13.3 Nonflowering Vascular Plants

1. 13.3 Nonflowering Vascular Plants Ferns, Horsetails & Club Mosses

2. Imagine a plant taller than the Statue of Liberty

3. Ferns • Nonflowering vascular plants called ferns were important members of the ancient forests.

4. A few species of tropical ferns are tree-sized like those living millions of years ago, but most of the 12,000 or so species of ferns alive today are smaller.

5. Unlike mosses, ferns have true roots, stems, and distinctive leaves.

6. The leaves of ferns are sometimes called fronds. Each is divided into leafs.

7. The plant that you know as a fern is the sporophyte part of the life cycle.

8. On the underside of its mature fronds grow spore cases called sori (SOH ree) that look like small brown spots.

9. How is the fern life cycle different from the life cycle of a moss? In a moss, the gametophyte is the largest and longest-lived generation. In a fern, it is the sporophyte that grows larger and lives longer.

10. Horsetails • Modern horsetails are common in many damp places, but there are only 15 species.

11. The life cycle of a horsetail is similar to that of a fern.

12. Club Mosses can be found growing on forest floors in temperate regions.

13. The club-shaped structures at the tips of their stems are spore cases.

14. Unlike true mosses, club mosses have vascular tissue.

15. Their life cycles are similar to those of the horsetails and ferns.

16. END