Plant and Fungi

How this section works

Study the lesson, practice with the interactive tasks, and then test yourself with real Olympiad questions from past years. For each lesson, we list the exact Olympiad question(s) you’ll be ready to answer.
 

Parts of flowering plants
Olympiad questions you’ll be ready to answer:

• Identify the main divisions of plants
• Determine the floral formula of a given flower
• Distinguish types of simple and compound inflorescences
• Classify types of fruits, including special cases such as berry-like cones (galbulus)
• Recognize modified shoots
• Differentiate leaves by shape, margin, venation, and whether they are simple or compound

Fungal Systematics

Olympiad questions you’ll be ready to answer:

• Given structural clues in a description, classify a fungus into the correct phylum by cell wall composition and spore type.
• Explain how genome reduction and loss of sexual stages historically led to the formation of the Fungi Imperfecti concept.
• Justify why zoospores indicate an aquatic or ancestral lifestyle, based on life cycle traits.
• Compare at least two spore types by formation mechanism, and explain what developmental genes must regulate each stage.
• Explain why aquatic fungi retain motile spores more often than terrestrial fungi.