I would like you to look around and find several examples of plant spores and seeds. Mosses and ferns are bryophytes, the first plants in evolutionary history to occupy land... and they do not make seeds, they make SPORES. Mosses make sporophytes which contain spores. These are hard to find. They look like this:
The sporophyte is also known as a calyptra. They look like brown stalks on top of the moss :
Fern spores are made on structures called sori (sorus in singular ) and these can generally be found on the underside of any fern.
And finally, the last plant to evolve in evolutionary history are flowers and flowers contain ovules, which nurture the seeds. The first flowering plant in evolutionary history which used INSECTS to pollinate was Magnolia Stellata and these are flowering EVERYWHERE right now.
Flowering plants often create seed heads and these seed heads are a food source for birds
YOUR SCAVENGER HUNT TODAY: Go with your frog and take a pic of
a. a moss sporophyte
b. a fern sorus
c. a cone from a conifer (some of you took this yesterday)
d. a magnolia flower (hint, if you go back to the one you observed weeks ago...it might be flowering now! )
e. A seed of any sort or a dried seedhead
Upload your pic on the Thursday chat and label your pics. Remember to include frog in your picture.
