How do moss and ferns differ?

Answer 1

Ferns are pteridophytes. Mosses are bryophytes. Mosses have rhizoids, simple root like structures, ferns have rhizomes or underground stems. Both ferns and mosses reproduce via spores, produced from the sporophyte and gametes from the gametophyte. Ferns; however, are sporophyte dominant and mosses are gametophyte dominant. The main, most noticeable form of the moss is the gametophyte, a haploid structure. The less obvious moss sporophyte is simply a stalk called a seta and spore capsule. On the other hand the most noticeable part of the fern is the sporophyte, which may be huge in the case of tree ferns like Dicksonia and Alsophila/Cyathea. The very much less conspicuous part of a fern life cycle is the nondominant gametophyte, which takes the form of a cardoid prothallus and produces gametes (sperm cells and egg cells) in archegonia and antheridia. Spores are produced in the spore capsules of mosses. In ferns, whole clusters of spore capsules called sporangia are found huddled in structures called sori (singular sorus) on the underside of the fern fronds. Mosses do not have true leaves. The leaf like structures are haploid and unicellularly thick. Ferns have multicellular, diploid fronds.