1. PLANTS Nonvascular Vascular Angiosperms Gymnosperm Seedless Seed

2. 4-2: Seedless Plants Mosses and Liverworts -small -grow on soil, tree bark, rocks -no vascular system -live in wet places -don't have true stems, roots or leaves -similar structures: -rhizoids (like roots) -slender, hairlike threads of cells -help hold plant in place

3. Importance of Mosses and Liverworts -First to inhabit new environment -Form a thin layer of soil when they die -Cover the soil and help hold it in place (reduces erosion) -Birds use to make nests -Peat mosses -grow in bogs and other wet places -dried and burned as fuel

4. Ferns, Horsetails and Club Mosses -Ancient -grew tall Ferns -many places -relatively small -2 part life cycle -gametophyte -sporophyte -have rhizomes -underground stem -produces fronds (leaves) -young fronds -called fiddleheads -edible

5. Horsetails -only 15 species surviving -small, vascular -grow in wet, marshy places -hollow stems -contain silica -feel gritty -called "scouring rushes" (pioneers) -used to scrub pots and pans Club Mosses -grow in woodlands -not actually mosses -have vascular tissue

6. Importance of Seedless Vascular 1. help form soil 2. prevent erosion 3. ferns -houseplants -fiddleheads = eaten 4. remains of ancient plants form coal

7. Review Questions 1. What's the difference between a rhizoid and a rhizome? A rhizoid is a threadlike extension of cells that anchors a moss to the ground. A rhizome is the underground stem of a fern. 2. Describe the ecological importance of mosses and liverworts. They can grow in areas that previously had no plants. When they die, they form a thin soil in which other plants can grow.