Vascular plant

From Freepedia

? Vascular Plants
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae (in part)
'Divisions'
Non-seed-bearing plants Equisetophyta Lycopodiophyta Psilotophyta Pteridophyta Superdivision Spermatophyta Pinophyta Cycadophyta Ginkgophyta Gnetophyta Magnoliophyta

The vascular plants are a plant group including the ferns, clubmosses, horsetails, flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms. Scientific names are Tracheophyta and Tracheobionta, but neither is very widely used. Both the English name and the scientific names refer to specialized tissue for conducting water. Nonvascular plants include mosses, algae, and the like.

The vascular plants are set apart in two important ways:

1. Vascular plants have water-carrying tissues, enabling the plants to evolve to a larger size. Non-vascular plants lack these and are restricted to relatively small sizes.
2. In vascular plants, the principal generation phase is the sporophyte, which is diploid with two sets of chromosomes per cell. In non-vascular plants, the principal generation phase is often the gametophyte, which is haploid with one set of chromosomes per cell. See also alternation of generations.

Water transport happens in either xylem or phloem: xylem carries water and inorganic solutes upward toward the leaves from the roots, while phloem carries organic solutes throughout the plant.

Members

• Spore-bearing vascular plants
  • Equisetophyta ~ horsetails
  • Lycopodiophyta ~ clubmosses, spikemosses, quillworts
  • Psilotophyta ~ whisk-ferns
  • Pteridophyta~ ferns

• Seed-bearing vascular plants - Superdivision Spermatophyta
  • Pinophyta ~ conifers
  • Cycadophyta ~ cycads
  • Ginkgophyta ~ ginkgoes
  • Gnetophyta ~ gnetophytes
  • Magnoliophyta ~ flowering plants

See also

• Fern allies