Groups of plants

Moss & Liquens	Ferns	Conifers	Flowering plants
Non woody. First plants to colonize Earth. An area where there are moss & lichens it is a clean area. The least moss and liquens there are, the most polluted its the area.	They reproduce by spores. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.	Plants that produce cones. They tolerate cold thanks to the resine. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs.	They propagate by flowers. They evolved when insects appeared. They were the last group to appear in Earth.

Pterophyta - Fern

Latin plant name Pterophyta Common plant name Fern Plant type Pterophyta Size (meters) < 2 m Distinguishing features Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. There are females and males ferns.

Pteridium esculentum - Bracken

Latin plant name Pteridium esculentum Common plant name Bracken Plant type Bracken Size (meters) < 2 m Distinguishing features Pteridium esculentum is very quick to colonise disturbed areas and can outcompete other plants to form a dense understorey. It is often treated as a weed. It does create a more humid sheltered microclimate under its leaves and is food for a variety of native insects. It grows from creeping rhizomes, which are covered with reddish hair. From them arise single large roughly triangular fronds, which grow to 0.5–2 metres. In Japan and New Zeland they eat them.