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The plant groups side by side, with their key examples, economic uses and the tricky points that exams test, worked step by step, and a full NEET-style mock exam.

What's inside

1. Comparing the plant groups: The five groups of plants differ in the dominant generation, in vascular tissue, in their need for water at fertilisation, and in seeds and fruits. A short key of four questions places any plant. Read in order, the groups show clear trends from water to land.
2. Plants that matter to people: Plants feed, house and heal people. Red algae give agar and carrageen, brown algae give algin, and Chlorella and Spirulina are protein-rich foods. Sphagnum gives peat and holds water. Gymnosperms give timber and resins, and angiosperms give most food, fibres and medicines.
3. Tricky points the exams test: Exams return to the same confusions. They include the gametes of Chlamydomonas, gemmae, Selaginella and Salvinia, and the roots of Cycas and Pinus. Others are the embryo sac, triple fusion and the endosperm, and which plants have which life cycle. Each is worked here as a NEET-style question.