AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -In seedless vascular plants, such as ferns and horsetails, the plants reproduce using haploid, unicellular spores instead of seeds.

Detailed explanation-2: -Sporangia in Seedless Plants The sporophyte bears the sporangia (singular, sporangium): organs that first appeared in the land plants. The term “sporangia” literally means “spore in a vessel”: it is a reproductive sac that contains spores.

Detailed explanation-3: -In seedless vascular plants such as ferns, the sporophyte releases spores from the undersides of leaves. The spores develop into tiny, separate gametophytes, from which the next generation of sporophyte plants grows.

Detailed explanation-4: -Vascular plants like ferns and horsetails don’t have seeds, they reproduce with spores! These plants have two stages, the gametophyte stage and the sporophyte stage. The sporophyte stage is what you are probably most familiar with. This is when the fern has fronds with spores on the underside.

Detailed explanation-5: -Most seedless vascular plants also have true roots and leaves. Furthermore, the life cycles of seedless vascular plants are dominated by diploid spore-producing sporophytes, rather than gametophytes. However, like nonvascular plants, seedless vascular plants reproduce with spores rather than seeds.