The Major Plant Groups

Land plants are embryophytes; their embryo forms in a chamber on the parental body and is nourished by the parent

Three early-evolving plant lineages are known collectively as bryophytes; these nonvascular plants do not produce seeds

Vascular plants have internal pipelines that transport water and sugars

The first seed plants were gymnosperms; angiosperms (flowering plants) are the most diverse plant lineage, and the most recently evolved

Land plants are embryophytes; their embryo forms in a chamber on the parental body and is nourished by the parent

Three early-evolving plant lineages are known collectively as bryophytes; these nonvascular plants do not produce seeds

Vascular plants have internal pipelines that transport water and sugars

The first seed plants were gymnosperms; angiosperms (flowering plants) are the most diverse plant lineage, and the most recently evolved


Bryophytes I No Xylem or phloem - Gametophyte predominant - Water required for fertilization - Seedless liverworts hornworts mosses Seedless vascular plants 0 Vascular tissue present 0 Sporophyte predominant 0 Water required for fertilization 0 Seedless whisk ferns, club mosses, horsetails, spike mosses ferns ancestral alga Gymnosperms - Vascular tissue present 0 Sporopnyte predominant 0 Pollen grains; water not required for fertilization 0 “Naked” seeds gnetophytes, ginkgos, conifers, cycads Angiosperms I Vascular tissue present - Sporophyte predominant 0 Pollen grains; water not required for fertilization - Seeds form in a floral ovary that becomes a fruit monocots, eudicots, and relatives