Science · Life Science

Seedless Plants

Reading comprehension passage and printable worksheet about mosses, ferns, and other plants that reproduce with spores instead of seeds — for grades 4–7.

Reading Passage

Seedless Plants

Most of the plants we see every day — trees, flowers, grasses — reproduce by making seeds. But there is a large group of plants that reproduce without seeds at all. These are called seedless plants. Instead of producing seeds, seedless plants reproduce by releasing tiny cells called spores. Seedless plants were among the first plants to evolve on land, and they have survived for hundreds of millions of years.

Seedless plants are divided into two main groups: non-vascular plants and vascular plants. Non-vascular plants, such as mosses and liverworts, do not have the internal tubes that transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Because they lack these tubes, non-vascular plants are small and must live in moist environments where they can absorb water directly through their surfaces.

Mosses are the most familiar non-vascular plants. They grow as soft, dense mats on rocks, soil, and tree bark in damp, shady places. Mosses are important in many ecosystems — they hold soil in place, retain moisture, and provide habitat for small animals. Peat moss, a type of moss that grows in bogs, is even used as a fuel source in some parts of the world.

Vascular seedless plants, such as ferns, horsetails, and club mosses, have tubes for transporting water and nutrients. These tubes allow them to grow much taller than non-vascular plants. Ferns are the most common vascular seedless plants. They have fronds — large, feathery leaves — that unroll from a coiled shape called a fiddlehead. Ferns release spores from tiny cases called sporangia found on the undersides of their fronds.

During the Carboniferous Period, about 300 million years ago, seedless vascular plants dominated Earth’s forests. Giant tree ferns and club mosses grew as tall as 30 meters. When these ancient plants died and were buried, they eventually became coal — one of today’s most important fossil fuels. Understanding seedless plants helps us understand both the history of life on Earth and the origins of the energy we use today.

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