lycophyte
lycophyte, (class Lycopodiopsida), class of spore-bearing vascular plants comprising more than 1,200 extant species. Three lycophyte orders are recognized: the club mosses (Lycopodiales), the quillworts and their allies (Isoetales), and the spike mosses (Selaginellales). This classification is based on the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group I (PPG I) system, published in 2016. Lycophytes are widely distributed but are especially numerous in the tropics.
Representative extinct genera are Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, which were tree lycophytes, and Protolepidodendron, a herbaceous Lycopodium-like plant. Lycophytes are known from rocks of the Devonian Period (beginning 419.2 million years ago) and perhaps of the Silurian (as many as 443.8 million years ago). The remains of Lepidodendron and other extinct lycophytes form most of the great coal beds of the world.
General features
Many of the ancient lycophytes, such as Lepidodendron, were treelike plants that often exceeded 30 metres (100 feet) in height. The living genera are all small herbaceous plants, some erect and others low creepers. Regardless of their size or geologic age, all share certain group features. Branching is usually dichotomous; that is, the shoot tip forks repeatedly. The two branches that result may be equal in length or may be of different lengths. The leaves are generally small, although they sometimes achieved a length of one metre (three feet) in the gigantic Lepidodendron. Generally, each leaf, or microphyll, is narrow and has an unbranched midvein, in contrast to the leaves of the ferns and seed plants, which generally have branched venation. The sporangia (spore cases) occur singly on the adaxial side (the upper side facing the stem) of the leaf. The lycophytes generally bear conelike structures called strobili, which are tight aggregations of sporophylls (sporangium-bearing leaves).
Life cycle
In the lycophytes, as in other vascular plants, there is an alternation of generations between a small, sex-cell-producing phase (gametophyte) and a conspicuous, spore-producing phase (sporophyte). The members of one of the chief living families, Lycopodiaceae, are homosporous (with just one kind of spore). They have terrestrial or subterranean gametophytes that vary in size and shape depending on the genera.
Although Lycopodium gametophytes are rarely found in nature, enough is known about them to recognize two fundamental types, based principally upon their mode of growth and nutrition. In some species the gametophyte becomes a small, green plant with numerous lobes, growing on the surface of the soil; the time interval between spore germination and sexual maturity of the gametophyte may be eight months to a year. In other species, including nearly all those of the north temperate zone, the gametophyte is subterranean, slower growing, and dependent upon an associated fungus for continued growth. The yellow to brown underground plant may become carrot-shaped, rod-shaped, or disk-shaped and 1 to 2 centimetres (0.4 to 0.8 inch) in length or width. Generally, a gametophyte of this type remains subterranean, and five or more years are required before it becomes sexually mature.
Gametophytes are bisexual; i.e., the sperm-producing antheridia and the egg-producing archegonia occur on the same plant. Fertilization takes place after a flagellated sperm swims to the archegonium. The embryo, or young sporophyte, consists of a shoot, a root, and a food-absorbing outgrowth called a haustorial foot. Ultimately the sporophyte becomes physiologically independent of the gametophyte, and the latter dies.
The other main extant genera—Selaginella (the only genus of the family Selaginellaceae) and Isoetes (the only genus of Isoetaceae)—are heterosporous (having two kinds of spores). Their gametophytes are microscopic and undergo most of their development while still within the spore wall (endosporic development). Definite strobili are formed in Selaginella, and the sporophylls generally differ from the vegetative leaves, although not as much as in the species of Lycopodium that form strobili. In Isoetes, sporangia are produced at the expanded concave bases of the quill-like leaves. There are two types of sporangia, called microsporangia and megasporangia; the sporophylls associated with them are termed microsporophylls and megasporophylls.
Numerous microspores are produced in the microsporangium, and cell division within the microspore wall initiates male gametophyte development. These divisions may occur before the spores are shed from the microsporangium. Final development of the male gametophyte, or microgametophyte, usually occurs on the soil prior to the release of biflagellate sperm.
In Selaginella, usually only four large megaspores are produced in a megasporangium. Development of the female gametophyte, or megagametophyte, also may begin while the megaspore is still within the megasporangium. Free nuclear divisions (without wall formation) occur for a time, but ultimately walls appear and the megagametophyte ruptures the megaspore wall. These final stages in development usually occur on the soil after the megaspore with the enclosed female gametophyte is shed from the megasporangium. Fertilization occurs when a sperm swims to an archegonium. The young sporophyte remains in physical contact with the megaspore and the enclosed female gametophyte tissue for some time.
The processes of sexual reproduction of Isoetes are very similar to those of Selaginella, except that the sperm are multiflagellate and many more spores are formed per sporangium. In fact, the microsporangia of some species are the largest among vascular plants and produce several thousand spores.