
stimulus
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 • Partial parasite - plants that prepare their food but depend on
other plants for water and certain nutrients
• Positive tropism - movement of a plant towards an external
stimulus
• Phototropism - movement of a plant in response to light
• Stilt roots - roots that grow above the ground to support the
plant and help it to take air
• Te//
• Kindly note the E-Book link for Grade 4
https://npsedu-
my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personalp/rimarycoordinatoracademics_npsrnr_com/EqrFx1f7c7BCmyA8
8O_ZXp8BDRq8w8F7u1A2Ojy8xpoJJw?e=Mx8g2V

• - tiny opening or pores found on the under-surface of plant

leaves that aid exchange of gases
• Total parasite - plants that depend on other plants for food and
water
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