Question

7. Reproduction of without seeds​

Answer 1

Answer:

Not every plant grows from a seed. Some plants, like ferns and mosses, grow from spores. Other plants use asexual vegetative reproduction and grow new plants from rhizomes or tubers. We can also use techniques like grafting or take cuttings to make new plants.

Plants that reproduce from spores

Ferns are very common in New Zealand. If you turn over a fern frond (leaf), you might see some unusual structures called sporangia. The sporangia produce very tiny spores. Spores are different to seeds. They do not contain plant embryos or food stores. When the sporangia break open, the spores are released and dispersed by the wind. If the spore lands in a suitable environment, it can grow into a tiny plant called a gametophyte.

The gametophyte looks like a little, thin green plate. It does not have roots, stems or leaves. The gametophyte is a short-lived plant that has both male and female reproductive organs. These produce male and female gametes that combine in fertilisation to produce an embryo. Once fertilisation takes place, a new fern plant starts to grow into the plant we recognise as a fern. Ferns are the only land plant that has these two separate independent living stages.