Transcript Importance of Seedless Vascular Plants

Seedless Nonvascular
&
Vascular Plants
-Chapter 12Section 2
Pg. 304
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.
Mosses
• They cover soil or rocks with a mat
of tiny green plants.
• Have leafy stalks and rhizoids.
o Rhizoids- a root like structure that
holds nonvascular plants in place
and helps the plant get water and
nutrients
Moss Life Cycle
• Turn to page 304- Figure 1
Liverworts and Hornworts
• Small, nonvascular plants
• Live in damp places
• Both Liverworts and Hornworts have
rhizoids
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
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.
Seedless Vascular Plants
• Typically, are these plants going to
be smaller of larger than
nonvascular plants?
• These plants include ferns,
horsetails, and club mosses.
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.
Fern Life Cycle
• Turn to page 306, Figure 3
Horsetails and Club Mosses
• Horsetails:
– 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
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.
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.
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.