Lycopodiophyta

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Lycopodiophyta

The Division Lycopodiophyta (sometimes called Lycophyta) is a tracheophyte

Vascular plant

Vascular plants are those plants that have lignin tissue for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the ferns, clubmosses, flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms....
subdivision of the Kingdom Plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
ae. It is the oldest extant (living) vascular plant

Vascular plant

Spore

In biology, a spore is a reproduction structure that is adapted for biological dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions....
s and have macroscopic alternation of generations

Alternation of generations

The Alternation of phases describes the life cycle of plants, fungi and protists. A multicellular diploid phase alternates with a multicellular haploid phase....
, although some are homosporous while others are heterosporous. They differ from all other vascular plants in having microphyll

Microphyll

The terminology of fossil plants is in places a little confusing. In the discipline's 200+ year history, certain concepts have become entrenched, even though improved understanding has threatened the foundations upon which they are based....
s, leaves that have only a single vascular trace (vein) rather than the much more complex megaphylls found in fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta....
s and seed plants.

There are around 1,200 living species divided into three main groups within the Lycopodiophyta, sometimes separated at the level of order and sometimes at the level of class.

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Encyclopedia

The Division Lycopodiophyta (sometimes called Lycophyta) is a tracheophyte

Vascular plant

Plant

Vascular plant

Spore

Alternation of generations

Microphyll

Fern

Class Lycopodiopsida
Lycopodiopsida

Lycopodiopsida is a class of plants often loosely grouped as the fern ally, and includes the clubmosses. Lycopodiopsida traditionally included all the clubmosses, including Selaginella and Isoetes....
– clubmosses and firmosses
Class Selaginellopsida
Spikemoss

Selaginella is a genus of plants in the family Selaginellaceae, which includes Spikemoss. Many workers still place the Selaginellales in the class Lycopsida ....
– spikemosses
Class Isoetopsida
Isoetopsida

The Isoetopsida is a class of the Lycopodiophyta. All living plants belong to the genus Isoetes in the order Isoetales. The order Isoetales is sometimes placed in the class Isoetopsida, sometimes in the Selaginellopsida or Lycopsida....
– quillworts and scale trees

The members of this division have a long evolutionary history, and fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
s are abundant worldwide, especially in coal deposits. In fact, most known genera

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
are extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the death of every member of a species or group of taxon. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species ....
. The Silurian

Silurian

The Silurian is a geologic period that extends from the end of the Ordovician period, about 443.7 ? 1.5 annum , to the beginning of the Devonian period, about 416.0 ? 2.8 Mya ....
species Baragwanathia longifolia represents the earliest identifable Lycopodiophyta, while some Cooksonia
Cooksonia

Cooksonia is an extinct grouping of primitive land plants. The earliest Cooksonia date from the Late Wenlock , about ; the group continues to be an important component of the flora until the early Devonian....
seem to be related.

Fossils ascribed to the Lycopodiophyta first appear in the Silurian period, along with a number of other vascular plants. Phylogenetic analysis places them at the base of the vascular plants; they are distinguished by their microphyll

Microphyll

The terminology of fossil plants is in places a little confusing. In the discipline's 200+ year history, certain concepts have become entrenched, even though improved understanding has threatened the foundations upon which they are based....
s and by transverse dehiscence of their sporangia (as contrasted with longitudinal in other vascular plants). Sporangia of living species are borne on the upper surfaces of microphylls (called sporophyll

Sporophyll

A sporophyll is a leaf that produces spores. Sporophylls are part of the diploid sporophyte generation, and the spores are produced by meiosis and will germinate to produce haploid gametophytes....
s). In some groups, these sporophylls are clustered into strobili

Strobilus

A strobilus is an organ of many plants that contains the reproductive structures. Strobili are ordinarily called cones in many of these groups....
.

Club-mosses are homosporous, but spike-mosses and quillworts are heterosporous, with female spores larger than the male, and gametophytes forming entirely within the spore walls.

During the Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ? 2.5 annum , to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ? 0.8 Ma ...
period, tree-like Lycopodiophyta (such as Lepidodendron
Lepidodendron

Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular, arborescent plant related to the Lycopsids . They sometimes reached heights of over , and the trunks were often over in diameter, and thrived during the Carboniferous period....
) formed huge forests and dominated the land. Unlike modern trees, leaves grew out of the entire surface of the trunk and branches, but would fall off as the plant grew, leaving only a small cluster of leaves at the top. Their remains formed many fossil coal

Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
deposits. In Fossil Park, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's Scottish Lowlands....
, Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, fossilized Lycopodiophyta trees can be found in sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
. The trees are marked with diamond-shaped scars where they once had leaves.

The spores of Lycopodiophyta are highly flammable and so have been used in fireworks

Fireworks

A firework is classified as a low explosive material pyrotechnics device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display....
. Currently, huperzine, a chemical isolated from a Chinese

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
clubmoss, is under investigation as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease , also called Alzheimer disease, Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common form of dementia....
.

Gallery

External links

from the University of California Museum of Paleontology