What is the difference between bryophytes and ferns

These spores are surrounded by curious long and twisted moist cells called elaters. When the capsule dries and bursts, the elaters twist and jerk around in a way that scatters the spores in all directions. Liverworts can also reproduce asexually by means of special structures called gemmae cups. These little cups can be easily seen on the surface of the plant. Each gemma cup contains a number of tiny plantlets called gemmae, and a single drop of water will disperse them. The green gametophytes of the hornwort look very much like a liverwort.

But their small sporophytes more closely resemble those of mosses. The sporophytes grow out of the gametophyte, and look like a little upright horn. Like mosses, hornworts have stomata, and so are probably more closely related to mosses and other plants than to the liverworts they mat resemble.

These plants are symbiotic with the cyanobacteria Nostoc. The cyanobacteria fixes nitrogen for the hornwort. Division Hepaticophyta - liverworts Marchantia, Conocephalum, Porella; fr.

Examine the living mosses on display. Notice the small capsules on top of the tiny sporophytes. Mosses generally grow in one of two growth types: cushiony moss and feathery moss.

Examine slides of the antheridia and archegonia. The sausage shaped antheridia produce sperm, and the flask shaped archegonia produces eggs.

Examine slides of the protonema. What type of algae does it remind you of? This resemblance is additional evidence that green algae gave rise to all higher plants.

Examine the terrestrial liverworts Marchantia and Conencephalum one or both should be on display. How does their growth habit differ from that of the mosses? Can you see any gemmae cups on the upper surface of these plants? Examine the aquatic liverworts like Porella and Riccia one or both should be on display. Notice how they differ from the more terrestrial forms of liverwort. Look at the preserved liverworts , and observe their distinct reproductive structures they look like little green umbrellas.

How does their life cycle differ from mosses? Hint: Be sure you understand the general life cycle of plants, and can tell which stages are haploid gametophytes 1N or diploid sporophytes 2N. We'll learn several life cycles in lecture and in lab moss, fern, pine, flowering plant , but all of them are variations on the same basic theme. Just as the evolution of spores was the key to the invasion of the land surface by bryophytes, the invention of complex vascular tissues let tracheophytes complete the conquest of dry land.

There are about , species of vascular plants, grouped in nine divisions. Tracheophytes all have a well developed root-shoot system, with highly specialized roots, stems, and leaves, and specialized vascular tissue xylem and phloem that function like miniature tubes to conduct food, water, and nutrients throughout the plant. Because ferns and fern allies posses true vascular tissues, they can grow to be much larger and thicker than the bryophytes.

The ferns and fern allies non-seed tracheophytes mark two major evolutionary strides. In these and in all more advanced plants, the leafy green diploid sporophyte now becomes the dominant stage. The tiny gametophyte may be either autotropophic like the fern prothallus or heterotrophic like the gametophytes of some lycopsids , and is generally free living and independent of the parental sporophyte. Unlike the vascular sporophytes, the gametophytes have no vascular tissue at all.

These gametophytes are therefore very small, and develop best in moist areas, where they can absorb water directly from their surroundings. Like the bryophytes, ferns and fern allies are still restricted to moist habitats. Their flagellated sperm need a thin film of water to swim between the antheridium and the archegonium.

And when the baby sporophyte grows up from the gametophyte, it is exposed to desiccation drying up. This basic strategy of a free-swimming sperm and a non-motile egg is shared by plants, animals, and algae. It makes sense, because it means only one set of gametes has to make the perilous journey outside of the organism. The ferns and fern allies germinate from spores.

These plants are mostly homosporous - their spores are identical and you can't differentiate which will grow into male or female plants. They are also monoecious - both the archegonia and antheridia male and female reproductive structures are borne on the same plant. Contrast these primitive vascular plants with the more advanced seed plants, the gymnosperms and angiosperms, which germinate from seeds rather than from spores. Seed plants are all heterosporous. It is easy to differentiate the larger female megaspore from the smaller male microspore.

The sperm of seed plants have no flagella. They lack antheridia, and only a few still have an archegonia.

Unlike the more primitive ferns and fern allies, seed plants are mostly dioecious , having separate male and female plants. In many of these primitive plants, certain leaves are specialized for reproduction. These modified leaves, or sporophylls , bear the sporangia at their bases.

