How to Compare & Contrast Vascular & Nonvascular Plants
Vascular plants have specialized cells and structures that allow them to transport water and nutrients throughout the plant, while nonvascular plants rely primarily on osmosis for water. Nonvascular plants must stay in water while vascular plants can grow into larger, more complicated structures. Does this Spark an idea?
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Features
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Nonvascular plants absorb water directly through their cell walls. Water can then spread from cell to cell within the plant, but this process is inefficient, restricting the plants' overall size.
Benefits
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Vascular plants have two different systems to help them survive. The xylem takes water from roots up to the rest of the plant while phloem takes carbohydrates produced during photosynthesis from the leaves down to the rest of the plant.
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Time Frame
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Vascular plants are thought to have evolved from nonvascular plants through the differentiation of structures above and below the ground i.e. the roots and leaves.
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