Title: Non-flowering Plants - introducing ferns and mosses

In  the vast diversity of the plant kingdom, flowering plants, or angiosperms, often capture the spotlight with their colourful blooms and fruit-bearing capabilities. However, there exists another, less conspicuous group of plants that play an equally important role in ecosystems but reproduce in a way that may seem more mysterious to the casual observer. These plants are collectively known as cryptogams.

Derived from the Greek words kryptos, meaning "hidden," and gamos, meaning "marriage," cryptogams are non-flowering plants that reproduce without seeds. Instead, they use spores, a more ancient form of reproduction that predates the development of flowers and seeds in plants. Cryptogams include several diverse groups, such as ferns, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, algae, and fungi, each playing a unique role in the balance of ecosystems.

Cryptogams can be divided into several main groups, each with its distinct characteristics:

Bryophytes (Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts)

Bryophytes are the simplest and oldest land plants. They are non-vascular, meaning they lack specialised tissues like xylem and phloem that transport water and nutrients in more advanced plants. Because of this, bryophytes are generally small and must live in moist environments where they can absorb water directly through their tissues.

• Mosses: Mosses are soft, green plants that often form dense mats on soil, rocks, or tree trunks. They are highly adaptable and can grow in many environments, from forests to deserts.
• Liverworts: These small, flat plants often resemble mosses but have a more flattened, liver-shaped appearance.
• Hornworts: Named for their horn-like sporophyte structures, hornworts are similar to liverworts but are less common and more specialised.

Bryophytes rely on water for reproduction, as their sperm must swim through a thin film of moisture to reach the egg for fertilisation.

Mosses are not the easiest of plants to identify but some are more conspicuous and have unique features so some can be identified in the field but for many species examination through a lens is required to look at the minutiae of detail.

One readily identifiable species is forest star moss which has distinctive star-shaped ‘leaves’. Another is bank fir moss, found on acid woodland banks, which looks like a mini-conifer forest! Probably the most common species in the area is the cypress-leaved moss which has ‘leaves’ that resemble those on a leylandii hedge. This plant grows readily on bare soil and on tree trunks, often forming large expanses.

Liverworts are less abundant and the most common is crescent-cup and this is an imported species that came to the UK on soil that garden shrubs and plants were growing in. Whilst not ‘invasive’ in suitable conditions it can grow to cover quite large areas, usually on bare soil in damp places, especially river banks.

Pteridophytes (Ferns and Horsetails)

Pteridophytes are vascular plants, meaning they have specialised tissues to transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. This allows them to grow larger and thrive in a broader range of habitats compared to bryophytes. Like bryophytes, however, pteridophytes reproduce via spores rather than seeds.

• Ferns and spleenworts: Ferns and spleenworts are perhaps the most well-known of the cryptogams. They have large, divided leaves called fronds, which unfurl from coiled fiddleheads. Ferns reproduce through spores, which are typically produced in small clusters called sori on the underside of their fronds.
• Horsetails: Horsetails have hollow, jointed stems and reproduce using spores produced in cone-like structures at the tips of their stems. They are closely related to ferns and are often found in wet or marshy environments.

Pteridophytes have a more complex life cycle than bryophytes, with alternating generations between the spore-producing plant (the sporophyte) and the gamete-producing plant (the gametophyte).

The woodlands and the shaded pathside banks of the Sidmouth area are often covered by fern species and all five of the most common species can be found here. The male-fern is very common (and a variant, the scaly male-fern) can be found in abundance in some areas. Lady fern, hard fern and broad-buckler fern are less common. Often growing in more open habitat the ubiquitous bracken can be found in many places in summer.

Polypody ferns are another frequently encountered species and there are three variants that are distinguished by the pores on the back of the ‘leaves’. These plants can grow on bare soil, on walls and even on trees, mainly oak.

The other most frequently encountered member of this family is hart’s-tongue which is actually a spleenwort rather than a fern.

Horsetails are less common in the Sidmouth area with the most frequently encountered being the greater horsetail and is particularly well established along the stream in Salcombe. It is a vigorous plant that spreads quickly and is almost indestructible! It can be a bit of a problem if it gets out of hand.

Fungi and Lichen

Whilst these are cryptogams they are not plants and so are covered in a separate segment in the classroom.