These sporophylls usually branch out from a shortened stem, forming a club shaped structure called a strobilus. The pine cone and the flower are elaborate variations on these primitive strobili. There are four divisions of non-seed tracheophytes, vascular plants that reproduce by means of spores , the Psilophyta, Lycophyta, Sphenophyta, and Pterophyta. Before these non-seed tracheophytes evolved, the bryophytes were the dominant form of plant life. The evolutionary edge of having a more efficient conducting system, and a well-developed root-shoot system enabled them to outcompete bryophytes.

There are only two living genera of whisk ferns, sole survivors of a large and widespread group of early land plants. In addition to the living Division Psilophyta, the psilopsids, there are two extinct divisions of primeval vascular plants. The primitive whisk ferns resemble these extinct pioneers in many ways. They are the only living vascular plants that lack a root-shoot system, a characteristic they share with both extinct Divisions of ancestral vascular plants.

Some recent molecular evidence suggests that one, or even both, of the living genera of psilopsids may actually be more closely related to ferns, like a fern that has reverted to more primitive traits. If this is true, then Psilophyta will join the ranks of the numerous extinct Divisions of plants. Psilopsids are found in tropical and subtropical areas, and occurs throughout the southern US. I once found one growing on my back porch under the leaves of a spider plant.

Whisk ferns are a common weed in greenhouses all over the world. They are simple green upright stems, with dichotomous branching. They have no leaves, and no true roots. The outer tissues of the stem do all the photosynthesizing. A portion of the stem called a rhizome runs along the ground, or just below it. A rhizome is a horizontal stem that spreads the plant around.

Roots grow out the bottom of the rhizome, and a new plant can arise at the same point from the top. Even though, as primitive plants, both plant groups have similarities and differences. This article mainly concerns about the difference between bryophytes and ferns.

Overview and Key Difference 2. What are Bryophytes 3. What are Ferns 4. Similarities Between Bryophytes and Ferns 5.

Bryophytes are small plants, which taxonomically place between algae and pteridophytes. These three groups of plants lack adaptations of higher plants such as true leaves, roots, vascular system and lignin, etc.

Instead, they have alternate haploid gametophytic generation and diploid saprophytic generation where the gametophyte is the dominant generation. The sporophyte is saprophytic on the gametophyte. Ecologically, bryophytes are important as indicators of environmental conditions due to their extreme sensitivity to air, water, and soil pollution.

Furthermore, some bryophytes such as Sphagnum have importance as soil conditioners due to their high water holding capacity and the permeability to the air. Despite their ecological and horticultural uses, they have been used for many medical purposes since the ancient time. In recent times, mosses are used in cell cultures, to produce pharmaceutically important proteins. Ferns and ferns allies Pteridophytes represent the vascular tissue plants as the earliest group of land plants, which have four phyla.

Namely, they are the Psilotophyta, Lycophyta, Sphenophyta the fern allies , and Pterophyta the true ferns. When considering true ferns Pteridophyta , similar to bryophytes, these ferns also show alternative generations. However, unlike bryophytes, ferns have a dominant sporophyte generation that is diploid.

Gametophyte generation represents by a prothallus, which is green and photosynthetic produced by a spore of the sporophyte. The sporophyte is the diploid stage of the pteridophyte life cycle, and it is also photosynthetic. Sporophytic phase Depends completely on gametophytic. Saprophytic phase is an independent autotrophic. As their gametophytic generation is dominating, they produce gametes. But they fail to produce flowers or seeds. Bryophytes body is not defined by true roots, stems, and leaves rather they have rhizoids for anchoring.

They have unbranched sporophytes and reproduce by spores. Examples are mosses, liverworts, hornworts. They are limited in size characteristically and prefer a moist place to grow, but are adjustable in the drier environment also.

Till yet around 20, species of the bryophytes are been found. Bryophytes play an important role in an ecosystem by providing water and nutrients to other plant living alongside bryophytes.

As these plants do not produce either flowers or seeds, they are called as cryptograms. They are also termed as vascular plants containing xylem and phloem tissues. They have leaves which are known as fronds, true stems, and roots.

Pteridophytes include highly diverse true ferns. Fronds are the largest species of ferns and can reach up to six meters in length. Such plants get disperse via spores and reproduce rather than seeds.

Bryophytes are used for medicinal purposes. These plants are found in moist, dark, shady, cool, damp area. As these plants produce gametes, they are called gametophyte. The plant structure is well differentiated in roots, stems, and leaves. Few examples are Spikemosses, clubmosses, ferns, quillworts. There are around 13, species of pteridophytes which makes them representative of the closest relatives of the angiosperms, the conifers, and other seeds plants.