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Sphenophyta
Equisetidae is one of the four subclasses of Polypodiopsida (ferns), a group of vascular plants with a fossil record going back to the Devonian. They are commonly known as horsetails. They typically grow in wet areas, with whorls of needle-like branches radiating at regular intervals from a single vertical stem. The Equisetidae were formerly regarded as a separate division of spore plants and called Equisetophyta, Arthrophyta, Calamophyta or Sphenophyta. When treated as a class, the names Equisetopsida s.s. and Sphenopsida have also been used. They are now recognized as rather close relatives of the ferns (Polypodiopsida) of which they form a specialized lineage. However, the division between the horsetails and the other ferns is so ancient that many botanists, especially paleobotanists, still regard this group as fundamentally separate at the higher level. Description The horsetails comprise photosynthesising, "segmented", hollow stems, sometimes filled with pith. At the ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphenophyllales
Sphenophyllales is an extinct order of articulate land plants and a sister group to the present-day Equisetales (horsetails). They are fossils dating from the Devonian to the Triassic. They were common during the Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian, with most of the fossils coming from the Carboniferous period. Description Sphenophyllales are small, slender branching plants, usually growing to a height of less than tall. The long stems range from to in diameter. The stems are jointed and ribbed with weak habits, making it probable that these plants were vine or shrub-like when alive, and formed a portion of the understory in Carboniferous forests. The stem anatomy is protostelic (root-like), containing a solid primary xylem core with secondary xylem tissue present in some species. The leaves, which can be several centimeters long, are borne on each node in whorls (called verticels) and are wedge-shaped, fan-shaped, linear, or forked. Reproductive parts are either long te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudoborniales
''Pseudobornia'' is a genus of plants known only from fossils found from the Upper Devonian. It contains a single species ''Pseudobornia ursina'', and is the earliest fossil assigned with certainty to the Equisetopsida. The first fossils of ''Pseudobornia'' were collected by Johan Gunnar Andersson on Bear Island in the 1890s. Hans-Joachim Schweitzer, a paleobotanist, was the first to interpret the fossils as belonging to a large tree, based on additional fossils discovered in Alaska in the 1960s. The probable relationships within Equisetidae Equisetidae is one of the four subclasses of Polypodiopsida (ferns), a group of vascular plants with a fossil record going back to the Devonian. They are commonly known as horsetails. They typically grow in wet areas, with whorls of needle-lik ... are shown in the cladogram below. The position where ''Ibyka'' would be has been added. References Horsetails Late Devonian plants Prehistoric plant genera Late Devonian first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied. The first significant adaptive radiation of life on dry land occurred during the Devonian. Free-sporing vascular plants began to spread across dry land, forming extensive forests which covered the continents. By the middle of the Devonian, several groups of plants had evolved leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants appeared. The arthropod groups of myriapods, arachnids and hexapods also became well-established early in this period, after starting their expansion to land at least from the Ordovician period. Fish reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to often be dubbed the Age of Fishes. The placoderms began dominating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vascular Bundle
A vascular bundle is a part of the transport system in vascular plants. The transport itself happens in the stem, which exists in two forms: xylem and phloem. Both these tissues are present in a vascular bundle, which in addition will include supporting and protective tissues. In addition, there is also a tissue between xylem and phloem which is the cambium. The xylem typically lies towards the axis ( adaxial) with phloem positioned away from the axis (abaxial). In a stem or root this means that the xylem is closer to the centre of the stem or root while the phloem is closer to the exterior. In a leaf, the adaxial surface of the leaf will usually be the upper side, with the abaxial surface the lower side. The sugars synthesized by the plant with sun light are transported by the phloem, which is closer to the lower surface. Aphids and leaf hoppers feed off of these sugars by tapping into the phloem. This is why aphids and leaf hoppers are typically found on the und ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homosporous
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, fungi and protozoa. Bacterial spores are not part of a sexual cycle, but are resistant structures used for survival under unfavourable conditions. Myxozoan spores release amoeboid infectious germs ("amoebulae") into their hosts for parasitic infection, but also reproduce within the hosts through the pairing of two nuclei within the plasmodium, which develops from the amoebula. In plants, spores are usually haploid and unicellular and are produced by meiosis in the sporangium of a diploid sporophyte. Under favourable conditions the spore can develop into a new organism using mitotic division, producing a multicellular gametophyte, which eventually goes on to produce gametes. Two gametes fuse to form a zygote which develops into a ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals or sepals. A plant having bracts is referred to as bracteate or bracteolate, while one that lacks them is referred to as ebracteate and ebracteolate, without bracts. Variants Some bracts are brightly-coloured and serve the function of attracting pollinators, either together with the perianth or instead of it. Examples of this type of bract include those of '' Euphorbia pulcherrima'' (poinsettia) and ''Bougainvillea'': both of these have large colourful bracts surrounding much smaller, less colourful flowers. In grasses, each floret (flower) is enclosed in a pair of papery bracts, called the lemma (lower bract) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strobilus
