Charophyta
Charophyta () is a paraphyletic group of freshwater green algae, called charophytes (), sometimes treated as a division, yet also as a superdivision. The terrestrial plants, the Embryophyta emerged deep within Charophyta, possibly from terrestrial unicellular charophytes, with the class Zygnematophyceae as a sister group. With the Embryophyta now cladistically placed in the Charophyta, it is a synonym of Streptophyta. The sister group of the charophytes are the Chlorophyta. In some charophyte groups, such as the Zygnematophyceae or conjugating green algae, flagella are absent and sexual reproduction does not involve free-swimming flagellate sperm. Flagellate sperm, however, are found in stoneworts ( Charales) and Coleochaetales, orders of parenchymatous charophytes that are the closest relatives of the land plants, where flagellate sperm are also present in all except the conifers and flowering plants. Fossil stoneworts of early Devonian age that are similar to those of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Streptophyta
Streptophyta (), informally the streptophytes (, from the Greek ''strepto'' 'twisted', for the morphology of the sperm of some members), is a clade of plants. The composition of the clade varies considerably between authors, but the definition employed here includes land plants and all green algae except the Chlorophyta and the more basal Prasinodermophyta. Classifications The composition of Streptophyta and similar groups (Streptophytina, Charophyta) varies in each classification. Some authors include only the Charales and Embryophyta (e.g., Streptophyta, Streptophytina); others include more groups (e.g., Charophyta, Streptophyta, Streptobionta); some authors use this broader definition, but exclude the Embryophyta (e.g., Charophyta, Charophyceae, Streptophycophytes). The clade Streptophyta includes both unicellular and multicellular organisms. Streptophyta contains the freshwater charophyte green algae and all land plants that reproduce sexually by conjugation. ''Mesostigma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charophyceae
Charophyceae is a class of charophyte green algae. AlgaeBase places it in division Charophyta. Extant (living) species are placed in a single order Charales, commonly known as "stoneworts" and "brittleworts". Fossil members of the class may be placed in separate orders, e.g. Sycidiales and Trochiliscales. Charophyceae is basal in the Phragmoplastophyta clade which contains the embryophytes (land plants).Hoek, C. van den, Mann, D. G. & Jahns, H. M. 1995''Algae: An Introduction to Phycology'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. McCourt, R. M., Chapman, R. L., Buchheim, M. & Mishler, B. D“Green Plants” Accessed 13 December 2007 In 2018, the first nuclear genome sequence from a species belonging to the Charophyceae was published: that of '' Chara braunii''. Description The thallus is erect with regular nodes and internodes. At each node there is a whorl of branches. The whole plant is calcified and ''Equisetum ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail) is the only living genus in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coleochaetales
Coleochaetaceae is a family of algae. It is the only family in the Coleochaetales, an order of parenchymous charophyte algae, within the class Coleochaetophyceae. It includes some of the closest multicellular relatives of land plants. It contains the genus Coleochaete and questionably includes the fossil genus ''Parka A parka, like the related anorak, is a type of coat (clothing), coat with a hood (headgear), hood, that may be lining (sewing), lined with fur or fake fur. Parkas and anoraks are staples of Inuit clothing, traditionally made from Reindeer, cari ...''. References Charophyta Chlorophyta families {{green alga-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chara Globularis
''Chara globularis'' is a species of charophyte green algae The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ... in the family Characeae. Native to Europe, but widespread among the world, it inhabits fresh and brackish-water environments. The ''Chara globularis'' originally documented was identified as the short-end segment(SH) type, with a black fossa wall containing a granulate, papillate, or fine pusticular pattern. An elongate-end(EL) type was previously thought to belong to this same species, but upon re-examination was determined to be phylogenetically separate from the ''Chara globularis,'' indicating that it was a different species and, thus, being reclassified as the ''Chara leptospira''. References Charophyta Freshwater algae Plants described in 1799 {{Green a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sister Group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and taxon B are sister groups to each other. Taxa A and B, together with any other extant or extinct descendants of their most recent common ancestor (MRCA), form a monophyletic group, the clade AB. Clade AB and taxon C are also sister groups. Taxa A, B, and C, together with all other descendants of their MRCA form the clade ABC. The whole clade ABC is itself a subtree of a larger tree which offers yet more sister group relationships, both among the leaves and among larger, more deeply rooted clades. The tree structure shown connects through its root to the rest of the universal tree of life. In cladistic standards, taxa A, B, and C may represent specimens, species, genera, or any other taxonomic units. If A and B are at the same taxono ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Octochara
