Science 7
Unit 3
Living Things: Protista-Plantae
Name: ______________________________
Date: ______________ Period: __________
Ferns and Their Relatives
This lesson describes the characteristics of the earliest vascular plants, but they do not produce seeds.
Characteristics of Seedless Vascular Plants
1. Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about vascular tissue.
a. Plants can grow tall without vascular tissue.
b. Nonvascular plants are better suited to life on land.
c. Vascular tissue transports water and food throughout a plant’s body.
d. Vascular tissue gives a plant strength and stability.
2. Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about the function of roots.
a. Roots anchor the plant to the ground.
b. Roots keep the plant from loosing water.
c. Roots produce spores.
d. Roots absorb water and nutrients from the soil.
3. List the two main purposes of stems of a plant.
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
4. Where in a vascular plant is the chlorophyll (in a chloroplast) located? ____________________________
5. What is a cuticle on a leaf and what is its purpose?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Ferns
6. List two characteristics that ferns, club mosses and horsetails share.
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
7. Ferns are small plants that can only grow low to the ground.
TRUE or
FALSE
8. The stems of most ferns are located ________________________________. Leaves grow _______________
from the top side of the stems, and roots grow ________________ from the bottom of the stems.
9. Fern leaves are called ____________________________.
10. Why must ferns, club mosses and horsetails grow in moist surroundings?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
11. Where are the spores on a fern located? _______________________________________________________
12. Label the parts of a fern in the diagram. Use the terms: root, rhizome, frond, fiddlehead
Spores on a fern.
Club Mosses and Horsetails are similar to ferns in that they are seedless, vascular plants that have true leaves,
stems and roots. They also have a similar life cycle. Club mosses are often called ‘ground pine’ because they
look like little tine pine trees. Club mosses today are much smaller than their ancestors were and very few
species remain compared to the past. Many species lived during the age of the dinosaur and most are extinct
now.
Club Mosses
Horsetails