Figure 10.1: These bird eggs are benefiting from the cover of a plant; plant materials make
up the nest, and when the eggs hatch, the young birds will eat plant products like seeds and
berries. ( 33 )
What Are Plants?
From tiny mosses to extremely large trees (Figure10.2), the organisms classified into the
Plant Kingdom have three main distinguishable features.
They are all:
- eukaryotic
- photosynthetic
- multicellular
Recall that eukaryotic organisms also include animals, protists, and fungi; eukaryotic cells
have true nuclei that contain DNA and membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria.
As discussed in theCell Functionschapter, photosynthesis is the process by which plants
capture the energy of sunlight and use carbon dioxide from the air to make their own food.
Lastly, plants must be multicellular. Recall that some protists, like diatoms, are eukaryotic
and photosynthetic; however, diatoms are not considered plants. Diatoms are a major group
of algae, and are mostly unicellular.