LESSON 7:

BRYOPHYTES: NON-VASCULAR PLANTS

 INTRODUCTION
• KINGDOM PLANTAE
- represents large group of mostly terrestrial organism
(eukaryotic, photosynthetic, and organ-forming)
- exhibit diplohaplontic life cycle, characterized by an
alternation of heteromorphic gametophyte and sporophyte
generations
- have ties to the Charophyceae
- have chlorophylls a and b, starch as food storage, has
cellulosic cell wall
• Adaptation features of Plants:
1. protective cells surrounding the archegonia (egg-
forming) and antheridia (sperm-forming)
2. protective layer of cells covering the spore-producing
structure (sporangia)
3. protected embryo
4. cuticle coating on the aerial parts
5. specialized cells for water and food conduction
• BRYOPHYTES or NON-VASCULAR PLANTS
- comprised of liverworts, hornworts, and mosses
- thought to be among the first plants to dominate the
ancient terrestrial environment (approx. 400 MYA)
- found in almost all terrestrial habitats but show great
diversity in moist habitats
- most are small (< 20mm) in height
- 2 distinguishing characteristics:
1. absence of xylem and phloem
2. sporophyte is nutritionally dependent upon the
gametophyte
 - basic life cycle begins with a haploid spore that
germinates on moist soils and grows into filamentous protonema
- protonema will later develop into a thallus of leafy
gametophyte (mostly diouecious- either male or female)
- sperms from antheridia emerge and swim to the
archegonium, where one sperm fertilizes one egg to form
diploid zygote (sporophyte)
- sporophyte develops within archegonium and as it
matures it produces sporangium
- meiosis occurs within the sporangium resulting in the
production of haploid spores
DIVISION HEPATOPHYTA
LIVERWORTS
• Most liverworts are small
• Most familiar liverworts consists of a
prostrate, flattened, ribbon-like or branching
structure thallus (Thallose liverworts)
• However, most liverworts produce flattened
“stem” with overlapping scales or “leaves”
(Leafy liverworts)
1. Marchantia

• Thallose liverwort
• Has ribbon-like, dichotomously-branched gametophyte lying
on the surface of the ground
• Dorsal surface of the thallus is green and smooth with
several reproductive structures
• Thickest part is the midrib
• Ventral surface has hair-like projections called rhizoids which
function for anchorage
1. Marchantia
2. Riccia fluitans

• Can be found all over the world

• An aquarium favorite
• Floating plant; moderate lighting is
sufficient ability to be grown attached to
rocks and driftwood
2. Riccia
 3. Cyathodium

• COMMON BRYOPHYTE AND COOMONLY FOUND

IN THE LOW LAND AREAS ALONG GROUND,
CEMENT WALLS, ON ROCKS, LADDERS OF TEMPLE,
CLAY SOIL
• THALLUS THIN, LIGHT GREEN, DICHOTOMOUSLY
DIVIDES, RHIZOIDS SMOOTH, DENSELY
OVERLAPPING, PORES ON THE DORSAL SURFACE,
NO MIDRIB,
3. Cyathodium
4. Plagiochila

• ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST DIFFICULT

LIVERWORT GENERA
• LIVING MAINLY IN TROPICAL OR OCEANIC CLIMATE
AND AVOID DRY CLIMATES
• LEAVES RE OVAL; EDGE IS SMALL AND IRREGULARLY
SERRATE UNTIL NEARLY SMOOTH
4. Plagiochila
5. Bazzania
• Leafy liverwort
• Often found in large clumps or dense widespread
mats on boggy soils, rotten logs, and bases of trees
• Extracts of dichloromethane and methanol of
bazzania trilobata have been shown effective as a
natural source of alternative pest management in
crop protection be serving as an antifungal agent
5. Bazzania
DIVISION ANTHOCEROPHYTA
HORNWORTS
• Grow as a thin rosette or ribbon-like gametophyttic
thalus that is 1-5 cm in diameter
• Easily distinguished from other by:
- Erect, photosynthetic, horn-like sporophyte arising from
the thallus

