MadSci Network: Botany
Query:

Re: What is the smallest plant; what is the largest plant?

Area: Botany
Posted By: Elizabeth Belasic, 6 th Grade Physical Science Teacher, Science Teacher, Ramapo Ridge Middle School
Date: Tue Oct 14 19:12:36 1997
Area of science: Botany
ID: 874281766.Bt
Message:

Hello! Let me start with the LARGEST Living Plants .....Sequoia sempervirens are the tallest (up to117 meters!) and they belong in the Group know as Redwoods. Another redwood known as Sequoiadendron gigantium, is usually the one that that is pictured with a tunnel running though the base that cars can drive though! These are both found on the West Coast of the USA. Redwoods belong in the family of Gymnosperms (naked seeds) and more specifically Conifers. Conifers are plants like pines, firs and spruces.

The SMALLEST plants are ... Fresh Water Green Algae (Chlamydomonas genus). They are unicellular - the size of only 1 cell (less than 25 micrometers long)! They have a nucleus, thylakoids (special membranes inside the cell) and chloroplasts - which is where photosynthesis takes place. It is believed that Chlamydomonas is the ancestor to green plants.

Thanks for asking!
I love plants! Grow one today!
Liz Belasic


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Admin note:
David Hershey adds the following:

Many botany textbooks no longer include algae in the Plant Kingdom but in Kingdom Protista. The "Guinness Book of World Records" says the smallest flowering and fruiting plant is an aquatic duckweed (Wolffia angusta). It is 0.61 millimeters (0.24 inch) long and 0.33 millimeters (0.013 inch) wide.

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