Nonvascular & Simple

Vascular Plants

Mosses to Ferns 1
 Spore Capsules

Seedless
Nonvascular
Plants

2
Moss
 Divisions
• Bryophyta – Moss
• Hepatophyta – liverworts
• Anthocerophyta - hornworts

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Bryophytes

4
 Characteristics
• Includes liverworts, hornworts, and
mosses
• Lack vascular tissue (xylem &
phloem) to carry water and food
• Go through Alternation of
generations (sporophyte &
gametophyte stage)
• Gametophyte is dominant stage
• Reproduce by spores
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 Division - Bryophyta

Sporophytes

Gametophytes

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 Mosses
• Division Bryophyta
• Small, nonvascular
plants
• NO true roots,
stems, or leaves
• Grow in moist areas
(brick walls, as thick
mats on the forest
floor, on the sides
of trees) Moss gametophytes
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 Mosses
• Some can survive
short dry spells
• Must grow close
together for their
life cycle
• H2O moves by
diffusion from cell
to cell
• Sperm must swim
to egg through
drops of water
Moss growing on Moist tree trunk
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 Mosses
• Have a outer waxy
Cuticle to prevent
water loss
• Have root like Rhizoids
to anchor the plant,
but NOT absorb water
• Leaf like gametophyte
supports sporophyte
with spore capsule

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 Sphagnum Moss

• Known for its

moisture holding
capacity
• Absorbs 20 times
its weight in water
• Used by florists to
keep plant roots
moist

10
 Uses for Moss Plants
• Help decompose dead wood
• Serve as pioneer plants on bare
rock or ground
• Help prevent erosion
• Provide shelter for insects & small
animals
• Used as nesting material by birds
• Peat moss is burned as fuel
11
 Asexual Reproduction in Moss
• May occur by
Fragmentation (pieces of
gametophyte break off
& form new moss plants
• May occur by Gemmae
(tiny cup shaped
structures on
gametophytes)
• Rain drops separate
gemmae from the parent
plant so they spread &
form new moss plants 12
 Sexual Reproduction in Moss
• Moss alternate between a dominant
haploid (1n) Gametophyte and a
diploid (2n) Sporophyte
• Gametophytes produce gametes (eggs
& sperm) containing half the
chromosome number
• Sporophytes have a complete set of
chromosomes & produces spores by
meiosis

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 Sexual Reproduction in Moss
• The sporophyte is
smaller & attached to Spore
the gametophyte Capsule

• Sporophyte lacks setae

chlorophyll & gets food
from the gametophyte
• Sporophyte has a long,
slender stalk (setae)
topped with a spore
producing capsule
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 Asexual Reproduction in
Moss
• The spore capsule is
full of spores that
must mature
• Once mature, the
spore cap
(operculum) comes
off releasing spores
• Spores germinate
(grow) when they
land on moist soil
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 Sexual Reproduction in Moss
• Gametes (eggs &
sperm) are
protected by a
jacket of sterile
cells called the
Gametangia
• Archegonium –
female gametangia
• Eggs are larger &
immobile
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 Sexual Reproduction in Moss
• Antheridia – male
gametangia
• Antheridia forms
many sperm cells
• Sperm cells
capable of
swimming to egg
• Sperm follow a
chemical trail
released by the
egg 17
 Sexual Reproduction in Moss
• Fertilized egg (zygote)
undergoes mitosis to
develop Sporophyte
• Spore capsule of
sporophyte makes haploid
spores by meiosis
• Spores germinate into
juvenile plants called
protonema
• Protonema becomes the
gametophyte
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19
Division - Hepatophyta

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 Liverworts
• Nonvascular
• Reproduce by spores
• Alternation of
generations with
sporophyte attached
to gametophyte
• Green, leafy
Gametophyte
dominant
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 Liverworts
• Need abundant water
for fertilization
• Grow on moist soil,
rocks, or other moist
surfaces
Gemmae Cups
• Reproduce asexually
by gemmae or by
growing new branches Capsule
• Reproduce sexually by
haploid spores
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Division Anthocerophyta

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 Hornworts
Sporophytes
• Small, nonvascular
bryophytes
• Gametophyte leafy
and dominant like
liverworts
• Archegonia &
antheridia form
inside the plant
• Zygotes develop into
long, horn-shaped
Sporophytes 24
Gametophytes
 Hornworts
• Horn-shaped
Sporophyte capable
of photosynthesis
• Sporophyte attached
to, but NOT as
Sporophyte
dependent on
Gametophyte

