1. Lycophyta, Psilotophyta
Lab 10
Lycophyta, Psilotophyta

2. Vascular plants General features of the land plants
Common name: Vascular plants
Synonyms: Tracheophyta
Growth habit: Multicellular: stems, leaves, and roots; thalloid gametophytes
Undulipodia (“flagella”): Whiplash (2 to 1000+)
Conductive cells: Sieve cells, forming phloem (food), and tracheids, forming xylem (water)

3. Vascular plants
Clonal reproduction: Vegetative, various multicellular propagules
Sexual reproduction: Homosporous or heterosporous
Included Phyla: Lycophyta, Psilotophyta, Sphenophyta, Pterophyta, Cycadophyta, Ginkgophyta, Coniferophyta, Gnetophyta, Anthophyta
Recognized by: Free-living, branched Sporophytes; xylem

4. Tetrads
This slide refers to the ping-pong ball models.

5. Lycophyta General features of the vascular plants
Common name: Club mosses (applies also to the Class Lycopodiopsida)
Synonyms: None
Sporophyte growth habit: Stems, leaves, roots
Gametophyte growth habit: Photosynthetic or parasitic thalli

6. Lycophyta Stele: Protostele
Undulipodia (“flagella”): Two or more whiplash
Sexual reproduction: Homosporous or heterosporous
Representative genera: Isoetes, Lycopodium, Selaginella
Recognized by: Meiosporangia on upper surfaces of sporophylls

7. P Lycopodium Lycophyta: Lycopodiopsida
This photo shows strobili and a vegetative stem. Other species don’t have organized strobili; instead, any leaf can be a sporophyll.
Lycophyta: Lycopodiopsida

8. A Lycopodium stem Lycophyta: Lycopodiopsida
The ring of large, thick-walled cells is part of the cortex. The vascular bundle is inside that—the xylem cells are darker and more distinct than the phloem cells.
Lycophyta: Lycopodiopsida

9. A Lycopodium strobilus
Lower left: Preserved strobili. Top: Stereoscope view of an entire sectioned strobilus. Lower right: Close-up of sporophylls and meiosporangia.
Lycophyta: Lycopodiopsida

10. P Selaginella Lycophyta: Selaginellopsida
The bluish cast on the leaves is the result of a light interference phenomenon in the cuticle that seems to enhance light capture in dim environments. Some Selaginella species from the tropics appear more blue than green.
Lycophyta: Selaginellopsida

11. D Selaginella “resurrection plant”
This species is found in the Chihuahuan Desert of northern México and western Texas. In the native habitat, the plants have an extensive root system, which is removed in the lab examples.
Lycophyta: Selaginellopsida

12. A Selaginella “sporeling”
This is called a “sporeling” by a poor analogy with a seedling, but it is actually an embryonic sporophyte emerging from a female gametophyte, still inside its megaspore cell wall. Tiny male gametophytes still cling to it. In nature, the male gametophytes need not be this close, but these slides were made from plants grown in cultivation.
Lycophyta: Selaginellopsida

13. D Selaginella strobilus
If you look closely at a dark sporangium, you can see the four megaspores. The lighter sporangia contain the microspores.
Lycophyta: Selaginellopsida

14. A Selaginella strobilus
Upper left: Stereoscope view, showing entire strobilus. Right: low magnification, showing megasporangia and microsporangia. Lower left: Close-up of megasporangium, showing two of the four spores, with their trilete marks sectioned.
Lycophyta: Selaginellopsida

15. D Isoetes Lycophyta: Isoetopsida
Since there isn’t a good specimen of Isoetes, students are not responsible for it—it is there just so they can see more or less what the plant looks like.
Lycophyta: Isoetopsida

16. D Isoetes megaspores and microspores
The large white spore with the trilete mark is a megaspore. The small tan grains clinging to it (by electrostatic attraction—this wouldn’t normally occur in nature), and to the piece of sporophyll on the right, are microspores. They look like grains of sand, but they are actually much smaller.
Lycophyta: Isoetopsida

17. Psilotophyta General features of the vascular plants
Common name: Whisk ferns
Synonyms: Psilophyta
Sporophyte growth habit: Stems
Gametophyte growth habit: parasitic branching thalli

18. Psilotophyta Stele: Protostele
Undulipodia (“flagella”): Two or more whiplash
Sexual reproduction: Homosporous
Representative genera: Psilotum, Tmesipteris
Recognized by: No leaves or roots; dichotomous branching; synangia

19. P Psilotum Psilotophyta
Left: Top portion of a Psilotum plant, showing the synangia. Right: Close-up of the synangia, each one in the axil of a prophyll, which is probably a modified leaf. Note the dichotomous branching.
Psilotophyta

20. D Psilotum rhizomes Psilotophyta
Note the dichotomous branching and apical meristems of this rhizome. The hairs are rhizoids.
Psilotophyta

21. A Psilotum rhizome Psilotophyta
The red blotches surrounding the stele are the Casparian strip, which marks the endodermis. Note that there is more phloem than xylem in this underground, food-storing rhizome.
Psilotophyta

22. A Psilotum meiosporangium
On the left is the aerial stem and on the right is a synangium which is attached to it below the plane of this section. Note the meiospores in each chamber of the synangium.
Psilotophyta

23. Appearances can be deceiving
Contrast the trilete mark of the spore on the left with the three dividing walls of the sporangium, top right. Although they look similar, they are different structures. On the lower right is an intact synangium, showing that the dividing walls are internal structures.