13'3 Nonflowering Vascular Plants

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13.3 Nonflowering Vascular Plants

• Ferns, Horsetails Club Mosses

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• Imagine a plant taller than the Statue of Liberty

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Ferns

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

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• 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.

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

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

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

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

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• 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.

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Horsetails

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

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

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

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

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• Unlike true mosses, club mosses have vascular
  tissue.

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

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