Question

Presence of motile stage in lifecycle and requirement of water as a medium to complete life cycle is diagnostic characters of

• A. Thallophyta
• B. Crytogams
• C. Pteridophyta
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is C Pteridophyta

Option C is the correct answer. Pteridophyta includes all the seedless vascular plants. Characterized by the absence of flowers and seeds, these plants reproduce and disperse with the help of spores and through alternation of generations involving the spore producing plants (sporophytes) and gamete producing plants (gametophytes). The life cycle of the pteridophytes show cases a motile stage wherein the male organs (antheridia) produce numerous motile sperm or antherozoids with flagella which need the presence of continuous film of water to swim through and reach the egg cell embedded in the archegonium to enable fertilization.
Cryptogams is not the right answer as this refers to all non-seed bearing plants and plant like organism and includes algae, fungi, mosses, lichens and ferns.

Therefore, the correct answer is option C.