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For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation).
Temporal range:
Early Cambrian to recent, but see text, 520–0Ma
Diversity of plants image version 5.png
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Archaeplastida
Kingdom: Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1][verification needed]

Green algae

Land plants (embryophytes)


  • Chloroplastida Adl et al., 2005
  • Viridiplantae Cavalier-Smith 1981
  • Chlorobionta Jeffrey 1982, emend. Bremer 1985, emend. Lewis and McCourt 2004
  • Chlorobiota Kendrick and Crane 1997

Plants, also called green plants (Viridiplantae in Latin), are multicellular eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. They form a clade that includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Plants exclude the red and brown algae, the fungi, archaea and bacteria.

Green plants have cell walls with cellulose and characteristically obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts, derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce normal amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are also characterized by sexual reproduction, modular and indeterminate growth, and an alternation of generations, although asexual reproduction is common.

Precise numbers are difficult to determine, but as of 2010, there are thought to be 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, some 260–290 thousand, are seed plants (see the table below).[2] Green plants provide most of the world's molecular oxygen[3] and are the basis of most of the earth's ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form mankind's basic foodstuffs, and have been domesticated for millennia. Plants are used as ornaments and, until recently and in great variety, they have served as the source of most medicines and drugs. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology.


Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided; the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) who distinguished between plants which generally do not move, and animals which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus (1707–1778) created the basis of the modern system of scientific classification, these two groups became the kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Metaphyta or Plantae) and Animalia (also called Metazoa). Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts.

Outside of formal scientific contexts, the term "plant" implies an association with certain traits, such as being multicellular, possessing cellulose, and having the ability to carry out photosynthesis.[4][5]

Current definitions of Plantae

When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a specific group of organisms or taxon, it usually refers to one of four concepts. From least to most inclusive, these four groupings are:

Name(s) Scope Description
Land plants, also known as Embryophyta or Metaphyta. Plantae sensu strictissimo This group includes the liverworts, hornworts, mosses, and vascular plants, as well as fossil plants similar to these surviving groups.
Green plants - also known as Viridiplantae, Viridiphyta or Chlorobionta Plantae sensu stricto This group includes the land plants plus various groups of green algae, including stoneworts. The names given to these groups vary considerably as of July 2011. Viridiplantae encompass a group of organisms that possess chlorophyll a and b, have plastids that are bound by only two membranes, are capable of storing starch, and have cellulose in their cell walls. It is this clade which is mainly the subject of this article.
Archaeplastida, Plastida or Primoplantae Plantae sensu lato This group comprises the green plants above plus Rhodophyta (red algae) and Glaucophyta (glaucophyte algae). This clade includes the organisms that eons ago acquired their chloroplasts directly by engulfing cyanobacteria.
Old definitions of plant Plantae sensu amplo Old classifications placed diverse algae, fungi and bacteria in Plantae (e.g., Plantae Haeckel 1866 included land plants, some algae and fungi).

Another way of looking at the relationships between the different groups which have been called "plants" is through a cladogram, which shows their evolutionary relationships. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet completely settled, but one accepted relationship between the three groups described above is shown below.[6] Those which have been called "plants" are in bold.


 Glaucophyta (glaucophyte algae) 

 Rhodophyta (red algae) 


 Chlorophyta (part of green algae) 


 streptophyte algae (part of green algae) 

 Charales (stoneworts, often included 
in green algae) 

 land plants or embryophytes

groups traditionally called "algae"

The way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors.


Main article: Algae

Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis and for that reason have been included in the plant kingdom in the past. Most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these algal groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms. There is good evidence that some of these algal groups arose independently from separate non-photosynthetic ancestors, with the result that many groups of algae are no longer classified within the plant kingdom as it is defined here.[7][8]

The Viridiplantae, the green plants – green algae and land plants – form a clade, a group consisting of all the descendants of a common ancestor. With a few exceptions among the green algae, all green plants have many features in common, including cell walls containing cellulose, chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and b, and food stores in the form of starch. They undergo closed mitosis without centrioles, and typically have mitochondria with flat cristae. The chloroplasts of green plants are surrounded by two membranes, suggesting they originated directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria.