• Develop internal mucilage-filled cavities that are

occupied by cyanobacteria
1. Anthoceros

• Has an orbicular thallose gametophyte with rhizoids

on the ventral side and reproductive structures on the
dorsal side
• Most are monoecious, both archegonia and
antheridia are embedded under the dorsal surface
of the thallus
• During fertilization, biflagellate sperm swims from
the artheridia to the archegonia where the eggs are
fertilized forming zygote
Anthoceros
DIVISION BRYOPHYTA
MOSSES
• Mosses are small, leafy dioecious bryophytes
typically 1-10 cm in height
• Commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in
damp or shady places
• Their simple leaves cover the thin stem that are
either erect or creeping
• At certain times, female mosses produce sporangia
or capsule borne on stalk on the tip of the their
thallus
1. Fissidens

• Exhibits erect “stem” that is anchored to a substrate by its

rhizoids
• Leaves have smooth margin and a thickened axis called
costa
• Leaves are also composed of one layer of parenchymatous
cells
• An erect sporophyte arises at the terminal end of the stem
exhibiting a long seta and a short cylindrical capsule
Fissidens
2. Sphagnum
• Leaves have large transparent hyaline cell
with thread-like fibrils traversing the cell and
one to several pores.
• Each hyaline cell is surrounded by thin
elongated chlorophyllose cells which
performs photosynthesis
Sphagnum
3. Pogonatum

• Commonly called spike moss

• Grow on the ground, often with a green felt of
thread-like cells
• Short, simple, or long and robust
• Leaves erect or spreading, base is clasping, with
large pale cells
• Leaf margins are entire or serrate
Pogonatum
 LESSON 8:
SPORE BEARING VASCULAR PLANTS
 INTRODUCTION
• Plants developed vascular system to adapt to life
• Vascular system facilitate conduction of water, and
minerals
• Plants with vascular tissues are known as tracheophytes
• Vascular tissues form central cylinder together with other
tissues inner to the cortex (stele)
• Vascular plants are divided into cryptogams (spore-
bearing) and phanerogams (seed-bearing)
 CRYPTOGAMS
• Division psilophyta
• Division lycophyta
• Division sphenophyta
• Considered the lower vascular plants representing the earliest forms of
tracheophytes
• Possess:
1. Simple but well differentiated stele
2. Uni-veined lateral appendages (microphylls)
3. Erect, conspicuous, free-living sporophyte
4. Inconspicuous, subterranean, tuberous but free-living
gametophyte
5. One type of spores within the sporangium (homosporous)
DIVISION PSILOPHYTA
WHISKFERNS OR FORKFERNS
• The only living vascular plants to lack both roots
and leaves
• Anchored by a horizontally creeping stem
(rhizome)
• Erect portion of the stem bears paired enations,
outgrowths which look like miniature leaves but
have no vascular tissue
1. Psilotum nudum
• Grow as low herb to 30 cm
• Have dichotomously branching stems and no true leaves
• Above ground stems have small scale-like appendages
called enations and clustered yellow spherical structures
called synangia
• Synangia produce microscopic, single-celled reproductive
units called spores
• Grows in moist areas
Psilotum nudum
2. Tmesipteris

• From greek “tmesis” meaning cutting, and

“pteris” meaning fern
• Have forked appendage on fronds
• Mostly epiphytic on treess
Tmesipteris
 DIVISION LYCOPHYTA
CLUBMOSSES, SPIKEFERNS, AND QUILLWORTS
• Commonly known as the lower ferns and posses true
vascularized stem, leaves and roots
• Significant features are microphylls, kind of leaf which has
arisen and evolved independently from the leaves of other
vascular plants
• Spore producing bodies is known as strobilus and found of
special branches
• Three classes:
- Lycopodiopsida
- Selaginellopsida
- Isoetopsida
1. Lycopodium
• Lives in moist, shaded woods
• Produce spores in a cone like flowering structure at the end of
the stem
• Spores are used in pyrotechnics and photography
• Chinese used to use these spores to dust pills to keep them from
sticking together
• Native Americans used this plant to create a tea that would act
as an analgesic to relieve pain after childbirth
• Roots were used as a mordant to help in fixing of natural dyes
so the color would remain in the fabric
Lycopodium
2. Selaginella

