Bot-Lec (Sem-1) - Chapter 8: Seedless Vascular Plants

xylem and phloem

plant's plumbing system

xylem

vascular tissue that conducts water and dissolved minerals

phloem

vascular tissue that conducts dissolved sugar and other organic compounds

Dicksonia antarctica

Tasmanian Tree Fern

quillworts

basal lycophyte

whisk ferns

basal ferns

quillworts; spike mosses; club mosses

lycophytes; microphylls

whisk ferns; horsetails; ferns

ferns; megaphylls

Cyathea

tree fern found in the Philippines; do not grow in disturbed places

microphyll

a.k.a. lycophylls; lack a leaf gap[ found in lycophytes; one vascular strand

megaphyll

type of leaf found in all vascular plants except lycophytes; contain multiple vascular strands

ferns (Monilophyta; prev. Pteridophyta)

seedless vascular plants that reproduce by spores produced in sporangia; alternation between dominant sporophyte and gametophyte (prothallus); largest and most diverse group of seedless vascular plants; whisk ferns and horsetails

lycophytes (Lycopodiophyta)

seedless vascular plants (some heterosporous); club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts

Polystichum acrostichoides

Christmas fern; evergreen

evergreen

green all throughout the year

deciduous

shed all their leaves at some point during the fall; summer, in tropical countries

Asplenium sp.

spleenwort ferns; purported medicinal

Doctrine of Signatures

claimed that the creator has intentionally created plants to look like the parts of the body they could be used to cure; ex: carrots are good for the eyes because cross sections look like eyes; food resemble the organ they support

Platycerium bifurcatum

staghorn fern

Azolla caroliniana

mosquito fern; can cause anoxia

anoxia

lack of oxygen

epiphytes

plants that grow on other plants

rhizome; fronds (megaphylls); true roots

fern sporophytes

whisk fern sporophytes

have dichotomously branching rhizomes and erect stems; lack true roots and leaves (photosynthesis occurs in the stem)

horsetail sporophytes

roots, rhizomes, and aerial stems are hollow and jointed for faster growth, outcompeting other plants; leaves are reduced megaphylls

Psilotum nudum

whisk fern

Equisetum sp.

horsetail

sori

clusters of sporangia

prothallus

small, green, heart-shaped gametophyte plant form of a fern that can make its own food and absorb water and nutrients from the soil; developed from a haploid spore

fiddlehead

tightly coiled new leaves of ferns

club moss sporophyte

true roots; rhizomes and erect or trailing aerial stems; small, scalelike microphylls

Lycopodium obscurum

ground pine

Lycopodium complanatum

club moss that prefers shady woodlands

spike moss sporophyte

long, creeping rhizomes that typically branch dichotomously; overlapping, scalelike microphylls

Selaginella lepidophylla

resurrection plant

quillwort sporophyte

underground corm; cylindrical, quill-like microphylls; roots

corm

trunk of a tree or body

homospory

production of one type of n spore that gives rise to a bisexual gametophyte

heterospory

production of two types of n spores, microspores and megaspores

microscopre

the n spore in heterosporous plants that gives rise to a male gametophyte that produces sperm cells within antheridia

megaspore

the n spore in heterosporous plants that gives rise to a female gametophyte that produces eggs within archegonia

Rhyniophyta

according to fossil record, arose about 420 MYA and became extinct about 380 MYA

Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii

superficially resembled whisk ferns; leafless upright stems branched dichotomously from an underground rhizome, lacked roots, but had absorptive rhizoids; sporangia formed at ends of short branches; internal structure of rhizome contained a central core of xylem cells for conducting water and minerals

prevention of soil erosion; aesthetic appeal; coal deposits (fossil fuel)

ecology and economic importance of ferns