Includes: – Mosses (most common) – Liverworts – Hornworts Defining characteristics: – No seeds – No vascular system – Grows low to ground (absorbs nutrients) – Relies on water to reproduce

frond fiddlehead Includes: – FERNS – Club mosses (not true mosses…older of the seedless vascular) Defining characteristics: – No seeds – HAS VASCULAR SYSTEM (this allows for plants to grow higher off the ground) – Needs water to reproduce

Includes: – Gymnosperms= cone bearing – Angiosperms= flowering Defining characteristics: – CAN reproduce without water (via pollination) Pollination = when pollen (sperm) meets female plant parts. – Has seeds Seeds nourish and protect plant embryo Seeds allow for dispersal to new places

Includes: – Conifers (most common, ex: pine tree) – Cycads – Ginkos Defining characteristics: – Cone is reproductive structure for most – Pollen produced by male cones – Eggs produced by female cones – Seeds develop on scales of female cones

Male Female

AKA: Flowering plants – Flowers are the reproductive structures – Fruit is the mature ovary of a flower (yes, anything with seeds is considered a fruit and came from a flower…tomatos, avocados, cucumbers, apples, oranges, pumpkins, etc.)

Tomato flowers When eggs become fertilized, they develop into seeds and the ovary develops into fruit If you cut open a fruit, you can see the seeds (which were once the eggs of the flower)