2. Seedless Plants  Mosses and Liverworts  Ferns and Horsetails

3. 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

4. Mosses

5. Reproduction in mosses

6. Liverworts

8. 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

9. 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.

10. Ferns and Horsetails Grow tall Have vascular systems

11. Ferns

12. Can grow almost anywhere. Have an underground stem called a rhizome. Leaves are called fronds.

13. Fern Reproduction

14. Fern Frond Top of frond Underside of frond with sporangia

15. Horsetails

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

17. 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.