Question

The division Lycophyta contains three extant (not exinct) orders of plants. What features to these orders have in common? How do they differ from each other?

Answer 1

Lycophyta is the one of the oldest group (extinct) of vascular plants. It was main forest forming plants in Carboniferous era. For more than 40 Millon years, It dominates the habitats.

But today it is a small group that contains rare, evergreen plants(Lychopodials-the club mosses).

There are three classes of Lycophyta:

• Class Lychopdiopsida: It is an extant class of lycophyte. It contains vascular, herbaceous plants, mainly the club mosses & firmosses(with dichotomous branching stems, simple leaves, ligule absent, reproduction by spores forms in sporangia.)

• Class Isoetopsida: It is class of lychopdiophyta. All living species of this class is related to Genus Isoetes or Genus selaginella.

• Class Zosterophyllopsida: it is an extinct class.