Chapter 28, Problem 12TYK

Summary Introduction

To review:

The explanation related to evolutionary relationship between hornworts and vascular plants in terms of growth pattern shared by them.

Introduction:

The primary characters which are fundamental for the land plants are primarily evolved in the bryophyte grade, hence considered as a key to understand the early evolution of land plants. The presence of stomata were a sporophyte innovation with the ancestral functions of transpiration driven flow of water and solutes from the gametophyte. Stomata in hornworts, mosses and polysporangiophytesare considered as homologous, and these three lineages are collectively referred to as ‘stomatophytes’.