There are so many different plants around us. Some of them are big or tall, some small, some live on land, and some in water. Also, there are plants that attract us with their flowers, called flowering plants. And there are plants that, actually, don't have flowers, which are called non-flowering plants. The flowering and the non-flowering plants are different because of their process of reproduction. Flowering plants rely on the process of pollination for reproduction, while non-flowering plants rely on dispersion to continue their life cycle.
In this lesson, we are going to discuss NON-FLOWERING PLANTS. We are going to learn:
- What are non-flowering plants and examples?
- Characteristics of non-flowering plants.
- Types of non-flowering plants.
- Reproduction of non-flowering plants.
Non-flowering plants
Non-flowering plants are the plants that mainly produce spores or seeds with no fruit or flower. Non-flowering plants mostly fall into one of these groups: ferns, mosses, hornworts, whisk ferns, club-mosses, liverworts, horsetails, conifers, cycads, and ginkgo. Nonflowering plants are divided into two main groups-those that reproduce with spores (dust-like particles) and those that use seeds to reproduce. The second group, that uses seeds to reproduce, is called gymnosperms. Nonflowering plants are simpler than flowering plants and they have a higher level of adaptability to the environment.
Non-flowering plants that reproduce from seeds
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants. The group of non-flowering plants that reproduce themselves from seeds is called gymnosperms. Gymnosperm means "naked seeds". Their seeds are open to the air with no covering such as the seeds of flowering plants. There are over 1000 living species of gymnosperm.
Such plants are:
- Conifers mean "cone-bearer," which include: Junipers, Cedars, Pines, Redwood, Larches, Cypresses. They have the greatest variety of species among gymnosperms. Conifers are usually evergreen. Some of the conifers have both, male and female cones on the same tree.
Conifer
- Cycads, are similar to palms and can be found primarily in tropical and subtropical regions. Cycads produce only male cones or female cones and rely mainly on insects for pollination.
Cycad
- Gingko, has green fan-shaped notched leaves that are yellow in cooler weather.
Gingko
- Gnetophuta, include around 70 species, like Ephedra, Welwitschia, and Gnetum.
Non-flowering plants that use spores for their reproduction
Spores are tiny organisms that usually contain only a single cell. There are plants that use spores for their reproduction.
Such non-flowering plants are ferns, mosses, liverworts.
Spores are released by the plant in the air or water. The spores travel away from the plant that has produced them, and if land on a place where the combination of the conditions is right, a new plant may occur.
- Mosses are small nonvascular land plants. There are around 12,000 species of mosses around the world. Mosses are found throughout the world except in salt water. They are commonly found in moist shady locations.
- Ferns are vascular plants that have neither seeds nor flowers. They are different than mosses by having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the sporophyte is the dominant phase.
- Liverworts are a group of non-vascular plants similar to mosses. Liverworts generally have flattened leaves or a moss-like appearance.
Characteristics of non-flowering plants
Non-flowering plants have their common characteristics:
- They do not have a flower.
- Non-flowering plants have greater adaptability than flowering plants.
- They use the wind and, in some cases, the water to pollinate. Some of them such as cycads and conifers spread their pollen through catkins and open cones, which release pollen into the air.
- They can be of two types, non-flowering plants that reproduce from seeds, and non-flowering plants that use spores for their reproduction.
What have we learned?
- Non-flowering plants are the plants that mainly produce spores or seeds with no fruit or flower.
- Nonflowering plants are divided into two main groups-those that reproduce with spores and those that use seeds to reproduce.
- Ferns, mosses, liverworts use spores for their reproduction.
- Conifers, cycads, Gingko, reproduce from seeds.
- Non-flowering plants lack a flower, are highly adaptable, use different ways to pollinate.
