KEY CONCEPT Plants can be classified into nine phyla.

Seedless nonvascular plants. Grow close to the ground to absorb water and nutrients. Rely on free-standing water for reproduction. Phylum Hepatophyta = Liverworts often grow on wet rocks or in greenhouses

Phylum Anthocerophyta= Hornworts found in tropical forests and along streams flat, lobed body with little green “horns”

Phylum Bryophyta= Mosses most common seedless nonvascular plants

Seedless vascular plants. Grow higher off the ground. Need free-standing water for reproduction. Phylum Lycophyta= Club mosses not true mosses oldest living group of vascular plants

Phylum Pterophyta= Ferns and their relatives frond fiddlehead ferns have large leaves called fronds

Cone-bearing plants and seed plants= Gymnosperms Seed plants have several advantages over their seedless ancestors: can reproduce without free-standing water, via pollination pollination occurs when pollen meets female plant parts seeds nourish and protect plant embryo seeds allow plants to disperse to new places

Gymnosperms do not have seeds enclosed in fruit. most gymnosperms are cone-bearing and evergreen. the cone is reproductive structure of most gymnosperms. pollen is produced in male cones. eggs are produced in female cones. seeds develop on scales of female cones.

Phylum Cycadophyta= Cycads look like palm trees with large cones grow in tropical areas

Phylum Ginkgophyta= Ginkgos only one species alive today, Ginkgo biloba grown in gardens and used in urban landscaping

Phylum Coniferophyta= Conifers most common gymnosperms alive today includes pines, spruce, cedar, fir, and juniper

Flowering seed plants= Angiosperms Angiosperms have seeds enclosed in some type of fruit. A flower is the reproductive structure of angiosperms. A fruit is a mature ovary of a flower. Phylum Anthophyta= Angiosperms/flowering plants