1. Seedless Nonvascular & Vascular Plants
-Chapter 12-
Section 2
Pg. 304

2. Nonvascular Seedless Plants
All nonvascular plants are seedless meaning…
The plant groups in this category are mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
None of these plants have true stems, roots, or leaves.
They are usually small since they have no vascular tissue.
Typically live in damp places since they reproduce via spores.

3. Mosses They cover soil or rocks with a mat of tiny green plants.
Have leafy stalks and rhizoids.
Rhizoids- a root like structure that holds nonvascular plants in place and helps the plant get water and nutrients

4. Moss Life Cycle
Turn to page 304- Figure 1

5. Liverworts and Hornworts
Small, nonvascular plants
Live in damp places
Both Liverworts and Hornworts have rhizoids

6. Importance of Nonvascular Plants
Important role in the environment
First plants to live in a new environment,
such as newly exposed rock.
When these nonvascular plants die,
they form a thin layer of soil.
New plants can now grow in this soil.
More nonvascular plants
may grow and hold the soil in place
reducing soil erosion

7. Other Importances Some animals eat nonvascular plants.
Other animals use these plants
for nesting material.
Peat mosses are important
to humans. They grow in bogs and
other wet places. Used in potting soil.

8. Seedless Vascular Plants
Typically, are these plants going to be smaller of larger than nonvascular plants?
These plants include ferns, horsetails, and club mosses.

9. Ferns
Grow anywhere from the cold Arctic to warm, humid tropical forests
Most are small plants.
Have a rhizome
Rhizome- an underground stem from which new leaves and roots grow.

10. Fern Life Cycle
Turn to page 306, Figure 3

11. Horsetails and Club Mosses
Can be tall but many are smaller
-Grow in wet, marshy places
Their stems are hollow and contain silica
-The silica gives horsetails a gritty
texture which American pioneers
utilized as pot and pan scrubbers
Club Mosses:
Not actually mosses
Grow in woodlands
Have vascular tissue

12. Importance of Seedless Vascular Plants
Roles in the Environment:
Ferns, horsetails, and club mosses help form soil
Help prevent soil erosion
Ferns can play a role in the formation of communities in rocky areas
Ferns add to soil depth, which allows other plants grow.

13. Importance of Seedless Vascular Plants
Ferns and some club mosses are popular houseplants
Fiddleheads of some ferns can be cooked
and eaten.
Horsetails are used in some dietary supplements, shampoos, and skin-care products.

14. Importance to Humans
The remains of ancient ferns, horsetails, and club mosses formed coal.
Coal is a fossil fuel that humans mine from the Earth’s crust.
Humans rely on coal for energy.