Seedless Plants

Mosses and LiverwortsFerns and Horsetails

Mosses and Liverworts• Small• Live on bark, rocks,

and soil• No vascular system• Must live in places

that are wet• No true roots, stems,

or leaves

Mosses

Reproduction in mosses

Liverworts

Mosses and Liverworts

• Live together in large groups• Covering soil or rocks in a mat of tiny

green plants• Each moss has rhizoids (root-like

structures)• Rhizoids help anchor the plant

Importance of Mosses and Liverworts:

• Usually the first plants to inhabit a new environment.

• Form a thin layer of soil when they die.• They help hold the soil in place which

prevents erosion.• Nesting material for birds.• Peat moss can be burned as fuel.

Ferns

Ferns

• Can grow almost anywhere.

• Have an underground stem called a rhizome.

• Leaves are called fronds.

Fern Reproduction

Fern Frond

• Top of frond • Underside of frond with sporangia

Horsetails

Horsetails

• Small vascular plants.• Grow less than 1.3 meters tall.• Grow in wet, marshy places.• Pioneers used them to scrub pots

and pans.

Importance of Seedless Vascular Plants

• Help form soil when they die.• Also hold soil in place to prevent

erosion.• Ferns serve as house plants.• Some are cooked and eaten.• Formed coal.