''Octochara'' is a genus of fossil charophyte (aquatic green alga) from the Famennian (Late Devonian). It is one of two genera of charophyte described from the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte in southern Africa. It and ''Hexachara'', from the same locality provide the oldest record of reconstruct able charophytes with in situ oogonia. ''Octochara'' is derived from a Greek word "octo", meaning eight, a reference to the octoradial symmetry, and "chara", referring to membership of the Charales. In ''Octochara'', a whorl of eight laterals are borne at each node. Each lateral is branched to produce four secondary branches and bears an oogonium. Two species of ''Octochara'' have been described, ''Octochara crassa'' and ''Octochara gracilis''. The two species differ in the size and the shape of their secondary branchlets and oogonia. The specific name of ''O. crassa'' is derived from Latin, "crassus", meaning fat or thick, a reference to the branchlets. This species has whorls up to 14& ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waterloo Farm Lagerstätte
The Waterloo Farm lagerstätte is a Famennian lagerstätte in South Africa that constitutes the only known record of a near-polar Devonian coastal ecosystem. History and discovery The Waterloo Farm Lagerstätte is an approximately 360 million year old Famennian (latest Devonian) fossil-rich locality of the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group, Cape Supergroup) in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (former Grahamstown) within the Eastern Cape, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Before its discovery very little was known of life during the Famennian (see Late Devonian extinction) in what is now southern Africa. This is largely due to the fact that fossils in the Witpoort Formation generally occur in black anaerobically deposited metashale that rapidly degrades near surface and is therefore rarely seen in natural outcrop. As is the case with many other scientific discoveries, the discovery of Waterloo Farm was accidental. Uprisings against the apartheid system in South Africa had ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rhynie Chert
The Rhynie chert is a Lower Devonian Sedimentary rock, sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness (a Lagerstätte). It is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; a second unit, the Windyfield chert, is located some 700 m away. The Rhynie chert contains exceptionally preserved plant, fungus, lichen and animal material preserved in place by an overlying Volcanic rock, volcanic deposit. The bulk of the Devonian fossil bed consists of primitive plants (which had xylem, water-conducting cells and spores, sporangia, but no true leaf, leaves), along with arthropods, lichens, algae and fungi. This fossil bed is remarkable for two reasons. First, the age of the site (Pragian, Early Devonian, formed about ) places it at an early stage in the colonisation of land. Second, these cherts are famous for their exceptional state of ultrastructure, ultrastructural preservation, with individual cell walls easily visible in polished specimen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian period at million years ago (Megaannum, Ma), to the beginning of the succeeding Carboniferous period at Ma. It is the fourth period of both the Paleozoic and the Phanerozoic. It is named after Devon, South West England, where rocks from this period were first studied. The first significant evolutionary radiation of history of life#Colonization of land, life on land occurred during the Devonian, as free-spore, sporing land plants (pteridophytes) began to spread across dry land, forming extensive coal forests which covered the continents. By the middle of the Devonian, several groups of vascular plants had evolved leaf, leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants (Pteridospermatophyta, pteridospermatophyt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Angiosperm
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. The group was formerly called Magnoliophyta. Angiosperms are by far the most diverse group of land plants with 64 orders, 416 families, approximately 13,000 known genera and 300,000 known species. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees, shrubs and vines, and most aquatic plants. Angiosperms are distinguished from the other major seed plant clade, the gymnosperms, by having flowers, xylem consisting of vessel elements instead of tracheids, endosperm within their seeds, and fruits that completely envelop the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from the common ancestor of all living gymnosperms before the end of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pinophyta
Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant conifers are perennial woody plants with secondary growth. The majority are trees, though a few are shrubs. Examples include cedars, Douglas-firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews.Campbell, Reece, "Phylum Coniferophyta". ''Biology''. 7th ed. 2005. Print. p. 595. As of 2002, Pinophyta contained seven families, 60 to 65 genera, and more than 600 living species. Although the total number of species is relatively small, conifers are ecologically important. They are the dominant plants over large areas of land, most notably the taiga of the Northern Hemisphere, but also in similar cool climates in mountains further south. Boreal conifers have many wintertime adapta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charales
Charales is an order of freshwater green algae in the division Charophyta, class Charophyceae, commonly known as stoneworts. Depending on the treatment of the genus '' Nitellopsis'', living (extant) species are placed into either one family ( Characeae) or two (Characeae and Feistiellaceae). Further families are used for fossil members of the order. Linnaeus established the genus '' Chara'' in 1753. Taxonomy The higher level classification of green algae was unsettled . AlgaeBase places Charales within the class Charophyceae and its circumscription of the division Charophyta. Families The number of families and their division into genera varies. , AlgaeBase accepts two families containing some extant species and four families containing only fossil species: * Characeae S.F.Gray * Feistiellaceae Schudack *† Aclistocharaceae X.G.Zhou (may be included in Characeae) *† Atopocharaceae R.E.Peck (may be included in Clavatoraceae) *† Clavatoraceae Pia *† Porocharaceae Gr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |