Big Bend National Park in Texas Is Mostly Chihuahuan Desert

Multiple Choice

Big Bend National Park in Texas is mostly Chihuahuan desert, where rainfall averages about 10 inches per year. Yet, it is not uncommon when hiking in this bone-dry desert to encounter mosses and ferns. One such plant is called "flower of stone." It is not a flowering plant, nor does it produce seeds. Under arid conditions, its leaflike structures curl up. However, when it rains, it unfurls its leaves, which form a bright green rosette on the desert floor. Consequently, it is sometimes called the "resurrection plant." At first glance, it could be a fern, a true moss, or a spike moss.
-Which of the following characteristics is (are) possessed in common by true mosses, ferns, and spike mosses, and therefore becomes useless at helping to determine to which of these groups flower of stone belongs?
1) a sporophyte generation that is dominant
2) true leaves and roots
3) flagellated sperm
4) strobili
5) alternation of generations

A) 5 only
B) 1 and 5
C) 2 and 3
D) 3 and 5
E) 2, 4, and 5