Two additional groups, the Rhodophyta (red algae) and Glaucophyta (glaucophyte algae), also have chloroplasts which appear to be derived directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria, although they differ in the pigments which are used in photosynthesis and so are different in colour. All three groups together are generally believed to have a single common origin, and so are classified together in the taxon Archaeplastida, whose name implies that the chloroplasts or plastids of all the members of the taxon were derived from a single ancient endosymbiotic event. This is the broadest modern definition of the plants.

In contrast, most other algae (e.g. heterokonts, haptophytes, dinoflagellates, and euglenids) not only have different pigments but also have chloroplasts with three or four surrounding membranes. They are not close relatives of the Archaeplastida, presumably having acquired chloroplasts separately from ingested or symbiotic green and red algae. They are thus not included in even the broadest modern definition of the plant kingdom, although they were in the past.

The green plants or Viridiplantae were traditionally divided into the green algae (including the stoneworts) and the land plants. However, it is now known that the land plants evolved from within a group of green algae, so that the green algae by themselves are a paraphyletic group, i.e. a group which excludes some of the descendants of a common ancestor. Paraphyletic groups are generally avoided in modern classifications, so that in recent treatments the Viridiplantae have been divided into two clades, the Chlorophyta and the Streptophyta (or Charophyta).[9][10]

The Chlorophyta (a name that has also been used for all green algae) are the sister group to the group from which the land plants evolved. There are about 4,300 species[11] of mainly marine organisms, both unicellular and multicellular. The latter include the sea lettuce, Ulva.

The other group within the Viridiplantae are the mainly freshwater or terrestrial Streptophyta (or Charophyta), which consist of several groups of green algae plus the stoneworts and land plants. (The names have been used differently, e.g. Streptophyta to mean the group which excludes the land plants and Charophyta for the stoneworts alone or the stoneworts plus the land plants.) Streptophyte algae are either unicellular or form multicellular filaments, branched or unbranched.[10] The genus Spirogyra is a filamentous streptophyte alga familiar to many, as it is often used in teaching and is one of the organisms responsible for the algal "scum" which pond-owners so dislike. The freshwater stoneworts strongly resemble land plants and are believed to be their closest relatives. Growing underwater, they consist of a central stalk with whorls of branchlets, giving them a superficial resemblance to horsetails, species of the genus Equisetum, which are true land plants.


Main article: Fungi

The classification of fungi has been controversial until quite recently in the history of biology. Linnaeus' original classification placed the fungi within the Plantae, since they were unquestionably not animals or minerals and these were the only other alternatives. With later developments in microbiology, in the 19th century Ernst Haeckel felt that another kingdom was required to classify newly discovered micro-organisms. The introduction of the new kingdom Protista in addition to Plantae and Animalia, led to uncertainty as to whether fungi truly were best placed in the Plantae or whether they ought to be reclassified as protists. Haeckel himself found it difficult to decide and it was not until 1969 that a solution was found whereby Robert Whittaker proposed the creation of the kingdom Fungi. Molecular evidence has since shown that the most recent common ancestor (concestor), of the Fungi was probably more similar to that of the Animalia than to that of Plantae or any other kingdom.

Whittaker's original reclassification was based on the fundamental difference in nutrition between the Fungi and the Plantae. Unlike plants, which generally gain carbon through photosynthesis, and so are called autotrophs, fungi generally obtain carbon by breaking down and absorbing surrounding materials, and so are called heterotrophic saprotrophs. In addition, the substructure of multicellular fungi is different from that of plants, taking the form of many chitinous microscopic strands called hyphae, which may be further subdivided into cells or may form a syncytium containing many eukaryotic nuclei. Fruiting bodies, of which mushrooms are the most familiar example, are the reproductive structures of fungi, and are unlike any structures produced by plants.


