This is a handout for our Bio 103: Fundamentals in Plant Biology. It enumerates the 10 major divisions of plant kingdom.

1. 10 Major Divisions of Plants:
Nonvascular
1) _Bryophyta Small compact green plants, lack well developed vascular tissues.
Leaves are only 1-2 cells thick, limited to moist habitats.
Ex. Mosses, liver warts, horn warts vascular
Vascular
Can be further divided into seedless w/o seeds.
Vascular w/o seeds
2) Psilophyta- simplest vascular plants have no roots and
generally no obvious leaves.
Thought to represent first kind- dwelling
Plants.
Ex. Whisk ferns some botanist believe that they
Should merely be classified as simple ferns.
3) Lycophyta- there are more than 1,000 species in
10 genera, simple spore producing vascular plants,
some form of coal, limited to moist habitats.
Ex. Club mosses
4) Pterophyta- 12,000 species largest division of
seedless vascular plants spore producing, very
diverse, primarily tropical.
5) Equisetophta (sphenophtya) - only one genus, equisetum
present day species is very small
fossil relatives much larger
Ex. Horsetails
Vascular with seeds
Gymnosperms - no flowering
6) Ginkgophyta - only one living species Ginko Biloba
thought to be unchanged for 80 million
years, trees are very hardy, resistant to
pollution and insects.
Ex. Ginko Biloba is a nutrition supplement.

2. 7) Cycadophyta - 100 different species, primary in tropics
and subtropics short palm like trees with
shady trunks
Ex. Zamia genus only found in North America
Not outside of Florida.
8) Coniferophyta – vascular plants that produce
naked seeds in cones, short shoots, long shoots 2
kinds of leaves, most recognized is needle
Ex. Spruces, yews, redwood, junipers,sequia, cedar, cypress
9) Gnetophyta - 3 clearly defined genera all very distinctive.
1. Welwitchia: (one species) confined to 2 deserts,
moisture is derived from fog.
2. Gnetum: (30 species) inhabit tropical forests,
climbing vines/trees, broad leaves
3. Ephedra: (40species) used as a stimulant in
medicinal tea, contains chemicals similar to
human neutransmitters, appear leafless, but
leaves are really small and lose pholosynthetic
ability as mature.
Ex. Mormon tea, ma huang, joint fir
_Angiosperms -Flowering
10) Anthophyta - more than 250,000 species, live
everywhere except conifer forests and tundra
vary from large to small, two major classes
monocots and dicots
Monocots
Ex. Lilies, tulips, lawn, corn, iris, palms, orchids
Dicots
Ex. Most tree leaves, maple, oak, periwinkle, roses,
Sunflowers, cacti