Polysporangiophyte

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Polysporangiophytes Fossil range: Latest Ordovician - Recent
Artist's impression of Cooksonia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Subkingdom: Embryophyta (unranked) Polysporangiophytes
Divisions
Non-vascular land plants †Horneophytopsida †Aglaophyton Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes Pteridophyta - ferns and horsetails Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants

The polysporangiophytes are those plants with branching axes terminating in sporangia. This includes most land plants (embryophytes) except for the bryophytes; its definition is independent of the presence of vascular tissue.

The earliest known polysporangiophytes are genera such as the famous Cooksonia and Aglaophyton.

[edit] References

Kenrick, Paul; Peter R. Crane (1997). The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants : A Cladistic Study. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 139-140, 249. ISBN 1-56098-730-8. 

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