The table below shows some species count estimates of different green plant (Viridiplantae) divisions. It suggests there are about 300,000 species of living Viridiplantae, of which 85–90% are flowering plants. (Note: as these are from different sources and different dates, they are not necessarily comparable, and like all species counts, are subject to a degree of uncertainty in some cases.)

Diversity of living green plant (Viridiplantae) divisions
Informal group Division name Common name No. of living species Approximate No. in informal group
Green algae Chlorophyta green algae (chlorophytes) 3,800–4,300 [12][13] 8,500


Charophyta green algae (e.g. desmids & stoneworts) 2,800–6,000 [14][15]
Bryophytes Marchantiophyta liverworts 6,000–8,000 [16] 19,000


Anthocerotophyta hornworts 100–200 [17]
Bryophyta mosses 12,000 [18]
Pteridophytes Lycopodiophyta club mosses 1,200 [8] 12,000


Pteridophyta ferns, whisk ferns & horsetails 11,000 [8]
Seed plants Cycadophyta cycads 160 [19] 260,000


Ginkgophyta ginkgo 1 [20]
Pinophyta conifers 630 [8]
Gnetophyta gnetophytes 70 [8]
Magnoliophyta flowering plants 258,650 [21]

The naming of plants is governed by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (see cultivated plant taxonomy).


Further information: Evolutionary history of plants

The evolution of plants has resulted in increasing levels of complexity, from the earliest algal mats, through bryophytes, lycopods, ferns to the complex gymnosperms and angiosperms of today. The groups which appeared earlier continue to thrive, especially in the environments in which they evolved.

Evidence suggests that an algal scum formed on the land 1,200 million years ago, but it was not until the Ordovician Period, around 450 million years ago, that land plants appeared.[22] However, new evidence from the study of carbon isotope ratios in Precambrian rocks has suggested that complex photosynthetic plants developed on the earth over 1000 m.y.a.[23] These began to diversify in the late Silurian Period, around 420 million years ago, and the fruits of their diversification are displayed in remarkable detail in an early Devonian fossil assemblage from the Rhynie chert. This chert preserved early plants in cellular detail, petrified in volcanic springs. By the middle of the Devonian Period most of the features recognised in plants today are present, including roots, leaves and secondary wood, and by late Devonian times seeds had evolved.[24] Late Devonian plants had thereby reached a degree of sophistication that allowed them to form forests of tall trees. Evolutionary innovation continued after the Devonian period. Most plant groups were relatively unscathed by the Permo-Triassic extinction event, although the structures of communities changed. This may have set the scene for the evolution of flowering plants in the Triassic (~200 million years ago), which exploded in the Cretaceous and Tertiary. The latest major group of plants to evolve were the grasses, which became important in the mid Tertiary, from around 40 million years ago. The grasses, as well as many other groups, evolved new mechanisms of metabolism to survive the low CO
and warm, dry conditions of the tropics over the last 10 million years.

A proposed phylogenetic tree of Plantae, after Kenrick and Crane,[25] is as follows, with modification to the Pteridophyta from Smith et al.[26] The Prasinophyceae are a paraphyletic assemblage of early diverging green algal lineages.[27]

Prasinophyceae (micromonads)






Spermatophytes (seed plants)

Progymnospermophyta †


Pteridopsida (true ferns)


Equisetopsida (horsetails)

Psilotopsida (whisk ferns & adders'-tongues)

Cladoxylopsida †



Zosterophyllophyta †

Rhyniophyta †

Aglaophyton †

Horneophytopsida †

Bryophyta (mosses)

Anthocerotophyta (hornworts)

Marchantiophyta (liverworts)



Trebouxiophyceae (Pleurastrophyceae)




Main article: Embryophyte

The plants that are likely most familiar to us are the multicellular land plants, called embryophytes. Embryophytes include the vascular plants, such as ferns, conifers and flowering plants. They also include the bryophytes, of which mosses and liverworts are the most common.


Bryophytes first appeared during the early Paleozoic. They can only survive where moisture is available for significant periods, although some species are desiccation-tolerant. Most species of bryophytes remain small throughout their life-cycle. This involves an alternation between two generations: a haploid stage, called the gametophyte, and a diploid stage, called the sporophyte. In bryophytes, the sporophyte is always unbranched and remains nutritionally dependent on its parent gametophyte. The bryophytes have the ability to secrete a cuticle on their outer surface, a waxy layer that confers resistant to desiccation. In the mosses and hornworts a cuticle is usually only produced on the sporophyte. Stomata are absent from liverworts, but occur on the sporangia of mosses and hornworts, allowing gas exchange while controlling water loss.

Vascular plants first appeared during the Silurian period, and by the Devonian had diversified and spread into many different terrestrial environments. They developed a number of adaptations that allowed them to spread into increasingly more arid places, notably the vascular tissues xylem and phloem, that transport water and food throughout the organism. Root systems capable of obtaining soil water and nutrients also evolved during the Devonian. In modern vascular plants, the sporophyte is typically large, branched, nutritionally independent and long-lived, but there is increasing evidence that Paleozoic gametophytes were just as complex as the sporophytes. The gametophytes of all vascular plant groups evolved to become reduced in size and prominence in the life cycle.

The first seed plants, Pteridosperms (seed ferns), now extinct, appeared in the Devonian and diversified through the Carboniferous. In these the microgametophyte is reduced to pollen and the megagametophyte remains inside the megasporangium, attached to the parent plant. A megasporangium invested in protective layer called an integument is known as an ovule. After fertilisation by means of sperm deposited by pollen grains, an embryo develops inside the ovule. The integument becomes a seed coat, and the ovule develops into a seed. Seed plants can survive and reproduce in extremely arid conditions, because they are not dependent on free water for the movement of sperm, or the development of free living gametophytes.

Early seed plants are gymnosperms, as the ovules and subsequent seeds are not enclosed in a protective structure (carpels or fruit), but are found naked, typically on cone scales. Pollen typically lands directly on the ovule. Four surviving groups remain widespread now, particularly the conifers, which are dominant trees in several biomes.


A petrified log in Petrified Forest National Park.


The earliest fossils clearly assignable to Kingdom Plantae are fossil green algae from the Cambrian. These fossils resemble calcified multicellular members of the Dasycladales. Earlier Precambrian fossils are known which resemble single-cell green algae, but definitive identity with that group of algae is uncertain.

The oldest known fossils of embryophytes date from the Ordovician, though such fossils are fragmentary. By the Silurian, fossils of whole plants are preserved, including the lycophyte Baragwanathia longifolia. From the Devonian, detailed fossils of rhyniophytes have been found. Early fossils of these ancient plants show the individual cells within the plant tissue. The Devonian period also saw the evolution of what many believe to be the first modern tree, Archaeopteris. This fern-like tree combined a woody trunk with the fronds of a fern, but produced no seeds.


The fossilized remains of conifer and angiosperm roots, stems and branches may be locally abundant in lake and inshore sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Sequoia and its allies, magnolia, oak, and palms are often found.


Fossils of seed ferns such as Glossopteris are widely distributed throughout several continents of the Southern Hemisphere, a fact that gave support to Alfred Wegener's early ideas regarding Continental drift theory.

