Archegoniatae was a higher

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

term that indicated those

embryophytes The embryophytes () are a clade of plants, also known as Embryophyta (Plantae ''sensu strictissimo'') () or land plants. They are the most familiar group of photoautotrophs that make up the vegetation on Earth's dry lands and wetlands. Embryophy ...

having a female sexual organ in the form of an

archegonium An archegonium (: archegonia), from the Ancient Greek ''ἀρχή'' ("beginning") and ''γόνος'' ("offspring"), is a multicellular structure or organ of the gametophyte phase of certain plants, producing and containing the ovum or female gamet ...

. The term was first introduced by the Russian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Ivan Nikolaevich Gorozhankin (1848–1904) in 1876 to indicate a division including

bryophytes Bryophytes () are a group of land plants ( embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic division referred to as Bryophyta '' sensu lato'', that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants: the liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. In t ...

pteridophytes A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is h ...

and

gymnosperms The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetoph ...

in contrast to the Gynoeciatae (

Angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. T ...

) with a more complex female organ. It has also been used as a general term for

mosses Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ho ...

(bryophytes) and

fern 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 tissue ...

s (pteridophytes), for instance by Douglas Campbell.Campbell, Douglas Houghton. The structure and development of mosses and ferns (Archegoniatae). 2nd ed. 1905
/ref> In the major post-

Darwinian ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sele ...

taxonomic systems such as the

Engler system One of the prime systems of plant taxonomy, the Engler system was devised by Adolf Engler (1844–1930), and is featured in two major taxonomic texts he authored or co-authored. His influence is reflected in the use of the terms "Engler School" and ...

it was used to divide the Embryophyta into two divisions, one the Archegoniatae (also called Zoidogamae) containing bryophytes and pteridophytes and the other the

Siphonogamae A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

containing the gymnosperms and angiosperms. Campbell indicates that there was both a ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' usage which included the gymnosperms, or a ''sensu stricto'' usage as in his book, applied only to bryophytes and pteridophytes.

References

Bibliography

* The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. * * Heinrich Schenck. Ueber die Phylogenie der Archegoniaten und der Characeen. Engler's Botan. Jahrbuch. Bd. XLII., p. 1, 1908). *
The Phylogeny of the Archegoniatae (Review). W. H. L. New Phytologist Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (Jun. 30, 1909), pp. 234-236
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External links

Historically recognized plant taxa