There are approximately 1500 species of seed-bearing plants growing wild in Nova Scotia's marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. These include herbs, shrubs and trees. Only a small number of seed-bearing plants are gymnosperms, those plants that have needle or scale-like leaves, and bear "naked seeds" (i.e., not enclosed by carpels which form a fruit), which developed as the result of only one sperm fertilizing the egg. In the angiosperms or flowering plants, "double fertilization" occurs. The vast majority of seed plants are angiosperms, which bear flowers and have seeds enclosed in an ovary (carpel). The angiosperms are further divided into two main groups: the monocotyledons (monocots - such as lilies, grasses, sedges, rushes, orchids, irises etc.) and dicotyledons (dicots - such as roses, heaths, legumes, mustards, asters etc.).

This Document Includes:

Marine Angiosperms
Eel Grass (Zostera marina) Beds
Tidal Marshes
Freshwater Angiosperms
Emergent Angiosperms
Floating Leaved Angiosperms
Submerged Angiosperms
Terrestrial Forest and Non-Forest Angiosperms

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Additional Keywords:
halophytes, gramminoids, forbs.

Associated Topics:

T10 Plants

Associated Habitats:

H2 Coastal
H3.3 Bottom Lotic (Rivers and Streams)
H3.4 Bottom Lentic (Lakes and Ponds)
H3.5 Water's Edge Lotic (Rivers and Streams)
H3.6 Water's Edge Lentic (Lakes and Ponds)
H4 Freshwater Wetlands
H5 Terrestrial Unforested
H6 Forests