Northwestern Health Sciences University | Chiropractic College | Acupuncture School | Massage School" HerbNET - The Most Comprehensive Site for All Things Herbal. North Country Herbalist Guild. Minnesota Herbalist Home. UCMP Web Lift to Taxa. Systematics of the Plantae. Move deeper into the systematics of plant groups by selecting one of the boxes containing a picture! Plants have chlorophyll and an alternation of generations. They differ from the "green algae" in that the young sporophyte -- or diploid plant -- begins its development within the tissues of its parent gametophyte --or haploid plant. They also differ in that the sporophyte and gametophyte are heteromorphic, that is the two generations look and develop differently from each other. The plant groups shown in this cladogram, except for the "seed plants", all have a free-living independent gametophyte which nurtures the young sporophyte.
In the "bryophytes" (Hepaticophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Bryophyta), the sporophyte plant remains small and dependent on the parent gametophyte for its entire life. Systematics within the Plantae is based on a number of features in addition to life-cycle characteristics. For more information about the systematics of the land plants, visit the Tree of Life. PlantSystematics.org.