6. Forest plants

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6.1 Mosses and lichens
6.2 Gallery: Mosses and lichens

6.3 Ferns and horsetails

6.4 Herbaceous plants
6.5 Gallery: Herbaceous forest plants

6.6 Sprigs
6.7 Gallery: Sprigs

6.1 Mosses and lichens

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Mosses

Mosses are primitive plants that do not have roots. They were the first land plants to develop on our planet.

Mosses are small, evergreen plants, which means that they do not drop their leaves during the winter. Mosses have leaves and stems, but instead of roots they use small rhizoids to attach themselves to their growing surface. Plants use their leaves to gather moisture and nutrients. Mosses have no vascular tissue.

Mosses reproduce via spores. After being fertilized, the egg cell of a moss develops into a sporangium, which releases spores that develop into new moss plants. Because the fertilization of mosses requires water, they thrive only in wet, shady environments, such as the forest floor, bogs, and riverbanks.

Haircap moss with sporangia.

Lichens

Lichens have no distinct leaves, stems, or roots. Lichens consist of fungal mycelia and photosynthetic algae that live in close symbiosis with one another. The mycelium takes care of gathering water and nutrients, whereas the algal part of the lichen produces sugars in photosynthesis and gives some of them to the mycelium. Lichens reproduce via spores and detached lichen crumbs.

Reindeer lichen. The thallus or body of a lichen contains no distinguishable leaves, stem, flowers, or roots.

6.2 Gallery: Mosses and lichens

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: Reindeer lichen is a common type of lichen.
: Puffy reindeer lichen.
: Moose lichen (Cetraria aculeata).
: Stair-step moss forms distinctive layers.
: Red-stemmed feather moss.
: Fork moss.
: Haircap moss.
: Peat moss (Sphagnum papillosum).

6.3 Ferns and horsetails

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Pteridophytes are a group of ancient land plants that consist of ferns, horsetails, and liverworts. Unlike mosses, from which they have developed, they have roots and vascular tissue. Like mosses, they thrive in wer and shady conditions. The most well-known ferns are the ostrich fern and the wall fern.

The wall fern is a pteridophyte: it reproduces via spores and its stem contains vascular tissue.

Like mosses, pteridophytes reproduce via spores. Their sporangia are located on the undersides of their leaves. They can reproduce either asexually or with sex cells.

6.4 Herbaceous plants

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Seed plants have roots, stems, flowers, and leaves. Many seed plants have herbaceous stems, whereas other have wooden stems.

The most common herbaceous plants of the forest include the liverleaf, the wood anemone, the wood sorrel, the goldenrod, the May lily, and the rosebay willowherb.

6.5 Gallery: Herbaceous forest plants

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: The liverleaf is a common herbaceous flower of groves and broadleaf forests.
: The wood anemone blooms in the spring, before broadleaf trees have grown their leaves.
: May lily.
: The wood sorrel can be distinguished by its leaves.
: The rosebay willowherb thrives in forest clearings. It can grow over a meter in height.
: The goldenrod has yellow flowers.

6.6 Sprigs

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Sprigs or dwarf shrubs are short plants with woody stems. Plants that are over half a meter tall are considered shrubs.

The most well-known forest sprigs include the berry-bearing blueberry and lingonberry.

Heather is an important sprig for bees. Their flowers contain a lot of nectar, which bees use to make honey.

Other forest sprigs include the twinflower, which can often be seen creeping over mosses on the forest floor, and the crowberry, which can be identified by its needle-like leaves.

The picture on the right displays the wild rosemary, which is a sprig species that thrives in wet forests and bogs.

6.7 Gallery: Sprigs

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: Lingonberries can often be found in pine forests.
: Blueberries can be found in spruce forests.
: Heather flowers during the late summer.
: Lingonberries are sold during the summer.
: Blueberry and lingonberry. Which of these plants is evergreen?
: Bearberry is a groundcover shrub that looks similar to lingonberry. It grows on dry ground as carpet-like vegetation.
: The crowberry produces black berries. Its leaves look like the needles of coniferous trees.
: The bog bilberry can be found in wet forests. It looks like a blueberry, but can be distinguished by its smooth leaves.
: The twinflower is a dwarf shrub that often grows in moss-covered environments.
: The wild rosemary is a bog sprig.

6. Forest plants

Contents

6.1 Mosses and lichens

Mosses

Lichens

6.2 Gallery: Mosses and lichens

6.3 Ferns and horsetails

6.4 Herbaceous plants

6.5 Gallery: Herbaceous forest plants

6.6 Sprigs

6.7 Gallery: Sprigs