tracheophytes

1. Tracheophytes

5. Fossils evidence suggests that some groups formed dominant flora in the past. Today ferns are prominent in some cool, moist areas. - direct descendants of earliest land plants; fossils of their relatives are 410 million years old (late Silurian period) - Terrestrial or epiphytic - instead of roots have rhizomes (underground stems with many rhizoids) - forked stems with very simple vascular tissue - spore cases form at tips of short branchs - only two genera known

6. Club mosses (e.g. Huperzia species) (previously known as Lycopodium species) - prostrate, branching stem with upright branches - simple vascular systems - spore-bearing leaves arranged in cones in some species - motile sperm (male gametes)

8. Ferns - rhizomes (underground stem), roots and leaves - vascular tissue grouped in strands (bundles) - leaves bear spores in sporangia - gametophyte is heart-shaped, small, green and completely independent - motile sperm

9. Vascular plants with seeds Groups include: • primitive seeds ferns (now extict) - e.g. Glossopteris and Gangamopteris • flowering plants - monocotyledons and dicotyledons • cycads • Ginkgo biloba • conifers Seed ferns (e.g. Glossopteris )

10. extinct, but many fossils found, particularly in the Permian coal measures of NSW and Qld - fern-like appearance Cycads (e.g. Macrozamia various species) - separate male and female cones - motile sperm Ginkgo biloba

11. - cultivated around Chinese and Japanese temples - once thought extinct in the wild but since discovered in remote regions of western China - fan-shaped leaves - separate male and female trees

12. - most have true cones - pollinated by wind - naked seeds - i.e. not surrounded by ovary wall - source of economically important timber - e.g. pine species, Western Red Cedar, Oregan and Australian native cypress pine Conifers

13. Flowering plants (angiosperms) - complex vascular tissue - dominate land vegetation except coniferous forests - great variation in form - shrubs, trees, climbers; woody and non-woody - structurally adapted to land habitats of great diversity, but also aquatic - pollinated by animals - e.g. insects, birds and mammals - as well as wind and water - flowers have stamens (male sex organs) and carpels (female sex organs) - seeds within a closed structure (fruit) - economically important

14. (e.g. grasses, palms) • have one seed leaf (cotyledon) • leaves narrow with parallel veins • vascular bundles scattered Monocotyledons

15. ( e.g. daisy, eucalypts) • have two seeds leaves (cotyledons) • marked netted veins • flower parts in fours or fives • vascular bundles arranged in cylinders Dicotyledons

16. Fungi Fungi lack chlorophyll and so are unable to make their own food. They are either saprophytes , which live off dead plants and animals, or parasites , which live off plants and animals. PLANT-RELATED ORGANISMS

17. Lichens are very unusual in that they are made of two organisms - an alga and a fungus - living together in a mutually beneficial or symbiotic relationship. Lichens are the first conspicuous organisms to colonise bare rock surfaces. Lichens

18. Comparison of the three major groups of land plants:

20. Groups include: • fork ferns (Psilopsids) • club mosses (Lycopods) • horsetails • ferns