Non-vascular plant
From Free net encyclopedia
{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Non-vascular plant
| image = Lunularia_cruciata.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = A thallose liverwort, Lunularia cruciata
| regnum = Plantae
| unranked_phylum = Non-vascular plants
| subdivision_ranks = Divisions
| subdivision =
Simple nonvascular plants
Green algae
Complex nonvascular plants
Bryophyta, mosses
Hepaticophyta, liverworts
Anthocerotophyta, hornworts
}}
Non-vascular plants is a name for a group of plants. It comprises the green algae as well as those land plants without a vascular system, the Bryophyta, the Hepaticophyta, and the Anthocerotophyta.
The last three groups are collectively terms the bryophytes. In these groups, the actual plants are haploid, with the only diploid part being the sporangia. Because these plants lack the water-conducting tissues, they fail to achieve the structural complexity and size of vascular plants.
These groups may be considered the "lower" plants, but "lower" plants is also often used to refer to non-vascular plants and ferns and fern allies. The term "lower" refers to these plants' primitiveness as the earliest plants to evolve.
Formerly, the term non-vascular plant included all the algae, as well as the fungi. Today, it is recognized that these groups are not closely related to plants, and have very different biology.