CHAPTER 6

NON-FLOWERING PLANTS

Definition of terms:

Rhizoids - a filamentous outgrowth or root hair on the underside of the thallus in some lower
plants, especially mosses and liverworts, serving both to anchor the plant and (in terrestrial
forms) to conduct water.

Life cycle – stages in the life of an organism

Sexual reproduction - the production of new living organisms by combining genetic information
from two individuals of different types (sexes). In higher organisms, one sex (male) produces
a small motile gamete which travels to fuse with a larger stationary gamete produced by
the other (female).

Asexual reproduction - is a type of reproduction which does not involve the fusion of gametes or
change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual
reproduction from a single cell or from a multicellular organism inherit the genes of that
parent.
1.1 Bryophytes
What three organs could you find in a corn plant or pine tree, but never find in a moss? If you
answered roots, stems, and leaves, you are right! Mosses and other plants without roots, stems, and
leaves are called bryophytes. A bryophyte is a nonvascular plant that produces spores and lives in a
moist environment.

As you have learned, nonvascular plants have no phloem or xylem to carry materials throughout
their bodies. So how do food and water travel through a bryophyte? Food travels from cell to cell by
diffusion. Water travels between cells by osmosis. Both processes are very slow. This slow movement of
food and water can only support a small plant. For this reason, bryophytes are small. In fact, some
bryophytes are so small that most people never notice them.

1.1.1. Mosses
How would you describe a moss? Maybe you
would mention its rich, green color or its soft, velvety
feel. But how would you describe its structure? A moss is
a bryophyte with a stalked body that usually grows
upright.

At the base of the moss are rhizoids, root-like

parts that hold a bryophyte to the ground. How are
rhizoids different from true roots? The rhizoids are Fig. 1.1. Mosses
connected to a stem-like stalk. Surrounding the stalk are
leak-like parts that contain chloroplasts and carry on photosynthesis. The leaf-like parts are one
cell thick and absorb water through their cell walls. The capsule, located at the top of a long
stalk, is the spore case of a moss. A moss can be identified by the spare of its capsule.

1.1.2. Moss life Cycle

Think about the stages in your life. After birth, you were a baby, then a child, and now an
adolescent. Later, you will develop into an adult and perhaps have children. The stages in the life
of an organism are called its life cycle.

Recall that early plants evolved from green algae about 450 million years ago. Green
algae carry out their entire life cycles in the water. But most plants, including bryophytes, carry
out their life cycles on land. Thus, over millions of years, many changes occurred in the life cycle
of a bryophyte that adapted them to drier environments.

Mosses go through two stages in their life cycle-an asexual stage and a sexual stage. The
asexual stage begins when the moss capsule produces spores. Each spore has a protective
 covering that keeps it from drying out. Once released from the capsule, the spores are scattered,
or dispersed, by wind and water. If a spore lands in moist soil, it can sprout, or germinate, and
grows into a new plant.

When the new plant matures, the sexual stage of the life cycle begins. Tiny sex organs
develop at the top of the leaf-like parts. In some mosses, both male and female sex organs
develop on the same plant. In other mosses, male and female sex organs develop on different
plants.

Sperm produced by the male sex organ swim through rain-water or dew to an egg in the
female sex organ. Fertilization occurs, and the fertilized egg, or zygote, grows into an embryo.
An embryo is an organism in an early stage of development. The moss embryo stays in the
female sex organ, which protects it and keeps it from drying out. Soon it grows into a stalk and
capsule, and the cycle begins again.

Fig. 1.1.2. Moss Life Cycle

1.1.3. Liverworts
A thousand years ago, people thought that
plants shaped like human organs could cure human
disease. So if a person had liver disease, the person
would use a liver-shaped plant for medicine. The
liver-shaped plant was often a liverwort, a bryophyte
with a flat, lobed body that grows along the ground.
Unfortunately, liverworts have never cured liver
disease.

Like mosses, liverworts have rhizoids that Fig. 1.1.3. Liverworts

anchor them to the soil. Liverworts reproduce
sexually when sperm from a male sex organ swim to an egg in a female sex organ. After
fertilization, the zygote develops into a new liverwort.

