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The evolution of plant life is the story of a journey from the water to the land, the successful conquest of the new habitat.
Along the way, plants have adapted themselves in order to carry out the functions of life such as nutrition, respiration and reproduction.
Consider this flowering plant, it belongs to the group bud is called Angiosperm. The word Angiosperm means enclosed seed. Not all plants have their embryonic forms protected in this way. It is one of the adaptations to life on land that is help to make this group so successful.
What other adaptations can we see here? The plant has roots to seek out water and minerals and also to anchor it into the ground.
It has a stem rigid enough to hold the plant up and support its leaf in sunlight, but flexible enough to bend without breaking.
The cells of the leaves contain chloroplast for photosynthesis and stomata for respiration.
The vascular system which is like a vast plumbing network distributes water and nutrients to all parts of the plant connecting roots to leaves and vice versa.
The plant has bright and attractive flowers and nectar to attract insects. Unaware of their own crucial role, it is the insects through visits the neighboring flowers who ensure cross pollination, cross fertilization and their by the next generation of this plant.
But what happens if we strip away all these adaptations?
In a weather habitat, searching roots are not so vital although maybe a little something is needed for grip.
A waxy cuticle is in needed either because water loss is not a problem.
Water and minerals can be taken up over the whole surface of the plant so there is not much need for a vascular system. The best bet is to stay low to the ground and spread out a bit.
Who needs flowers for sexual reproduction? With all these water, those gummies snails will swim.
So what kinds of plant are we left with? Probably something like this, this is a liver wart.
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