From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

The Seedless Plants

The plant kingdom can be divided into two categories: the more primitive seedless plants, and the younger, more complex seed-forming plants. We'll begin our survey with two groups of seedless plants, the mosses and the ferns.

As the name implies, members of this category do not form seeds. Remember that a seed is a structure that protects the delicate plant embryo and contains carbohydrate reserves to nourish the plant during germination. In seedless plants, the developing embryo is not enclosed within a seed.

Seedless plants all require the presence of water for reproduction, so they are most common in wet, humid environments.