Plant Types

"Gymnosperms Gymnosperms are the closest relatives of angiosperms. They are a group of woody plants that produce seeds but no flowers or fruit. The seeds of gymnosperms are usually found in cones rather than inside fruit. GymnospermsThe world’s largest, tallest, oldest and widest organisms are all gymnosperms. They are incredible plants and some species are known to survive for over 2000 years. There are four different groups of gymnosperms. These include the gingko, gnetophyta, cycads and conifers. Conifers contain the majority of species and include the well-known pine trees. Ferns and lycophytes Ferns and lycophytes are non-woody plants and also don’t produce seeds, flowers or fruit. Instead, ferns and lycophytes reproduce using tiny structures called spores. These two groups were once the most common plants of Earth but they have since been outgrown by gymnosperms and angiosperms. Still, around 12,000 species of ferns and 1,200 species of lycophytes remain on Earth. The main difference between ferns and lycophytes is in the vascular tissue of their leaves. Ferns have fronds with multiple veins whereas the leaves of lycophytes are very simple and only have one vein. Non-vascular plants Moss fieldBesides lacking tissue, non-vascular plants also lack wood, roots and flowers. This group of often ignored plants includes mosses, hornworts, liverworts and (depending on who you’re talking to) some algae. Compared to vascular plants, non-vascular plants are small and they struggle to grow taller than a few centimeters. Mosses are the most common and best known of the non-vascular plants. They include over 14,000 species that are found all around the world. Liverworts and hornworts are two groups of underappreciated plants. They are flattened plants that are typically only a few millimeters tall but grow sprawling across moist surfaces and are commonly mistaken for mosses and algae."