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The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients, and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase.
The term "fern ally" included under Pteridophyta generally refers to vascular spore-bearing plants that are not ferns, including lycopods, horsetails, whisk ferns and water ferns (Marsileaceae, Salviniaceae and Ceratopteris). This is not a natural grouping but rather a convenient term for non-fern, and is also discouraged, as is eusporangiate ...
Among living plants, this type of stele is found only in the stems of ferns. Most seed plant stems possess a vascular arrangement which has been interpreted as a derived siphonostele, and is called a eustele – in this arrangement, the primary vascular tissue consists of vascular bundles, usually in one or two rings around the pith. [12]
Botanists define vascular plants by three primary characteristics: Vascular plants have vascular tissues which distribute resources through the plant. Two kinds of vascular tissue occur in plants: xylem and phloem. Phloem and xylem are closely associated with one another and are typically located immediately adjacent to each other in the plant.
Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water.
Vascular tissue is a complex conducting tissue, formed of more than one cell type, found in vascular plants. The primary components of vascular tissue are the xylem and phloem. These two tissues transport fluid and nutrients internally. There are also two meristems associated with vascular tissue: the vascular cambium and the cork cambium.
The stems of Osmundaceae contain vascular tissue arranged as an ectophloic siphonostele; that is, a ring of phloem occurs on the outside only of a ring of xylem, which surrounds pith (and no other vascular tissue). [2] Stipules can be discerned at the leaf bases of these ferns. [2]
Some species have leaf-like structures called enations which have no vascular tissue except for a small bundle at the base. These are almost peg-like, stubby and are generally not considered true leaves, though they likely evolved from them. Members of Tmesipteris may appear to have leaves, but these are really phylloclades, or flattened stems.