CHAPTER 3.

3 : EXCRETION
IN PLANTS
Presented by : Fong Jia Min, Lai Ting Yee, Chin Man Wei, Chong Kai Yee,
Bryan Leong, Yap Chin Voon & Ong Li Jun
 EXCRETORY PRODUCTS OF
PLANTS
Like humans and animals, plants also need to remove waste products.
Examples of their waste products are:
Water
Carbon dioxide
Oxygen
Mineral salts
Nitrogenous waste
Metabolic waste product that contains nitrogen. Urea and uric acid are the most
common nitrogenous waste products in terrestrial animals.
 Plants have very little nitrogenous waste products, unlike humans and
animals. They are usually converted into harmless granules which retained
in the plants cells.
Some of these granules are useful and some are poisonous.
Flowers and leaf pigments are examples of nitrogenous wastes.
Most pigments are alkaloids which are poisonous but they can be extracted
to produce medicine.
Drugs like morphine, opium and cocaine are also obtained from waste
products of plants.
Tannins which collect in the bark can be made into ink.
Other types of waste products like oil droplets can be made into perfume.
 EXCRETORY METHOD OF PLANTS
Water and carbon dioxide produced during respiration are used in
photosynthesis, only a small amount of oxygen produced is used for respiration.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide diffuses into the air through the stomata in the
leaves.
Excess water is removed as water vapour during transpiration.
Mineral salts remain in plants as crystals.
Calcium carbonate
Calcium oxalate crystals
Minerals like silicon salts are deposited in the leaves of the grass family, to
strengthen the leaf blade.
Nitrogenous waste products are removed as complex substances. These
substances are released when the plants shed their leaves, flowers or bark.
 Excretory products Source Benefits (Uses) / Danger
Latex Rubber tree Tyres, gloves, shoes soles, rubber
- White sticky fluid from pipes
the tree stem Pong pong tree Causes blindness if come in contact
with the eye
Stinging nettle Skin feels painful when touched
Castor-oil plant Causes muscle cramps
Gum Acacia tree stem Making cough mixture and sweets
- Sticky fluid which hardens
when exposed to air
Organic acid Tannid acid (tannin) in Used in preparation of ink
the bark of mangrove
tree and tea leaf
Oxalic acid (deposited Used in preparation of printing ink
as calcium oxalate in
the leaf of beet plant)
Resin Resin of casurina tree Used in adhesives, varnish, paint
- Yellowish liquid from tree
trunk
 Excretory product Source Benefits (Uses) / Danger
Oil Eucalyptus leaves, nutmeg fruit, Used in medication oil,
- Plant fats in the form clove flower, mint leaf, lavender perfume, aromatherapy oil
of liquid flower, laurel leaf, rosemary flower
Coconut fruit, oil palm fruit, corn Cooking oil
seed
Hashish oil (tar) Hallucination
Alkaloid Codeine (found in opium) Cough medicine, can be
- Organic compounds addictive
that contain nitrogen Quinine (from the bark of cinchona Treat malaria, fever and pain
- Bitter and mostly tree)
poisonous
Nicotine (an alkaloid in tobacco) Medicines and insecticide,
found in cigarette (addictive)
Cocaine (from the leaves of coca Anaesthetic and produce
shrub) hallucinatory effects
Caffeine (alkaloid in coffee & tea) Stimulating effects
Morphine (from poppy seeds) Relieves pain and can be
highly addictive