The earliest fossils attributed to green algae date from the Precambrian (ca. 1200 mya).[28][29] The resistant outer walls of prasinophyte cysts (known as phycomata) are well preserved in fossil deposits of the Paleozoic (ca. 250-540 mya). A filamentous fossil (Proterocladus) from middle Neoproterozoic deposits (ca. 750 mya) has been attributed to the Cladophorales, while the oldest reliable records of the Bryopsidales, Dasycladales) and stoneworts are from the Paleozoic.[30][27]

Structure, growth and development

Further information: Plant morphology

Most of the solid material in a plant is taken from the atmosphere. Through a process known as photosynthesis, most plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, plus water, into simple sugars. (Parasitic plants, on the other hand, use the resources of its host to grow.) These sugars are then used as building blocks and form the main structural component of the plant. Chlorophyll, a green-colored, magnesium-containing pigment is essential to this process; it is generally present in plant leaves, and often in other plant parts as well.

Plants usually rely on soil primarily for support and water (in quantitative terms), but also obtain compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and other elemental nutrients. Epiphytic and lithophytic plants depend on air and nearby debris for nutrients, and carnivorous plants supplement their nutrient requirements with insect prey that they capture. For the majority of plants to grow successfully they also require oxygen in the atmosphere and around their roots (soil gas) for respiration. Plants use oxygen and glucose (which may be produced from stored starch) to provide energy.[31] Some plants grow as submerged aquatics, using oxygen dissolved in the surrounding water, and a few specialized vascular plants, such as mangroves, can grow with their roots in anoxic conditions.

The leaf is usually the primary site of photosynthesis in plants.
There is no photosynthesis in deciduous leaves in autumn.

Factors affecting growth


Growth is also determined by environmental factors, such as temperature, available water, available light, carbon dioxide and available nutrients in the soil. Any change in the availability of these external conditions will be reflected in the plant's growth.




Dried dead plants


Plant cell

Plant cell structure
Main article: Plant cell

Plant cells are typically distinguished by their large water-filled central vacuole, chloroplasts, and rigid cell walls that are made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. Cell division is also characterized by the development of a phragmoplast for the construction of a cell plate in the late stages of cytokinesis. Just as in animals, plant cells differentiate and develop into multiple cell types. Totipotent meristematic cells can differentiate into vascular, storage, protective (e.g. epidermal layer), or reproductive tissues, with more primitive plants lacking some tissue types.[34]


Main article: Plant physiology


Plants are photosynthetic, which means that they manufacture their own food molecules using energy obtained from light. The primary mechanism plants have for capturing light energy is the pigment chlorophyll. All green plants contain two forms of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. The latter of these pigments is not found in red or brown algae.

Immune system

By means of cells that behave like nerves, plants receive and distribute within their systems information about incident light intensity and quality. Incident light which stimulates a chemical reaction in one leaf, will cause a chain reaction of signals to the entire plant via a type of cell termed a bundle sheath cell. Researchers from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland, found that plants have a specific memory for varying light conditions which prepares their immune systems against seasonal pathogens.[35] Plants use pattern-recognition receptors to recognize conserved microbial signatures. This recognition triggers an immune response. The first plant receptors of conserved microbial signatures were identified in rice (XA21, 1995)[36] and in Arabidopsis thaliana (FLS2, 2000).[37] Plants also carry immune receptors that recognize highly variable pathogen effectors. These include the NBS-LRR class of proteins.

Internal distribution

Main article: Vascular tissue

Vascular plants differ from other plants in that nutrients are transported between their different parts through specialized structures, called xylem and phloem. They also have roots for taking up water and minerals. The xylem moves water and minerals from the root to the rest of the plant, and the phloem provides the roots with sugars and other nutrient produced by the leaves.[34]


Main article: Plant ecology






Ecological relationships

The Venus flytrap, a species of carnivorous plant.







Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill.



Much of human nutrition depends on plants, either directly or indirectly.
Sugar is obtained mainly from sugar cane and sugar beet, and honey comes from flowers.
Livestock animals including cows, pigs, sheep, goats and camels are all herbivores; and most feed primarily or entirely on cereal plants, particularly grasses.

