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Plants that Slime and seaweed
In summer, ponds sometimes fill with
don’t flower green slime. This is made up of tiny
algae —very simple plants that have no
flowers. There are thousands of kinds
of algae, including seaweed, and the
green “dust” that covers tree trunks.
No matter how well you look after
a fern, you will never persuade it to Some lichens
flower. Nor will you ever see flowers Slow, but sure are brightly
on a moss. This is because moss Tree ferns Look carefully at rocks, walls, and colored.
doesn’t have flowers or seeds. have thick tree trunks for lichens. They look
Instead, moss reproduces by “trunks.” Some like flat patches that have been
making dust-like spores. grow as high stuck on. They grow very slowly,
as a house. but live for a long time. Lichens
are only half plant, since they are
a mix of fungus and alga.
Feathery ferns The frilly “gills”
Most ferns live in damp places. A lichen expands of a toadstool drop
spores into the air.
Their leaves, or fronds, are often outward as it grows.
split into many pieces, giving
them a feathery outline. Wet and dry
An easy way to spot
ferns is to look at Mosses are small plants that
their new fronds. usually live in damp places. Some
These usually live on walls and rooftops, where
have a coiled it can get very dry. ln hot weather,
shape, which they turn gray and hard. When it
unwinds as they rains, they turn green and start Mushrooms and toadstools
Many ferns grow bigger. growing again. Most fungi feed on the remains of
carry their other living things. A mushroom or a
spores on the toadstool is just the part of a fungus
back of fronds. that makes spores. The rest of the
fungus is hidden away. Although
16 fungi look like plants, they aren’t.
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