Science

Seedless Plants 10.2 Seedless Nonvascular Plants If you were asked to name the parts of a plant, you probably would list roots, stems, leaves, and perhaps flowers. You may also know that many plants grow from seeds. But did you know that some simple plants have none of these parts? Nonvascular plants, the bryophytes, don?t have roots, stems, or leaves. They do have rootlike fiber, stalks that look like stems, and leaflike green growths. Instead …

…prothallus. The prothallus produces sex cells that unite to form the zygote. The zygote develops into the embryo, then sporophyte, as in the mosses. But in ferns, the gametophyte also produces new rhizomes, which can grow into the separate sporophyte fern plants you are familiar with. Ferns have characteristics of both nonvascular and vascular plants. Like the bryophytes. Ferns produce spores, yet they have vascular tissue like seed-bearing plants. Ferns have leaves, stems, and roots.