Nonfood products

Wood is used for buildings, furniture, paper, cardboard, musical instruments and sports equipment. Cloth is often made from cotton, flax, rame or synthetic fibers derived from cellulose, such as rayon and acetate. Renewable fuels from plants include firewood, peat and many other biofuels. Coal and petroleum are fossil fuels derived from plants. Medicines derived from plants include aspirin, taxol, morphine, quinine, reserpine, colchicine, digitalis and vincristine. There are hundreds of herbal supplements such as ginkgo, Echinacea, feverfew, and Saint John's wort. Pesticides derived from plants include nicotine, rotenone, strychnine and pyrethrins. Drugs obtained from plants include opium, cocaine and marijuana. Poisons from plants include ricin, hemlock and curare. Plants are the source of many natural products such as fibers, essential oils, natural dyes, pigments, waxes, tannins, latex, gums, resins, alkaloids, amber and cork. Products derived from plants include soaps, paints, shampoos, perfumes, cosmetics, turpentine, rubber, varnish, lubricants, linoleum, plastics, inks, chewing gum and hemp rope. Plants are also a primary source of basic chemicals for the industrial synthesis of a vast array of organic chemicals. These chemicals are used in a vast variety of studies and experiments.

Aesthetic uses

Thousands of plant species are cultivated for aesthetic purposes as well as to provide shade, modify temperatures, reduce wind, abate noise, provide privacy, and prevent soil erosion. People use cut flowers, dried flowers and houseplants indoors or in greenhouses. In outdoor gardens, lawn grasses, shade trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, herbaceous perennials and bedding plants are used. Images of plants are often used in art, architecture, humor, language, and photography and on textiles, money, stamps, flags and coats of arms. Living plant art forms include topiary, bonsai, ikebana and espalier. Ornamental plants have sometimes changed the course of history, as in tulipomania. Plants are the basis of a multi-billion dollar per year tourism industry which includes travel to arboretums, botanical gardens, historic gardens, national parks, tulip festivals, rainforests, forests with colorful autumn leaves and the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Venus Flytrap, sensitive plant and resurrection plant are examples of plants sold as novelties.

Scientific and cultural uses


Negative effects

Weeds are uncultivated and usually unwanted plants growing in managed environments such as farms, urban areas, gardens, lawns, and parks. People have spread plants beyond their native ranges and some of these introduced plants become invasive, damaging existing ecosystems by displacing native species. Invasive plants cause costly damage in crop losses annually by displacing crop plants, they further increase the cost of production and the use of chemicals to control them, which in turn affects the environment.

Plants may cause harm to animals, including people. Plants that produce windblown pollen invoke allergic reactions in people who suffer from hay fever. A wide variety of plants are poisonous. Toxalbumins are plant poisons fatal to most mammals and act as a serious deterrent to consumption. Several plants cause skin irritations when touched, such as poison ivy. Certain plants contain psychotropic chemicals, which are extracted and ingested or smoked, including tobacco, cannabis (marijuana), cocaine and opium. Smoking causes damage to health or even death, while some drugs may also be harmful or fatal to people.[40][41] Both illegal and legal drugs derived from plants may have negative effects on the economy, affecting worker productivity and law enforcement costs.[42][43] Some plants cause allergic reactions when ingested, while other plants cause food intolerances that negatively affect health.

