1. Obj. 8: Describe characteristics of marine plant and algae divisions
Marine Flowering Plants

2. I. Marine Plants
Have a vascular system for transporting food, nutrients, and water through out the plant
All are flowering plants
3 types
Seagrasses
Salt marsh plants
mangroves

3. II. Seagrasses Aren’t really grasses Related to lillies
All submerged (completely underwater)
Structure
Horizontal stems (rhizomes) that grow beneath the sediment
Roots and stems grow from the rhizomes
Leaves are called blades

5. Reproduction Separate male and female plants and flowers
Very small flowers (not used to attract pollinators)
Pollen is carried on the water currents
Produce seed some with small fruit that are transported on the water currents

6. Not a major producer in the oceans because they are hard for most marine organisms to digest
Eaten by manatees, green sea turtles, and some fish and sea urchins

7. Important Habitat - acts as protection for many small animals.
Genera common to the gulf coast are Zostera (eelgrass) and Thallasia (turtle grass)

8. III. Salt Marsh Plants
Are halophytes (salt-tolerant, terrestrial plants)
Members of the grass familiy
Must be exposed to air at low tide so they are restricted to the intertidal zone (zone that is uncovered at low tide)

9. Structure Have rhizomes and short vertical stems
Leaves are called blades
have salt glands to excrete excess salt

11. Important Habitat Know as the “nurseries of the oceans”
Feed and protect many of the commercially important species at some point in their life

12. Common species in S. Alabama
Spartina alterniflora (cordgrass)
Juncus (blackneedle rush)

13. IV. Mangroves Along tropical coastal areas with little wave action
Trees and shrubs

14. Structure
Simple, oval, leathery, thick leaves are adapted to reduce water loss
Leaves never under water
Complex root systems that are adapted to grow in loose, shallow, low oxygen, saline sediments
Many have roots that descend from the trunk or branches of the tree to the sediment
Most salt is prevented to entering the tree at the roots

16. Reproduction Flowers are pollinated by the wind or bees
Mangroves along the shore develop the embryo attached to the parent plant
The embryo is called a propagule
It grows an enlongated, cigar-shaped stem before it separates from the parent plant and floats away