EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Nonvascular plants and seedless vascular plants both reproduce by sexual means in which there is the production of male and female gametes, and asexual means in which there is a production of spores by the sporophytes.

Detailed explanation-2: -However, ferns are unlike most plants because they do not produce flowers and seeds. Instead, they use spores to reproduce. The spores that ferns produce are different than seeds.

Detailed explanation-3: -Most nonvascular plants reproduce sexually by creating single-celled spores or asexually by vegetative propagation. Vegetative propagation is when part of the plant breaks off and develops into a new plant with the exact same genetic information as the original plant.

Detailed explanation-4: -In seedless vascular plants, such as ferns and horsetails, the plants reproduce using haploid, unicellular spores instead of seeds. The spores are very lightweight (unlike many seeds), which allows for their easy dispersion in the wind and for the plants to spread to new habitats.

Detailed explanation-5: -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.