The Vascular PlantsTracheophytes

By: AbubakerAlbach&Hamzah Mohammed

Introduction

Vascular Plants, otherwise known as Tracheophytes, are a large group of plants that first appeared on Earth around 360 million years ago

They include conducting tissues which allow for the transport of materials through the plant, these tissues are called xylem and phloem.

They include most of the modern day plants and can be split into two sub groups: Spore Producing and Seed Producing plants.

Spore Producing PlantsThe lesser of the two sub groups in terms of numbers, spore producing plants used to be large in number millions of years ago however the numbers since then have lessened

Spore Producing Plants

During the Carboniferous Period about 325 million years ago, Spore Producing plants were much more common. Today spore producing plants are made up primarily of club mosses, horsetails and ferns.

The club mosses and horsetail are descendants of a once thriving ancient plant, however they are now restricted to mostly growing in marshes and/or close to streams and rivers

Spore Producing Plants (continued)

Unlike its close relatives, the horsetails and the club mosses, ferns are much wider spread and can be found in tropical forests and even in the arctic.

There are over 12 000 different specimen of ferns. The leaves of ferns are called fronds. It is under these that the sporangia can be found which are tiny containers in which spores are produced.

Water is needed for ferns to complete their life cycle as the sperm need to swim to the archegonia to fertilize the eggs.

Fern Life Cycle

Seed Producing PlantsThe most successful, and the most abundant of the two

subgroups, seed producing plants have specialized organs to help adapt to their current environment.

Seed Producing Plants Earth’s most successful plants due to

there specialized organs, leafs, stem and roots.

The two main groups of seed producing plants are cones or flowers.

Both groups use pollination for sexual reproduction

Pollination is simply the transfer of pollen from where it was formed to a receptive surface, this is done in a number of different ways.

Because of pollination seed producing plants do not require water to complete their life cycle.

Pollination

Conclusion

To conclude, we can say that Vascular Plants or Tracheophytes are a diverse plant group that can be split into Spore and Seed producing plants.

They are known as vascular plants because of the xylem and phloem tissues that transport the materials throughout the plant.

They make up the majority of plants found today

Questions

What is another name for Vascular Plants?

What are the two tissues Vascular Plants use to transport material?

What are the three types of spore producing plants?

How do seed producing plants reproduce?

Thank You!!!