Any plant containing conducting tissue, i.e. xylem and phloem. Vascular plants are usually terrestrial or epiphytic and the sporophyte, which is the dominant generation, is differentiated into stem, leaves, and roots. They also differ from bryophytes and other nonvascular plants in possessing stomata. Fossil forms intermediate between the bryophytes and vascular plants have not been discovered and it seems probable that the two groups have evolved separately for a considerable time, possibly almost since the land was first colonized. Depending on the relative importance attached to the possession of vascular tissue as compared to the production of seeds, the vascular plants may be classified in one division, the * Tracheophyta , or two, the * Pteridophyta and the * Spermatophyta. |