Gametophyte 25
 Spore Cases

Seedless
Vascular
Plants

26
 Divisions
• Psilophyta – Whisk ferns
• Lycophyta – Club mosses
• Sphenophyta – horsetails
• Pterophyta - ferns

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 Characteristics
• Have specialized transport or
vascular tissues (xylem & phloem)
to carry food & water
• Have sporophyte & gametophyte
stages (alternation of generations)
• SPOROPHYTE is dominant
• Reproduce by spores

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Division - Psilophyta

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 Whisk Ferns
• Have a
photosynthetic,
aerial forked stem
• Looks like a small,
green twiggy bush
• Have TRUE stems,
but NO leaves or
roots
• Only two living Stems with spore
genera cases 30
 Whisk Ferns
• Have rootlike stems
structures called
Rhizomes to anchor
(can’t absorb water)
• May asexually
reproduce from Sporangia
rhizomes
• Sexually reproduce
by spores made in
Sporangia (spore
cases on the stems) 31
Division - Lycophyta

Oldest living vascular plants 32

 Club Moss
• Commonly called ground
pines
• Bushy, tree like branches
above, but unbranched at
the base
• Have deep growing root
like Rhizomes
• Live in moist woods and
clearings Leaves

• Small leaves with single

unbranched vein 33
 Club Moss
• Sporophylls (spore
cases) are found in
the axils of leaves
• Form cone shaped
structures called
Strobili
• May be homosporous
(make one type of
spore) or
heterosporous (make
2 types of spores) 34
 Club Moss Spores
• Genus Lycopodium is
homosporous Spore
• Contain chemicals that
explode & burn quickly
• Yellowish powdery
spores used in
fireworks and
explosives
35
Burning Lycopodium powder
 Club Moss Sporophylls

Strobili

Sporophylls
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Other Uses for Club Moss
• Sometimes boiled in water to
produce a medicinal tea or an eye
wash
• Ground pines, green all winter, are
used in Christmas decorations
• Ancestors of modern club mosses
helped form coal during the
carboniferous period

37
Division - Sphenophyta

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 Horsetails
• Only one living (extant)
species - Equisteum
• Also called scouring
rushes
• Hollow, jointed Stems
contain silica & were
once used to scrub pots
• Photosynthetic aerial
stem
• Underground Rhizomes

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 Horsetails
• Reproduce by spores at the
tips of branches
• In prehistoric times, grew
as tall as trees
• Found in wetlands
• Stems with sunken stomata
to save water
• Some spores have elaters, Stem with a
cells that act as moisture- whorl (at each
sensitive springs, assisting node) of
spore dispersal branches and
dark-tipped
leaves 40
 Uses for Horsetails
• Use to fight plant fungi
• Used in some mouthwashes to
cure mouth ulcers
• Used as diuretics to eliminate
excess water (weight loss
products)
• Toxic to animals (sheep, cattle,
horses)
41
Division - Pterophyta

Ferns
42
 Ferns
• Largest group of
extant (living) vascular
plants
• Wide range of habitats
(terrestrial, aquatic,
arboreal tree ferns,
epiphytic)
• Can asexually
reproduce by Rhizomes
(underground stems)

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Rhizome
 Ferns
Fronds
• Dominant Sporophyte
stage has true roots,
stems, and leaves
• Roots and stems
underground
• Leaves called fronds
found above ground
and attached to a
stem like petiole
44
 Ferns
• Newly forming fronds
called fiddleheads must
uncurl
• Spore cases called sori Prothallus
are found on the
underside of fronds
• Wind spreads spores
that land on moist soil &
germinate into a
prothallus
45
 Ferns
• The prothallus starts Archegonia
(eggs)
the Gametophyte
stage
• Gametophyte is heart
shaped and short
lived
• Male antheridia &
female archegonia
grow on gametophyte
Antheridia
• Sperm swims to egg
Sperm
to fertilize Prothallus 46
Parts of the Fern Sporophyte

47
48
 Uses for Ferns
• Help prevent erosion
• Fiddleheads are eaten as food
• Ornamental plants for yards
and homes
• Helped form coal deposits
millions of years ago

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