Some liverworts, reproduce asexually by forming special structures that look like cups.
Each cup contains flat bits of tissue. Raindrops splash the tissue onto the soil. If the conditions are
right, new liverworts start to grow.
1.2. Spore-Producing Vascular Plants
Three hundred million years ago much of Earth was covered by a lush, green forest of
incredible trees. Some of the trees looked like huge asparagus stalks. Other looked like giant
feather dusters. The entire forest grew in a muddy, green swamp. How did a forest come to
exist?
1.2.1. The Origin of Vascular Plants
As you know, the first plants evolved from ancient green algae about 450 million years
ago. These plants had no roots, stems, or leaves and look a lot like seaweed.
Overtime, the seaweed-like plants became adapted to watery environments on land.
Many evolved true roots, stems, and leaves with vascular tissue. The vascular tissue carried
food and water throughout their bodies. It gave them strength and support. Gradually, larger
and larger plants evolved, creating forests of huge vascular plants.
As time passed, these early vascular plants became adapted to drier conditions.
Structures that produced and dispersed spores became larger and more complex. Eventually,
early vascular plants evolved into several groups of plants that live today. Ferns, horsetails, and
club mosses are spore-producing vascular plants that descended from these early vascular
plants.
1.2.2. Ferns
Whenever you receive flowers, you
usually find green feathery leaves among the
flowers. You may think that these leaves are
from another flowering plant. In fact, these
leaves come from plants that do not form
flowers. These plants with beautiful leaves are
ferns. Ferns are spore-producing vascular
plants that have true leaves, roots, and stems.
Ferns are often grown as houseplants.
The parts of a fern are shown on the
Fig. 1.2.2. (a) Ferns
right side. Notice that the fern’s underground
stem is a rhizome. Fern rhizomes grow parallel
to the surface of the soil. Many small roots
grow from the bottom of a rhizome. Young
leaves grow from the top of a rhizome. A
young, coiled fern leaf is called a fiddlehead. As
a fiddlehead grows, it uncoils and develops into
a frond, a mature fern leaf. Fronds often have
many small leaflets that give them their
feathery appearance.
Fig. 1.2.2. (b) Fern Structure
Fronds are covered by a waxy cuticle that
keeps them from drying out. Gases in the air that ferns use for photosynthesis and respiration
move into fronds through stomates. The development of the cuticle and stomates adapted
early plants to drier environments on land.
Some of the plants that formed ancient swamp forests were tree ferns. When the tree
ferns and surrounding plants died, they fell in the swamps where they grew. Over millions of
years, these plants were buried by sand and soil. The mass of the sand and soil produced great
pressure and heat. Eventually, the pressure and heat changed the ferns and the millions of
other plants into coal, oil, and natural gas. Today, these fuels provide heat and electricity for
homes and industries. Chemicals from these fuels help produce detergents, fingernail polish,
moth balls, and other products.
1.2.3. Fern Life Cycle
If you have ever looked on the underside of
a fern frond, you might have seen small, brown
spots like those in the picture. Maybe you thought
the spots were caused by disease or insects. But the
spots were actually groups of spore cases. A group
of spore cases in the underside of a fern frond is
called a sorus (plural, sori).
Fig. 1.2.3. Fern Life Cycle

Sori are produced during the asexual stage of a fern’s life cycle. Spores released from
the sori are dispersed by wind and water. If a spore lands in moist shaded soild, it can
germinated and grow into a heart-shaped plant about the size of a dime.

The heart-shaped plant is the beginning of the sexual stage of the life cycle. Tiny sex
organs form on its underside. Sperm from the male sex organ swim through water to the female
sex organ. A perm fertilizes an egg and the zygote grows into an embryo. The embryo, protected
and nourished by the heart-shaped plant, develops into a mature fern. Sori appear on the
mature-fern, and the cycle begins again.

1.2.4. Horsetails
Imagine you are a pioneer of the Old West.
You have just cooked dinner over a campfire. How will
you clean the dirty pots and pans? You will probably
use plants called scouring rushes. Scouring rushes
have a mineral in their stems that makes them tough
and gritty. So they make good pot scrubbers.
Scouring rushes belong to a group of plants
called horsetails. Horsetails are spore-producing
vascular plants with hollow, jointed stems and scale-
like leaves. Fig. 1.2.4. Horsetails
Some horsetails change their appearances between spring and summer. In spring, the
stem has leaves at each joint and a cone-shaped spore case on top. After the spores are
released, the stem dies. Then a new stem grows and develops many branches. Before long, the
plant looks a lot like the bushy tail of a horse. The horsetail keeps its bushy appearance
throughout the summer.
1.2.5. Club Mosses
Have you ever walked through a forest and
noticed a small evergreen plant that looked like the
picture below? If you look closer, you will notice that
this plant has small moss-like leaves that are closely
arranged on its stem. On top of the plant is a club-
shaped structure. For these reasons, this plant is
named a club moss. Fig 1.2.5. Club Mosses
Club mosses are spore-producing vascular plants
with branching stems and tiny scale-like leaves. In fact, some club mosses look so much like
young pine trees that people call them ground pine.
Look again at the club moss. Spores are produced in the club-shaped spore cases at the
ends of certain upright branches. Like ferns and horsetails, club mosses have both an asexual
and sexual stage in their life cycle. But the life cycle of a club moss may take as long as 15 years
to complete!