WRITTEN REPORT – Phylum Lycophyta

Seedless Vascular Plants

Once plants like bryophytes became adapted to living on the land, evolution continued to select for plants that had traits
favorable to this strange, dry territory. Today’s descendants of these early plants reveal the traits that made them successful:
✓Better control of internal water concentration.
✓Development of roots to increase water and mineral uptake from the soil.
✓Internal vascular tissue for conducting water and sugar throughout the plant body.
✓A more erect, branched pattern of growth.
✓The evolution of leaves, allowing better capture of light. *Homiohydric - Organisms
There are two types of heterospory that appeared in seedless vascular plants that can regulate their internal
water content
1. Heterosporous - plants produce two different types of spores
✓Megaspores are larger and grow into female gametophytes.
✓Microspores are smaller and grow into male gametophytes.
2. Homosporous - plants whose sporophytes make just one kind of spore; homo- means same

All seedless vascular plants have several characteristics in common:

✓The sporophyte is the dominant phase of the life cycle, but the gametophyte is independent and photosynthetic.
✓The sporophyte makes and disperses spores from sporangia.
✓The gametophyte makes gametes in gametangia.
✓They require water for sexual reproduction so the sperm can swim to the egg.
✓The sporophyte has vascular tissue, a cuticle, and stomates.
Phylum Lycophyta - Three groups of lycophytes exist today:
Three Lycophyte Groups
Club mosses Spike mosses Quillworts
Descriptio called lycopods or ground pines can be flatter and more moss-like in appearance are spiky little plants that almost
n found looking a lot like little pine trees Some species of the spike moss Selaginella look like tufts of grass and are
as they grow along the forest floor in are known for their ability to survive in harsh, typically found growing in
temperate regions. dry conditions. marshy areas.
Branches may be branched or unbranched. If Shoots usually look flat, and their branching The short, thick stems of
branch, it split evenly, making is typically anisotomous — when the shoot quillworts form perennial
symmetrical forks in a type of splits, one branchat the fork grows longer than undergound corms.
branching called isotomous branching. the other.
Leaves Small leaves wrap around the Small leaves are arranged in spirals around the Longer leaves are arranged in a
stems,either in a spiral or in individual shoot. At the base of each leaf is a small flap tight spiral around the short stem,
rings of leaves called whorls. of extra tissue called a ligule (means tongue). growing up like tufts of quills.
Base have ligules
Roots Adventitious Adventitious Adventitious

Sample of the life cycle of homosporous lycophytes Sample of the life cycle of heterosporous lycophytes