Ferns & Horsetails (Pterophyta)
Three major groups of seedless vascular plants:
- Whisk ferns: tropical and subtropical; no leaves or roots; gametophyte colorless, lives parasitic with fungi
- Horsetails: in moist forests, on lake and pond shores, swamps photosynthetic stems and colorless sporophyte stems
- Ferns: most abundant seedless vascular plants; worldwide distribution, but 75% of species in the tropics; small to tree-size