Non-Vascular Plants

• Non-Vascular Plants

  • lack roots and leaves
  • undergo photosynthesis
  • lack of cuticle - rapid absorption of water and nutrients
• Cuticle

  • Non-cellular, waxy covering of the epidermis that prevents H2O loss
• Stomata

  • small pores in plant epidermis for gas exchange in photosynthesis
• Bryophytes

  • small, compact, green (moss - not a leaf)
  • lacking vascular tissue and liquified tissue
  • organs are defined by arrangement of tissues
• Bryophytes and green algal ancestors

  similarities in the following

  • pigments (chlorophyll a, b carotenes, xantophylls)
  • cell wall (cellulose)
  • carbohydrate (starch)
  • cell division
• Byron - moss

  Phyton - plant
• Bryophytes Characteristics

  • Gametophyte – dominant
  • Grows independently of the sporophyte  
  • Perennial
• Plant groups

  • Mosses (Phylum Bryophyta)
  • Liverworts (Phylum Hepatophyta)
  • Hornworts (Phylum Anthocerophyta)
• Mosses

  • most common
  • 12,000 species
  • Gametophyte
  • Sporophyte
  • Alternation of generations
  • Both bryophytes and algae have a plant body - thallus
  • Both bryophytes and algae can prepare their own food, autotroph
• Moss sporophyte contains capsule

  • seta - long stem-like organ that connect sporangium to gametophyte
  • foot
• Gametophyte of mosses are

  • symmetrical
  • rhizoid - multicellular, and lack of chlorophyll
• Calyptra

  • moss sporophyte cap-like that covers the capsule.
• Liverworts

  • liver shaped and wort
  • 6500 species
  • male reproductive organ - antheridium
  • female reproductive organ - archegonium
• Marchantia

  • most common genus of liverwort
  • gametophyte - dominant life cycle
• Parts of Liverworts

  • Thallus - body
  • Gemmae - small bodies of tissue
  • leafy liverwort
• Characteristics of liverworts

  • unicellular rhizoids
  • gametophytes - bilateral symmetry
  • sporangia - unstalked
• Hornworts

  • spore-producing
  • 2 cm in diameter
  • 100 species
• Hornworts sporophyte parts

  • columella
  • Pseufoelaters
  • near-basal meristem
• Pseudoelaters

  • responsible for the spreading of spores
• Economic Use of Bryophytes

  • prevent soil erosion
  • wound dressing
  • astringent and antiseptic in sanitation
  • ornamentals, aesthetics
  • bryophytes cannot grow to dry and polluted places.
• Mosses

  • bryophyta
  • gametophyte - leafy plant
  • polytrichum, sphagnum, physomitrella
• Liverworts

  • hepatophyta
  • gametophyte - thalloid or leafy plant
  • marchantia
  • bassania
• Hornwort

  • Anthocerophyta
  • gametophyte - thalloid
  • anthoceros
• Alternation of Generations of Non-Vascular Plant

  • moss sporophyte parts are hyphae and calyptra