Vascular plant

Vascular plant
Temporal range:
Common lady-fern, a non-seed-bearing plant
Lemon basil, a seed-bearing plant
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Polysporangiophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Sinnott, 1935[3] ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998[4]
Divisions
† Extinct

Vascular plants (from Latin vasculum 'duct'), also called tracheophytes (/trəˈk.əˌfts/) or collectively tracheophyta (/trəˈk.əftə/;[5][6] from Ancient Greek τραχεῖα ἀρτηρία (trakheîa artēría) 'windpipe', and φυτά (phutá) 'plants'),[6] form a large group of land plants (c. 300,000 accepted known species)[7] that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue (the phloem) to conduct products of photosynthesis. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, horsetails, ferns, gymnosperms (including conifers), and angiosperms (flowering plants). Scientific names for the group include Tracheophyta,[8][4]: 251  Tracheobionta[9] and Equisetopsida sensu lato. Some early land plants (the rhyniophytes) had less developed vascular tissue; the term eutracheophyte has been used for all other vascular plants, including all living ones.

Historically, vascular plants were known as "higher plants", as it was believed that they were further evolved than other plants due to being more complex organisms. However, this is an antiquated remnant of the obsolete scala naturae, and the term is generally considered to be unscientific.[10]

  1. ^ D. Edwards; Feehan, J. (1980). "Records of Cooksonia-type sporangia from late Wenlock strata in Ireland". Nature. 287 (5777): 41–42. Bibcode:1980Natur.287...41E. doi:10.1038/287041a0. S2CID 7958927.
  2. ^ Laura Wegener Parfrey; Daniel J G Lahr; Andrew H Knoll; Laura A Katz (16 August 2011). "Estimating the timing of early eukaryotic diversification with multigene molecular clocks" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108 (33): 13624–9. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10813624P. doi:10.1073/PNAS.1110633108. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3158185. PMID 21810989. Wikidata Q24614721.
  3. ^ Sinnott, E. W. 1935. Botany. Principles and Problems, 3d edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.
  4. ^ a b Cavalier-Smith, Thomas (1998), "A revised six-kingdom system of life" (PDF), Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 73 (3): 203–266, doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1998.tb00030.x, PMID 9809012, S2CID 6557779, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-29
  5. ^ "vascular plant | Definition, Characteristics, Taxonomy, Examples, & Facts". Britannica. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
  6. ^ a b "Tracheophyta – an overview". ScienceDirect Topics. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
  7. ^ Christenhusz, M. J. M.; Byng, J. W. (2016). "The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase". Phytotaxa. 261 (3): 201–217. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1.
  8. ^ Abercrombie, Michael; Hickman, C. J.; Johnson, M. L. (1966). A Dictionary of Biology. Penguin Books.
  9. ^ "ITIS Standard Report Page: Tracheobionta". Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  10. ^ "Vascular Plants: Definition, Classification, Characteristics & Examples". Sciencing. Retrieved 2022-03-22.