Land Plants: Vascular Tissue and a Life Cycle That Alternates · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Plants living two lives

Science · Organisms & Life Processes · ages 19-20
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. You look at a moss carpet. Which generation are you seeing?

    • The sporophyte
    • The gametophyte
    • Neither, mosses lack generations

  2. Which generation makes spores?

    • The haploid gametophyte
    • Both equally
    • The diploid sporophyte

  3. What does vascular tissue carry?

    • Water and sugars around the body
    • Spores to new habitats
    • Pollen to flowers

  4. Why can pines reproduce far from ponds while mosses cannot?

    • Pine sperm travel in pollen and embryos wait in seeds
    • Pines skip fertilisation entirely
    • Moss spores drown in water

  5. A fern leaf releases dust-like spores. What grows directly from one spore?

    • A new leafy fern
    • A small gametophyte
    • A pine cone

  6. A gardener finds moss only on damp shady stones, never dry sunny ones. Why?

    • Moss seeds dry out in sun
    • Stones poison the moss
    • Moss sperm must swim, so moss needs moist surfaces to reproduce

  7. Three land solutions are offered: fluid plumbing, support against gravity, and protected embryos. A student drops support as unnecessary. What is the best reply?

    • Without support the plant cannot hold leaves to the light, so all three were needed
    • Plumbing alone lifts any plant
    • Embryos need no protection on land

  8. In flowering plants the big visible plant is the gametophyte.

    Circle one:   True   False

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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Plants living two lives W1-mt_DFtQ2mCZSm-s1

  1. The gametophyte · In mosses the conspicuous plant is the haploid gametophyte.
  2. The diploid sporophyte · Spores come from the diploid sporophyte generation.
  3. Water and sugars around the body · Vascular pipes move water, minerals, and sugars through the plant.
  4. Pine sperm travel in pollen and embryos wait in seeds · Pollen plus seeds freed pines from standing water.
  5. A small gametophyte · Each spore grows into the gametophyte turn of the cycle.
  6. Moss sperm must swim, so moss needs moist surfaces to reproduce · Without a wet film the swimming sperm never reach the egg.
  7. Without support the plant cannot hold leaves to the light, so all three were needed · Standing tall to compete for light needs support as well as plumbing.
  8. False · The visible plant is the sporophyte, and the gametophyte is microscopic.
Worksheet · LightMySky