• Known as spikefern
• Diverse in size and ways of growth
• Salaginella kraussiana, (spreading club moss) grows about ½
inch high and has a limitless spread
• S. martensii, has thick, multi-branched stems filled with small
green leaves
• S. lepidophyllagets (resurrection plant), roll into tight brown
balls when there is no enough water, then once the plant gets
enough water, the leaves open up
Selaginella
3. Isoetes
• Also known as quillworts
• Commonly found in seasonally wet to aquatic
habitats
• Each plant consists of a clump of 20-30 green to
yellowish-green, grass-like, hollow leaves that taper
to a pointed tip
• Reproduce by spores that are produced in the leaf
base
• Have modified stem called a corm
Isoetes
DIVISION SPHENOPHYTA
HORSETAILS
• COMMONLY FOUND ALONG STREAM BANKS OF
TEMPERATE REGION
• IN THE PHILIPPINES, THEY ARE CULTIVATED AS
ORNAMENTAL PLANTS AND SOLD IN MOST
NURSERIES
• DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR STRAIGHT STEMS WITH
BRANCHES AND LEAVES ARRANGED IN REGULAR
WHORLS
1. Equisetum

• KNOWN AS HORSETAILS
• FOUND GROWING IN WET PLACES, SUCH AS STANDING
WATER OF SHALLOW PONDS OR DITCHES, MARSHY
AREAS, WET MEADOWS AND MOIST WOODS
• USED AS MEDICINE TO CURE KIDNEY AND BLADDER
TROUBLES, ARTHRITIS, BLEEDING ULCERS, AND
TUBERCULOSIS
• CHINESE USE IT TO COOL FEVERS
Equisetum
 LESSON 9:
PTEROPHYTA: FERNS
 INTRODUCTION
• FERNS BELONG TO DIVISION PTEROPHYTA
• SPORE-BEARING
• GAMETOPHYTES ARE CONSPICUOUS THOUGH REDUCED,
INDEPENDENT OF THE SPOROPHYTE AND GERMINATE OUTSIDE OF
THE SPORES (EXOSPORIC)
• HAVE MORE COMPLEX ORGANIZATION AND POSSESS
PHOTOSYNTHETIC LEAVES
• CONTAINS MEGAPHYLLS ASSOCIATED WITH LEAF TRACES AND LEAF
GAPS
• INCLUDED AMONG THE HIGHER VASCULAR PLANTS ALONG WITH THE
GYMNOSPERMS AND ANGIOSPERMS
• THERE ARE ABOUT 11,000 LIVING SPECIES OF FERNS
• CONSIDERED AS THE LARGEST AND MOST DIVERSE
GROUP OF PLANTS OTHER THAN ANGIOSPERMS
• GROW IN WIDE VARIETY OF HABITATS RANGING FROM
REMOTE MOUNTAIN ELEVATIONS, DRY DESERT, ROCK
FACES, AQUATIC HABITATS TO OPEN FIELDS
• THEY EXHIBIT GREAT VARIATION IN FORM AND SIZE
WHERE SOME ARE VERY SMALL AND HAVE UNDIVIDED
LEAVES OR THEY CAN BE CLIMBING WHERE LEAVES HAVE
LONG TWINING RACHIS
• FERNS MAY BE CLASSIFIED AS EITHER
EUPOSRANGIATE OR LEPTOSPORANGIATE
• A EUSPORANGIUM ORIGINATES FROM A SERIES
OF SUPERFICIAL PARENT CELLS OR INITIALS; EACH
SPORANGIUM DEVELOPS A WALL TWO OR MORE
CELL LAYERS THICK AND A HIGH NUMBER OF
SPORES
• LEPTOSPORANGIUM ORIGINATES FROM A SINGLE
CELL INITIAL WHICH PRODUCES A STALK THEN A
CAPSULE; EACH LEPTOSPORANGIUMGIVES RISE
TO A RELATIVELY SMALL NUMBERS OF SPORES
 FERN LIFE CYCLE