See also


  1. ^ Haeckel G (1866). Generale Morphologie der Organismen. Berlin: Verlag von Georg Reimer. pp. vol.1: i–xxxii, 1–574, pls I–II; vol. 2: i–clx, 1–462, pls I–VIII. 
  2. ^ "Numbers of threatened species by major groups of organisms (1996–2010)" (PDF). International Union for Conservation of Nature. 11 Mar 2010. 
  3. ^ Field, C.B.; Behrenfeld, M.J., Randerson, J.T. and Falkowski, P. (1998). "Primary production of the biosphere: Integrating terrestrial and oceanic components". Science 281 (5374): 237–240. Bibcode:1998Sci...281..237F. doi:10.1126/science.281.5374.237. PMID 9657713. 
  4. ^ "plant[2] - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Retrieved 2009-03-25. 
  5. ^ "plant (life form) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Retrieved 2009-03-25. 
  6. ^ Based on Rogozin, I.B.; Basu, M.K.; Csürös, M. & Koonin, E.V. (2009), "Analysis of Rare Genomic Changes Does Not Support the Unikont–Bikont Phylogeny and Suggests Cyanobacterial Symbiosis as the Point of Primary Radiation of Eukaryotes", Genome Biology and Evolution 1: 99–113, doi:10.1093/gbe/evp011, PMC 2817406, PMID 20333181  and Becker, B. & Marin, B. (2009), "Streptophyte algae and the origin of embryophytes", Annals of Botany 103 (7): 999–1004, doi:10.1093/aob/mcp044, PMC 2707909, PMID 19273476 ; see also the slightly different cladogram in Lewis, Louise A. & McCourt, R.M. (2004), "Green algae and the origin of land plants", Am. J. Bot. 91 (10): 1535–1556, doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1535, PMID 21652308 .
  7. ^ Margulis, L. (1974). "Five-kingdom classification and the origin and evolution of cells". Evolutionary Biology 7: 45–78. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-6944-2_2. 
  8. ^ a b c d e Raven, Peter H.; Evert, Ray F.; Eichhorn, Susan E. (2005). Biology of Plants (7th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1007-2. 
  11. ^ Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. (2007). "Phylum: Chlorophyta taxonomy browser". AlgaeBase version 4.2 World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 
  12. ^ Van den Hoek, C., D. G. Mann, & H. M. Jahns, 1995. Algae: An Introduction to Phycology. pages 343, 350, 392, 413, 425, 439, & 448 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 0-521-30419-9
  13. ^ Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. (2011), AlgaeBase : Chlorophyta, World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway, retrieved 2011-07-26 
  14. ^ Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. (2011), AlgaeBase : Charophyta, World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway, retrieved 2011-07-26 
  15. ^ Van den Hoek, C., D. G. Mann, & H. M. Jahns, 1995. Algae: An Introduction to Phycology. pages 457, 463, & 476. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 0-521-30419-9
  16. ^ Crandall-Stotler, Barbara. & Stotler, Raymond E., 2000. "Morphology and classification of the Marchantiophyta". page 21 in A. Jonathan Shaw & Bernard Goffinet (Eds.), Bryophyte Biology. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 0-521-66097-1
  17. ^ Schuster, Rudolf M., The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America, volume VI, pages 712–713. (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1992). ISBN 0-914868-21-7.
  19. ^ Gifford, Ernest M.; Foster, Adriance S. (1988). Morphology and Evolution of Vascular Plants (3rd ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. p. 358. ISBN 0-7167-1946-0. 
  20. ^ Taylor, Thomas N.; Taylor, Edith L. (1993). The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. p. 636. ISBN 0-13-651589-4. 
  21. ^ International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:Summary Statistics
  22. ^ "The oldest fossils reveal evolution of non-vascular plants by the middle to late Ordovician Period (~450-440 m.y.a.) on the basis of fossil spores" Transition of plants to land
  23. ^ "The apparent dominance of eukaryotes in non-marine settings by 1 Gyr ago indicates that eukaryotic evolution on land may have commenced far earlier than previously thought." Earth’s earliest non-marine eukaryotes
  24. ^ Rothwell, G. W.; Scheckler, S. E.; Gillespie, W. H. (1989). "Elkinsia gen. nov., a Late Devonian gymnosperm with cupulate ovules". Botanical Gazette (University of Chicago Press) 150 (2): 170–189. doi:10.1086/337763. 
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Further reading

Species estimates and counts

External links

Botanical and vegetation databases