A strobilus (plural: strobili) is a structure present on many land plant species consisting of sporangia-bearing structures densely aggregated along a stem. Strobili are often called cones, but some botanists restrict the use of the term cone to the woody seed strobili of conifers. Strobili are characterized by a central axis (anatomically a stem) surrounded by spirally arranged or decussate structures that may be modified leaves or modified stems. Leaves that bear sporangia are called '' sporophylls'', while sporangia-bearing stems are called ''sporangiophores''. Lycophytes Some members of both of the two modern classes of Lycopodiophyta ( Lycopodiopsida and Isoetopsida) produce strobili. In all cases, the lateral organs of the strobilus are microphylls, bearing sporangia. In other lycophytes, ordinary foliage leaves can act as sporophylls, and there are no organized strobili. Diphasiastrum complanatum strobilus (01).jpeg, Strobili of '' Diphasiastrum'' Lycopodium saururus. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meristem
The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells continue to divide until a time when they get differentiated and then lose the ability to divide. Differentiated plant cells generally cannot divide or produce cells of a different type. Meristematic cells are undifferentiated or incompletely differentiated. They are totipotent and capable of continued cell division. Division of meristematic cells provides new cells for expansion and differentiation of tissues and the initiation of new organs, providing the basic structure of the plant body. The cells are small, with no or small vacuoles and protoplasm fills the cell completely. The plastids (chloroplasts or chromoplasts), are undifferentiated, but are present in rudimentary form (proplastids). Meristematic cells are packed closely together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow horizontally. The rhizome also retains the ability to allow new shoots to grow upwards. A rhizome is the main stem of the plant that runs underground horizontally. A stolon is similar to a rhizome, but a stolon sprouts from an existing stem, has long internodes, and generates new shoots at the end, such as in the strawberry plant. In general, rhizomes have short internodes, send out roots from the bottom of the nodes, and generate new upward-growing shoots from the top of the nodes. A stem tuber is a thickened part of a rhizome or stolon that has been enlarged for use as a storage organ. In general, a tuber is high in starch, e.g. the potato, which is a modified stolon. The term "tuber" is often used imprecisely and is sometimes applied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equisetum
''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understorey of late Paleozoic forests. Some equisetids were large trees reaching to tall. The genus ''Calamites'' of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period. The pattern of spacing of nodes in horsetails, wherein those toward the apex of the shoot are increasingly close together, is said to have inspired John Napier to invent logarithms. Modern horsetails first appeared during the Jurassic period. A superficially similar but entirely unrelated flowering plant genus, mare's tail (''Hippuris''), is occasionally referred to as "horsetail", and adding to confusion, the name "mare's tail" is someti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambium (botany)
A cambium (plural cambia or cambiums), in plants, is a tissue layer that provides partially undifferentiated cells for plant growth. It is found in the area between xylem and phloem. A cambium can also be defined as a cellular plant tissue from which phloem, xylem, or cork grows by division, resulting (in woody plants) in secondary thickening. It forms parallel rows of cells, which result in secondary tissues. There are several distinct kinds of cambium found in plant stems and roots: * Cork cambium, a tissue found in many vascular plants as part of the periderm. * Unifacial cambium, which ultimately produces cells to the interior of its cylinder. * Vascular cambium, a lateral meristem in the vascular tissue of plants. Uses The cambium of many species of woody plants are edible; however, due to its vital role in the homeostasis and growth of woody plants, this may result in death of the plant if enough cambium is removed at once. The cambium can generally be eaten raw or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phloem
Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is called translocation. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Ancient Greek word (''phloiós''), meaning "bark". The term was introduced by Carl Nägeli in 1858. Structure Phloem tissue consists of conducting cells, generally called sieve elements, parenchyma cells, including both specialized companion cells or albuminous cells and unspecialized cells and supportive cells, such as fibres and sclereids. Conducting cells (sieve elements) Sieve elements are the type of cell that are responsible for transporting sugars throughout the plant. At maturity they lack a nucleus and have very few organelles, so they rely on companion cells or albuminous cells for most of their metabolic needs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