• BEGIN WITH THE PRODUCTION OF HAPLOID SPORES

AS DIPLOID SPOROGENOUS TISSUE WITHIN THE
SPORANGIA UNDERGOES MEIOSIS
• PHOTOSYNTHETIC HAPLOID GAMETOPHYTES EVOLVE
FROM GERMINATING SPORE
• RAIN INDUCES SWELLING IN THE ANTHERIDIA,
CAUSING THEM TO BURST AND RELEASE
MULTIFLAGELATTED SPERM THAT ARE TRANSPORTED
VIA WATER DROPLETS TO THE EGG
• FERTILIZATION RESULTS IN DIPLOID ZYGOTE THAT
MATURES INTO AN ADULT SPOROPHYTE
CONSISTING OF A ROSETTE OF LEAFY FRONDS
• SORI DEVELOP ON THE VENTRAL PORTION OF
PINNAE (LEAFLETS) AND WITHIN THESE SPORANGIA
FORM, COMPLETING THE ALTERNATION OF
GENERATION
FERN FROND
 1. Ophioglossum
• RESEMBLES A SNAKE’S TONGUE
• TYPICALLY SENDS UP A SMALL UNDIVIDED LEAF BLADE
• LEAF IS CONSISTS OF TWO PARTS: A VEGETATIVE PORTION
AND A FERTILE SEGMENT WHICH BEARS TWO ROWS OF
EUSPORANGIA
• FIDDLEHEAD IS ABSENT
• GAMETOPHYTES ARE SUBTERRANEAN, TUBEROUS, ELONGATE
STRUCTURE WITH NUMEROUS RHIZOIDS
• ORDER OPHIOGLOSSALES
Ophioglossum
 2. Marattia
• RECOGNIZED BY SESSILE, BIVALVE SYNANGIA (SORI)
• FRONDS USUALLY TWICE OR MORE PINNATE, AND
TRIANGULAR IN SHAPE
• PINNULES GENERALLY ALTERNATELY ARRANGED, BUT
THE PINNAE ARE OFTEN OPPOSITE
• ORDER MARATTIALES
Marattia
 3. Angiopteris evecta
• GIANT OR KING FERN
• ONE OF THE LARGEST FERNS ON THE PLANET IN THE SIZE OF ITS
LEAVES
• PRODUCES MASSIVE, GLOBULAR TRUNKS AND GIGANTIC LEAVES
• FOUND IN TERRESTRIAL RAINFORESTS, CLEARINGS AND ALONG
ROADSIDES
• GROW TO 7M TALL
• LEAVES BIPINNATE, UP TO 5-7 M LONG, PETIOLE UP TO 2M LONG
• ORDER MARATTIALES
Angiopteris
4. Nephrolepis

• COMMON GARDEN FERN

• GROW AS EPIPHYTES OR TERRESTRIALLY IN
SUNNY OR SHADED AREAS
• FRONDS ARE LIGHT TO YELLOW GREEN OR DARK
GREEN
• SORI LINE LEAFLET MARGINS
• ORDER FILICALES
Nephrolepis
 5. Azolla
• SMALL PLANTS (1.5-2.5CM LONG)
• UPPER SURFACE F LEAVES ARE TOTALLY WATER
REPELLANT
• OCCURS IN LAKES
• CAN SPREAD VERY QUICKLY FORMING DENSE
VEGETATIVE MASSES ON AREAS OF STILL WATER
• USEFUL AS A SOYBEAN PLANT IN RICE FIELD BECAUSE
IT CAN ASSIMILATE ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN GAS
DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF CYANOBACTERIA
Azolla
6. Salvinia
• SMALL FREE-FLOATING PLANT
• GROWS IN CLUSTER AND DEVELOPS INTO DENSE,
FLOATING MATS OR COLONIES INQUIET WATER
• LEAVES ARE MORE OR LESS ROUND WITH DISTINCT MIDRIB
ALONG WHICH LEAF MAY FOLD FORMING A CUP-SHAPED
APPEARANCE
• REPRODUCE BY SPORES OR BY FRAGMENTATION
• AGGRESSIVE INVADER SPECIES
• ORDER SALVINIALES
Salvinia
LESSON 10:
GYMNOSPERMS
 INTRODUCTION
• Most significant structures to arise during evolution of
vascular plants was the seed
• Seeds provide protection for the embryo and the stored
food they contain is critical for the eventual germination and
establishment of seed plants
• Gymnosperms- “naked or exposed seeds”
- Plants without fruits around the seed; lacks
ovary
 - Ovules and seeds are exposed on surfaces or
sporophylls
- Sporophylls are aggregated into a cone or strobilus
• Gymnosperms are either monoecious or dioecious
• Food storage are the cotyledons and the haploid-transformed
female gametophyte
• Four divisions:
1. Cycadophyta
2. Ginkgophyta
3. Pinophyta
4. Gnetophyta
DIVISION CYCADOPHYTA
CYCADS
• Cycads are ancient group of seed plants
characterized by a large crown of compound
leaves and a stout trunk
• They are evergreen, gymnospermous,
dioecious plants having large pinnately
compound leaves
• Stems have a broad, starch-rich cortex.
• Leaves spirally arranged in crowns on the
stem apex, pinnate and lacking stipules
1. Cycas circinalis
• Trunk covered in thick and corky bark
• Leaves arise from the apex of the trunk
• Each leaf measures 150-170 cm long; bears 54-110
flat leaflets arranged opposite each other along the
central stem
• Male plant bears yellowish-brown cones (egg shaped
to conical) and measures between 24-28cm long
• Female plant do not bear cones; instead carry ovules
and seeds on large, leaf-like sporophylls
• Seeds are quite small with a light reddish-yellow fleshy
covering
• Known as queen sago or sago palm
• Typically occurs in fairly dense, shrub-woodlands in hilly
areas
• Fairly adaptable species and can grow on both rocky hill
outcrops and coastal habits at sea level
• Plant is dioecious
• Pollinated by insects and wind
• Pith is rich in carbohydrate and a sago can be made from it
Cycas circinalis
DIVISION GINKGOPHYTA
1. Ginkgo biloba
• One of the oldest living tree species
• Can leave as long as 1,000 years and grow to a height of
120 feet
• Has short branches with fan-shaped leaves and inedible fruits
that smell bad
• Inner seed of fruits may be poisonous
• Tough, hardy trees and are sometimes planted along urban
streets
• Leaves turn brilliant colors in the fall
• Leaves have medicinal use
• Clinically used to improve memory
Ginkgo biloba
DIVISION PINOPHYTA
CONIFERS
• Usually have needle-shaped or scale like leaves and nearly
all evergreen
• Typically have straight trunks with horizontal branches
varying more or less regularly in length from bottom to top,
hence the conical outline
• Characterized by pollen-producing cones, or seed-producing
cones
• Three classes:
1. Cupressaceae: cypress
2. Taxaceae: yew
3. Pinaceae: pine
CLASS CUPRESSACEAE
CYPRESS
 1. Juniperus communis

