Life Lab* Series
Vascular/Non-Vascular Plants
th
5 Grade
Created and Presented by:
Paul Hansen, Curator
Catherine Hansen, Garden Manager/Horticulturist
Escorts:
Towns/Union County Master Gardeners
Hiawassee Garden Club
Enotah Garden Club
*www.lifelab.org/2013/12/content-standards/
All known plants on Earth are classified as
Vascular or Non-Vascular
5th Grade ‘Life Lab’ in Hamilton Gardens
October 18th, 2013
5th Grade Class meets in Pavilion
Speakers (8:30 to 8:40)
(Paul Hansen/ Curator)
Garden Introduction, Trail Safety and Collection Bag Rules and
Regulations
(Catherine Hansen/ Garden Manager)
Briefing on Vascular and Non-Vascular plants to look for in the
Hamilton Gardens
Field Trip Time: 70 minutes total
(5) 10 minute stations with 5 minutes allotted for foot travel
between each station. Estimated time of completion: 9:50 am
Single blast on Air Horn – begin activity at Learning Station
Double blast on Air Horn – begin walking to next Learning
Station
Station #1 (Donna Cates/Master Gardener)
Gymnosperms: (Vascular) (Seeds on the ‘Outside’)
So you've got a vascular system. What comes next? Seeds!
Seeds let you send your offspring out into the
world. Seeds provide a protective coat so that the embryo plant
can develop when it finds a nice piece of soil. But remember
this: gymnosperms have not developed the ability to make
flowers. Flowers are an evolutionary advancement after seeds.
So if you have a vascular system, seeds, and no flowers, what
are you? A gymnosperm!
Seeds are a protective structure that lets a plant embryo
survive for long periods of time before it germinates. Seeds
have food sources pre-packaged for plant embryos to provide
for an embryo's needs in early growth. Seeds let plants spread
their embryos over large areas. Some are even so lightweight
that they are carried across the planet by strong winds. Seeds
are an advantage if you want to be a plant that can grow
anywhere. It is believed that the first plants on our planet were
gymnosperm.
Example: Pine Cone (Conifers)
Strawberry IS NOT a gymnosperm! Although it may appear that
the strawberry wears its seed on the outside of its fruit – the
brown spots (or “pips”) that you see are not seed! They are
actually the fruit of the plant. Not too tasty!
Escorts: Have your group look for and collect 1 pine cone per
each child in route to Station #2
Station #2 (Catherine Hansen/Garden Manager)
Non -Vascular Plant:
Non-vascular plants do not have tubes running through them.
Water soaks into non-vascular plants and then moves from one
cell to another. This is how they pass food through the plant.
Non-vascular plants must live in moist areas or in water.
They do not grow to be very tall.
Moss the most common type of non-vascular plant.
Non-vascular plants do not have roots, leaves, or stems.
Example: Moss, Lichen, Fungi (Mushroom)
Our 5th graders will be studying the Bryophyta non-vascular
family (mosses) on this field trip.
Escorts: Have your group look for and collect a small piece of
Moss, Mushroom or Lichen in route to Station #3
Station #3 (Elaine Delcuze/Naturalist, Enotah Garden Club)
Non-Seeded Plants: (Vascular)
The common Fern is a Vascular Plant. It is also the most
studied Non-Seeded, Vascular Plant. It is commonly thought
that the black or brown dots (“sori”) found on the underside of
the fern frond are the seed that allow this plant to reproduce;
this is not true. The sori are spores that must be released to
fertilize the Rhizome hidden just below the surface of the fern
in order to reproduce.
This plant is not started from seed but from a rhizome formed
in the soil.
This plant bares no fruit and does not flower.
Example: Fern
Our 5th graders will be studying the Fern as the only vascular/
non-seeded on this field trip.
Escorts: Have your groups collect a SINGLE Fern frond on their
way to Station #4
Station #4 (Maggie Oliver/Master Gardener)
Angiosperm: (Vascular) (Seeded Plants) (Seeds on the ‘Inside’)
The term "angiosperm" derives from two Greek words:
angeion, meaning "vessel," and sperma, meaning "seed." The
angiosperms are those plants whose seeds develop within a
surrounding layer of plant tissue, called the carpel, with seeds
attached around the margins. This arrangement is easily seen
by slicing into a tomato, for example. Collectively, carpels
together with the style and stigma are termed the ovary, and
these plus associated structures develop into the mature fruit.
The enclosed seeds and the presence of carpels distinguish
angiosperms from their closest living relatives, the
gymnosperms.
Example: Sunflower (any flowering plant), fruit, vegetables, etc.
Escorts: Have the children collect a flowering bloom on their
way to Station # 5
Station #5
Vascular Plants:
Vascular plants have tubes running through them. These tubes
carry water and nutrients through the plant. The tubes are in
the leaves, stems, and roots.
Some types of vascular plants are trees, grass, and ferns.
Any plant that has flowers is a vascular plant.
Any plant that has cones is a vascular plant.
Vascular plants reproduce with seeds.
Escorts: Have the children collect three different types of leaves