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| subdivision_ranks = '''Divisions'''
| subdivision_ranks = '''Divisions'''
| subdivision =
| subdivision =
*Non-seed-bearing plants
* Non-seed-bearing plants
**[[Horsetail|Equisetophyta]]
** †[[Rhyniophyta]]
**[[Lycopodiophyta]]
** †[[Zosterophyllophyta]]
**[[Psilotophyta]]
** [[Lycopodiophyta]]
**[[fern|Pteridophyta]]
** †[[Trimerophytophyta]]
*Superdivision [[Spermatophyta]]
** [[Fern|Pteridophyta]]
**[[Pinophyta]]
* Superdivision [[Spermatophyta]]
**[[Cycad|Cycadophyta]]
** †[[Pteridospermatophyta]]
**[[Ginkgo|Ginkgophyta]]
** [[Pinophyta]]
**[[Gnetophyta]]
** [[Cycad]]ophyta
**[[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
** [[Ginkgo]]phyta
** [[Gnetae|Gnetophyta]]
** [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
}}
}}
'''Vascular plants''' (also known as '''tracheophytes''' or '''higher plants''') are those [[plant]]s that have [[lignin|lignified]] [[tissue (biology)|tissues]] for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the [[fern]]s, [[clubmoss]]es, [[flowering plant]]s, [[conifer]]s and other [[gymnosperm]]s. Scientific names for the group include ''Tracheophyta'' and ''Tracheobionta'', but neither name is very widely used.
==Characters==
# Vascular plants have vascular tissues, enabling the plants to evolve to a larger size. Non-vascular plants lack these and are restricted to relatively small sizes.
Vascular plants are distinguished by two primary characteristics:
# In vascular plants, the principal generation phase is the ''[[sporophyte]]'', which is [[diploid]] with two sets of chromosomes per cell. In non-vascular plants, the principal generation phase is often the ''[[gametophyte]]'', which is [[haploid]] with one set of chromosomes per cell. See also ''[[alternation of generations]]'' and ''[[life history]]''.
# Vascular plants have [[vascular tissue]]s, which circulate resources through the plant. This feature allows vascular plants to evolve to a larger size than non-vascular plants, which lack these specialized conducting tissues and are therefore restricted to relatively small sizes.
# In vascular plants, the principal [[alternation of generations|generation phase]] is the ''[[sporophyte]]'', which is usually [[diploid]] with two sets of chromosomes per cell. By contrast, the principal generation phase in non-vascular plants is usually the ''[[gametophyte]]'', which is [[haploid]] with one set of chromosomes per cell.
Water transport happens in either xylem or phloem: [[xylem]] carries water and inorganic solutes upward toward the leaves from the roots, while [[phloem]] carries organic solutes throughout the plant.
Water transport happens in either xylem or phloem: [[xylem]] carries water and inorganic solutes upward toward the leaves from the roots, while [[phloem]] carries organic solutes throughout the plant.
Group of plants having lignified conducting tissue (xylem vessels or tracheids).
