Vascular Plant (redirected from Vascular plants)

vascular plant

 or tracheophyte

Any plant that has a specialized conducting system consisting mostly of phloem (food-conducting tissue) and xylem (water-conducting tissue), collectively called vascular tissue. Ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants are all vascular plants. In contrast to the nonvascular bryophytes, the more conspicuous generation among vascular plants is the sporophyte (see alternation of generations). Because they have vascular tissues, these plants have true stems, leaves, and roots, modifications of which enable species of vascular plants to survive in a variety of habitats under diverse, even extreme, environmental conditions. This ability to flourish in so many different habitats is the primary reason that vascular plants have become dominant among terrestrial plants.

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Vascular Plant 

a plant whose organs contain vessels or tracheids, which conduct water and dissolved mineral salts, and sieve tubes, which conduct organic matter. Vascular plants include the Psilotophyta, Lycopodiophyta, Equisetopsida, Pterido-phyta, Gymnospermae, and Angiospermae, that is, all higher plants except mosses and liverworts. In these exceptions, the overall reduction of the sporophyte is also reflected in the disappearance of the conducting system typical of higher plants. In certain older plant classifications, a special taxonomic group of cryptogamic vascular plants was distinguished; it included the Psilotophyta, Lycopodiophyta, Equisetopsida, and Pteridophyta.