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Lesson: Chapter 13 — The Living World

13.1. The plant kingdom 1 of 6

Kingdom Plantae

This is the kingdom of the multicellular organisms known as plants. Plant species are thought to number about 287,000.

What makes a plant a plant

The cell wall

Plant cells have walls made of cellulose.

Chlorophyll

They appear green. The reason is the pigment chlorophyll inside the chloroplasts of their cells.

Photosynthesis

With it they absorb solar energy and produce food.

They propagate their kind by sexual means of reproduction and by asexual reproduction.

Algae photosynthesise too — and are not plants

Having chlorophyll does not by itself make something a plant. Algae photosynthesise as well, and they belong to Kingdom Protista. The difference is that plants have tissue differentiation — roots, stem and leaves.