REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PLANTS 281 



of plants, there are no organs of any kind. A single cell is the 

 whole plant. Reproduction takes place when the cell sepa- 

 rates into two cells, thus forming two plants. In higher 

 flowerless plants, spores are produced and from these 

 bodies new plants grow. Spores are very small bodies 

 which look like dust. They do not have an embryo a 

 complete, minute plant within the covering as a seed does, 



FERN GROUND PINE MUSHROOM 



FIG. 149. THREE FLOWERLESS PLANTS 



The letter a indicates the part of the plant which bears the spores. 

 The mushroom is never green. What does that imply in regard to its food 

 making? 



but contain only a minute portion of protoplasm. Ferns, 

 club-mosses, and puff balls, when dry, discharge thousands 

 of spores on being shaken. 



Some flowerless plants find food material in the leaves and 

 fruit of other plants, as do molds and yeast; and some in 

 decaying organisms in the soil, as the mushroom; ferns and 

 mosses, however, usually require soil for development. 

 Mosses and ferns have chlorophyll in their leaves; mush- 

 rooms, yeast, and bacteria have none. 



There are some plants, like palms and rubber plants, which 



