State what makes a gymnosperm, contrast it with an angiosperm, and follow Pinus from dimorphic shoots and needles through male and female cones, wind pollination and single fertilisation to a winged seed.
Unit 2 carries 9 of the 40 botany marks; with eleven chapters sharing them, this one averages under one (MEC publishes weights by unit, not by chapter). The MEC scope line: Characteristic features of gymnosperms; Morphological structure and reproduction of Pinus. Three ways it is asked:
Upgrade to unlock this and every premium study note, formula sheet and high-yield summary — plus unlimited mocks and full solutions.
See the plansBiodiversity: Unit Map and Reading Order
What the Biodiversity unit covers, how its nine questions spread over eleven chapters, and a reading order from classification to Nepal's medicinal plants.
Introduction to Classification: From Two Kingdoms to Three Domains
Say why the two-kingdom system failed, rank a plant from kingdom to species with the right suffixes, write a binomial correctly, and tell Whittaker's five kingdoms from Woese's three domains.
Monera and Virus: Bacterial Cells, Blue-green Algae and the Virion
Label a bacterial cell and explain the Gram stain, classify bacteria by shape, flagella and nutrition, read a growth curve, describe a heterocyst, and compare TMV with a T4 phage and a lytic with a lysogenic cycle.
Fungi and Lichens: Four Classes, Yeast, Mucor and the Dual Organism
Compare the four classes of fungi by hyphae and spores, follow budding and ascospores in yeast and sporangia and zygospores in Mucor, and name the partners, growth forms and uses of lichens.