What are some examples of lycophytes?
SelaginellaLepidoden…IsoetalesSigillariaHuia
Lycophyte/Lower classifications
What are the 3 groups of lycophytes?
Lycophyta: Systematics
There are about 1100-1200 species of lycophytes living today. The three groups to which these belong, the Lycopodiales, Selaginellales, and Isoetales, are all relicts of a severe extinction of lycophyte groups in the latter half of the Pennsylvanian, about 296 million years ago.
What is the structure of lycophytes?
The lycophytes generally bear conelike structures called strobili, which are tight aggregations of sporophylls (sporangium-bearing leaves).
What are the basic features of the ferns and lycophytes?
Lycophytes have microphylls (leaves with single unbranched veins), while other vascular plants (ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms) have megaphylls (leaves with multiple branched veins). Lycophytes have microphylls, while ferns and other vascular plants (gymnosperms and angiosperms) have megaphylls.
What are lycophytes used for?
Lycophytes are the oldest extant group of vascular plants, and dominated major habitats for 40 million years. The club mosses (Lycopodiales) are usually evergreen, and have been used as Christmas decorations, though their flammable spores and increasing rarity has made this illegal in some states.
Where are lycophytes found?
Lycophytes are found almost everywhere on Earth, excluding Antarctica. They grow from the tropics to the Arctic in a range of ecosystems including rainforests, deserts, lakes and wetlands. A large proportion of lycophytes grow from the stems of trees and other plants.
What do lycophytes produce?
Like ferns and other seedless vascular plants, lycophytes produce gametophyte plants which develop independently of their parent sporophyte. In the club mosses, the gametophyte is usually quite small, and may even develop underground. It relies on a mycorrhizal fungus to help provide nutrients and water.
Do lycophytes exist today?
The consensus classification produced by the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification in 2016 (PPG I) places all extant (living) lycophytes in the class Lycopodiopsida. There are around 1,290 to 1,340 such species.
When did lycophytes appear?
The earliest lycophytes included Baragwanathia and Protolepidodendron, dating from the early Devonian Period. Both were small herbaceous plants. During the Carboniferous Period, which followed (beginning 358.9 million years ago), the treelike forms of the Lepidodendrales appeared.