Plant Phyla ProjectBy: Zak Klassen

BryophytaCommon name: Moss.

Scientific name: Bryophyta.

Major group: Seedless nonvascular.

Distinguishing characteristics: No leaves, can look like clumps of grass, tiny trees, or strands of green yarn.

Habitat: Anywhere that soil, rocks, or tree trucks are present.

Reproduction: Asexually and Sexually.

Plants in phylum: Dicranoweisia cirrata, Sphagnum, Fisidens adianthoides.

Notable Info: Can survive in deserts and tundra. Sphagnum turns to peat, a useful byproduct.

HepatophytaCommon name: Liverworts.

Scientific name: Hepatophyta.

Major group: Seedless nonvascular.

Distinguishing characteristics: Thallose or leafy. Thallose- lobes of a liver flat on ground. Leafy- 3 rows of stem like and leaf like structures.

Habitat: Damp environments- wet rocks, greenhouse flowerpots, etc.

Reproduction: Sexual and vegetative.

Plants in phylum: Marchantia, Riccardia pinguis.

Notable info: Eggs or reproduction are produced on umbrella-like structures on thallose.

AnthocerophytaCommon name- Hornworts.

Scientific name: Anthocerophyta.

Major group: Seedless nonvascular.

Distinguishing characteristics: Grow low to ground, main body has flat, lobed appearance. Small green horns rise above flat plant body.

Habitat: Tropical forests and along streams.

Reproduction: Sexual, asexual, and fragmentation.

Plants in phylum: Dendroceros, Phaeoceros laevis, Nostoc.

Notable info: Only about 100 species.

LycophytaCommon name: Club moss.

Scientific name: Lycophyta.

Major group: Seedless vascular.

Distinguishing characteristics: Look like small pine trees.

Habitat: Moist, shaded woodlands.

Reproduction: Sexual.

Plants in phylum: Cernuum, Varium, Volublle.

Notable info: Some ancient species looked like modern trees. They were wiped out when the Carboniferous climate cooled.

PterophytaCommon name: Ferns.

Scientific name: Pterophyta.

Major group: Seedless vascular.

Distinguishing characteristics: Large leaves called fronds. Newly-forming fronds, called fiddleheads, uncurl as they grow.

Habitat: Common forests and tropics.

Reproduction: Sexually or asexually.

Plants in phylum: Psilotum, Equisetum, Polypodium vulgare

Notable info: Ferns are the most successful survivors of the Coniferous period. Some are grown as houseplants.

CycadophytaCommon name: Cycads.

Scientific name: Cyadophyta.

Major group: Cone-bearing seed plants

Distinguishing characteristics: Look like palm trees with giant cones.

Habitat: Tropical areas in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Reproduction: Sexually or asuxually.

Plants in phylum: Encephalartos and Ceratozamias.

Notable info: Provided good food for dinosaurs and many are now endangered because of their slow growth and loss of habitat.

GinkophytaCommon name: Ginkoes.

Scientific name: Ginkophyta.

Major group: Cone-bearing seed plants.

Distinguishing characteristics: Looks like it’s fossil ancestors.

Habitat: China.

Reproduction: Sexually or asexually.

Plants in phylum: Ginko biloba.

Notable info: Only one species still exists today.

ConiferophytaCommon name: Conifers.

Scientific name: Coniferophyta.

Major group: Cone-bearing seed plants.

Distinguishing characteristics: Needlelike leaves; Grow quickly.

Habitat: High altitudes, sloping hillsides, poor soil.

Reproduction: Sexually or asexually.

Plants in phylum: Pines, spruce, redwood.

Notable info: Largest plant in world in Sequoia National Park.

AnthophytaCommon name: Flowering plants.

Scientific name: Anthophyta.

Major group: Angiosperms; Flowering plants.

Distinguishing characteristics: Flowers.

Habitat: Almost everywhere.

Reproduction: Sexually or asexually.

Plants in phylum: Flowers and fruit bearing trees.

Notable info: Play a huge role on the dominance and diversity of flowering plants today.