====Members====
==Phylogeny==
A proposed phylogeny of the vascular plants after Kenrick and Crane<ref>Kenrick, Paul & Peter R. Crane. 1997. ''The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study.'' (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press). ISBN 1-56098-730-8.</ref> is as follows, with modification to the Pteridophyta from Smith et al. <ref>Smith, Alan R., Kathleen M. Pryer, E. Schuettpelz, P. Korall, H. Schneider, & Paul G. Wolf. (2006). "[http://www.pryerlab.net/publication/fichier749.pdf A classification for extant ferns]". ''Taxon'' 55(3): 705-731.</ref>
{{clade| style=font-size:75%;line-height:75%
|label1=Polysporangiates
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|label1='''Tracheophytes'''
|1={{clade
|label1=Eutracheophytes
|1={{clade
|label1=Euphyllophytina
|1={{clade
|label1=Lignophytes
|1={{clade
|label1='''[[Spermatophyte]]s'''
|1={{clade
|1=[[Pteridospermatophyta]] † (seed ferns)
|2=[[Cycadophyta]] (cycads)
|3=[[Pinophyta]] (conifers)
|4=[[Ginkgophyta]] (ginkgo)
|5=[[Gnetophyta]]
|6=[[Magnoliophyta]] (flowering plants)
}}
|2=[[Progymnospermophyta]] †
}}
|label2='''[[Fern|Pteridophyta]]'''
|2={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Pteridopsida]] (true ferns)
|2=[[Marattiopsida]]
|3=[[Equisetopsida]] (horsetails)
|4=[[Psilotopsida]] (whisk ferns & adders'-tongues)
|5=[[Cladoxylopsida]] †
}}
}}
}}
|label2=Lycophytina
|2={{clade
|1='''[[Lycopodiophyta]]'''
|2=[[Zosterophyllophyta]] †
}}
}}
|2=[[Rhyniophyta]] †
}}
}}
|2=''[[Aglaophyton]]'' †
|3=[[Horneophytopsida]] †
}}
}}
==Nutrient distribution==
[[Image:ficusxylem.jpg|thumb|300px|Photographs showing [[xylem]] elements in the shoot of a [[fig]] tree (''Ficus alba''): crushed in [[hydrochloric acid]], between slides and cover slips.]]
[[Nutrient]]s and water from the soil and the organic compound produces in leaves are distributed to specific areas in the plant through the [[xylem]] and [[phloem]]. The xylem draws water and nutrients up from the roots to the upper sections of the plant's body, and the phloem conducts other materials, such as the [[glucose]] produced during [[photosynthesis]], which gives the plant energy to keep growing and [[seeding]].
The xylem consists of [[tracheid]]s, which are dead hard-walled cells arranged to form tiny tubes to function in water transport. A tracheid cell wall usually contains the polymer [[lignin]]. The phloem however consists of living cells called [[sieve-tube member]]s. Between the sieve-tube members are sieve plates, which have pores to allow molecules to pass through. Sieve-tube members lack such organs as nuclei or ribosomes, but cells next to them, the companion cells, function to keep the sieve-tube members alive.
Movement of nutrients, water, sugars and waste is effected by transpiration, conduction and absorption.
=== Transpiration ===
The most abundant [[compound]] in most plants is [[water]], serving a large role in the various processes taking place. [[Transpiration]] is the main process a plant can call upon to move compounds within its tissues. The basic minerals and nutrients a plant is composed of remain, generally, within the plant. Water, however, is constantly being lost from the plant through its [[metabolic]] and [[photosynthetic]] processes to the atmosphere.
Water is transpired from the plants leaves via [[stomata]], carried there via leaf [[veins]] and vascular bundles within the plants [[cambium]] layer. The movement of water out of the leaf stomata creates, when the leaves are considered collectively, a transpiration pull. The pull is created through water [[surface tension]] within the plant cells. The draw of water upwards is assisted by the movement of water into the roots via [[osmosis]]. This process also assists the plant in absorbing nutrients from the soil as soluble [[salts]], a process known as absorption.
=== Absorption ===
[[Xylem]] cells move water and nutrient solutions upwards towards other plant [[organs]] from the roots and fine [[root]] hairs. Living roots cells actively absorb water in the absence of transpiration pull via osmosis creating root pressure. There are times when plants do not have transpiration pull, usually due to lack of light or other environmental elements. Water in the plant tissues may move to the roots to assist in passive absorption.
=== Conduction ===
[[Xylem]] and [[phloem]] tissues are involved in the conduction processes within plants. The movement of foods throughout the plant takes place mainly in the phloem. Plant conduction (food movement) is from an area of high food content, place of manufacture ([[photosynthesis]]) or storage, to a place of food utilisation, or from a point of manufacture to storage tissues. Mineral salts are translocated in the xylem tissues.<ref name=Robbins>Robbins, W.W., Weier, T.E., ''et al'', ''Botany:Plant Science'', 3rd edition , Wiley International, New York, 1965.</ref>
==See also==
==See also==
*[[Fern ally|Fern allies]]
*[[Fern ally|Fern allies]]
*[[Non-vascular plant]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}