1. Non-Flowering Vascular Plants
Chapter 8 in Judd et al.
Focus on family characters and terminology for now, evolutionary relationships later.
Look at pictures on the cd that came with book

2. Lycophytes 2 Families: Similar characteristics:
Lycopodiaceae (Clubmosses), Lycopodium
Selaginellaceae (Spikemosses), Selaginella
Similar characteristics:
Both are vascular plants, not true mosses
Overlapping scale-like leaves
Spores produced in sporangia that are
in terminal strobili in Lycopodium (text fig 8.2)
between the leaves in Selaginella (text fig. 8.3)

3. Lycopodium digitatum (=L. flabelliforme)
Lycopodium annotinum
Lycopodium dendroideum
Selaginella arenicola

4. Small Families Related to Ferns
Psilotaceae – Whisk ferns
Equisetaceae – Horsetails
Ophioglossaceae – Eusporangiate ferns
Look at some pictures but you are not responsible for knowing anything about them at this time.

5. Psilotum nudum
Equisetum hyemale
Ophioglossum vulgatum

6. True Ferns (Leptosporangiate ferns)
Mostly in family Polypodiaceae (7500 spp.)
Also Osmundaceae, Marsileaceae, Cyatheaceae, but don’t worry about the differences.
Often pinnately compound leaves, but actually a wide variety of leaf shapes.
Spores produced in clusters called sori (singular = sorus).
Sori are very important to identification.

7. Sori

9. Fern sori Often found on under-surface of leaves.
May be covered by flap of tissue called the indusium.
Shape of sorus and indusium v. important.
Sori may be concentrated on separate fertile fronds or fertile leaflets.

10. Sori with indusia

11. Sori on separate fronds
Osmunda cinnamomea
Botrichium virginianum

12. Gymnosperms Seed plants without flowers or fruits.
Seeds are usually in a cone-like structure.
Four orders, but only the last one is important in our local flora
Cycadales, the cycads
Ginkgoales, the ginkgo tree, Ginkgo biloba
Gnetales, the gnetophytes
Coniferales, the conifers

13. Ginkgo biloba
a cycad
a gnetophyte

14. Important families of Coniferales
Pinaceae – pine, fir, spruce, hemlock
Cupressaceae – redwood, baldcypress, juniper

15. Juniperus virginiana
Pinus clausa
Taxodium distichum

16. Characters in the Coniferales
Cone size, shape, position
Needles individual or in bundles (fascicles)
How many needles per fascicle
Size, shape, twisting of needles
Evergreen or deciduous