• Coniferous evergreen shrub or a small columnar tree, multi-

stemmed, rarely upright
• Crown generally depressed, grows very slowly
• Has a thin, brown, fibrous bark which exfoliates in thin strips;
twigs are yellowish or green when young, turn brown and
harden with age
• Leaves are simple, stiff and arranged in whorls of three with
pungent odor
• Young leaves tend to be more needle-like whereas mature
leaves are scale-like
• Fruits are berry-like seed cones, red at first,
ripening to bluish black
• Male strobili are sessile or stalked and female
strobili are made up of green, ovate scale
• Individuals can live for more than 170 years
• This species grows on dry, open, rock, wooded
hillsides, sand terraces, and on exposed slopes
and plateaus
Juniperus communis
CLASS TAXACEAE
YEW
 1. Taxus cuspidata

• Commonly known as Japanese yew

• An evergreen tree growing to 10m by 10m at a slow
rate
• Flowers are dioecious and are rare pollinated by wind
• Native in Korea, China, Russia and Japan
• Female plants do not produce cones, instead produce
red, ornamentally-attractive, berry-like fruits, each
having a single seed
CLASS PINACEAE
PINES
1. Pinus
• Largest in the family, with 114 species
• 2 subgenus: a. Pinus
B. Strobus
A. Pinus – hard pines; about 70 species
- Cone sales have a dorsal, umbo
B. Strombus – white or soft pines; 44 species
- Seed wing is articulate
Pinus
DIVISION GNETOPHYTA
• Has three extant genera: Ephedra,
Gnetum, Welwitschia
• Plants are trees; leaves simple, opposite
or whorled
• Usually dioecious
• Female flower has one erect ovule; male
cone mostly compound and associated
with bracts
 INTERNET SOURCES

• HTTP://WWW.ARKIVE.ORG/CYCAD/CYCAS-CIRCINALIS/
• HTTP://WWW.PFAF.ORG/USER/PLANT.ASPX?LATINNAME=CYCAS+CI
RCINALIS
• HTTP://UMM.EDU/HEALTH/MEDICAL/ALTMED/HERB/GINKGO-BILOBA
• HTTP://WWW.FAO.ORG/AG/AGP/AGPC/DOC/GBASE/DATA/PF000
461.HTM