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Seed plant
A seed plant or spermatophyte (lit. 'seed plant'; from Ancient Greek σπέρμα, (spérma), meaning "seed", and φυτόν (phytón), meaning "plant"), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. land plant) that includes most of the familiar land plants, including the flowering plants and the gymnosperms, but not ferns, mosses, or algae.
The term phanerogam or phanerogamae is derived from Ancient Greek φανερός (phanerós), meaning "visible", in contrast to the term "cryptogam" or "cryptogamae" (from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) 'hidden', and γαμέω (gaméō), 'to marry'). These terms distinguish those plants with hidden sexual organs (cryptogamae) from those with visible ones (phanerogamae).
The extant spermatophytes form five divisions, the first four of which are classified as gymnosperms, plants that have unenclosed, "naked seeds":
The fifth extant division is the flowering plants, also known as angiosperms or magnoliophytes, the largest and most diverse group of spermatophytes:
In addition to the five living taxa listed above, the fossil record contains evidence of many extinct taxa of seed plants, among those:
By the Triassic period, seed ferns had declined in ecological importance, and representatives of modern gymnosperm groups were abundant and dominant through the end of the Cretaceous, when the angiosperms radiated.
A series of evolutionary changes began with a whole genome duplication event in the ancestor of seed plants occurred about 319 million years ago.
A middle Devonian (385-million-year-old) precursor to seed plants from Belgium has been identified predating the earliest seed plants by about 20 million years. Runcaria, small and radially symmetrical, is an integumented megasporangium surrounded by a cupule. The megasporangium bears an unopened distal extension protruding above the mutlilobed integument. It is suspected that the extension was involved in anemophilous (wind) pollination. Runcaria sheds new light on the sequence of character acquisition leading to the seed. Runcaria has all of the qualities of seed plants except for a solid seed coat and a system to guide the pollen to the seed.
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Seed plant AI simulator
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Seed plant
A seed plant or spermatophyte (lit. 'seed plant'; from Ancient Greek σπέρμα, (spérma), meaning "seed", and φυτόν (phytón), meaning "plant"), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. land plant) that includes most of the familiar land plants, including the flowering plants and the gymnosperms, but not ferns, mosses, or algae.
The term phanerogam or phanerogamae is derived from Ancient Greek φανερός (phanerós), meaning "visible", in contrast to the term "cryptogam" or "cryptogamae" (from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) 'hidden', and γαμέω (gaméō), 'to marry'). These terms distinguish those plants with hidden sexual organs (cryptogamae) from those with visible ones (phanerogamae).
The extant spermatophytes form five divisions, the first four of which are classified as gymnosperms, plants that have unenclosed, "naked seeds":
The fifth extant division is the flowering plants, also known as angiosperms or magnoliophytes, the largest and most diverse group of spermatophytes:
In addition to the five living taxa listed above, the fossil record contains evidence of many extinct taxa of seed plants, among those:
By the Triassic period, seed ferns had declined in ecological importance, and representatives of modern gymnosperm groups were abundant and dominant through the end of the Cretaceous, when the angiosperms radiated.
A series of evolutionary changes began with a whole genome duplication event in the ancestor of seed plants occurred about 319 million years ago.
A middle Devonian (385-million-year-old) precursor to seed plants from Belgium has been identified predating the earliest seed plants by about 20 million years. Runcaria, small and radially symmetrical, is an integumented megasporangium surrounded by a cupule. The megasporangium bears an unopened distal extension protruding above the mutlilobed integument. It is suspected that the extension was involved in anemophilous (wind) pollination. Runcaria sheds new light on the sequence of character acquisition leading to the seed. Runcaria has all of the qualities of seed plants except for a solid seed coat and a system to guide the pollen to the seed.