Question

What type of life cycle is shown by bryophytes and pteridophytes?

Answer 1

Bryophytes:

1. The members of Kingdom Plantae are found in moist shaded regions of hilly areas.
2. These plants played an important role in the succession of plants on bare rocks and soils.
3. The plant body of bryophytes is more differentiated than algae.
4. The main plant body is gametophytic possesses roots, stem, and leaves-like structures.
5. Sexual reproduction takes place by fusion of male and female gametes.
6. The zygote undergoes rapid meiotic division to form a multicellular body called the sporophyte.
7. The cells of the sporophyte further divide by meiosis to give haploid spores which on germination give to the new plant.

Pteridophytes:

1. The non-flowering plants are found in cool, damp, and sandy soils.
2. These non-flowering plants possess vascular tissues xylem and phloem.
3. The main plant body is sporophytic which is differentiated into true roots, stems, and leaves.
4. The leaves of pteridophytes can be small (microphylls) in Selaginella or can be large (macrophytes) in ferns.
5. The plant body sporangia are subtended by leaf-like appendages called sporophylls.
6. In Selaginella and Equisetum the sporophylls are arranged in compact structures called strobili or cones.
7. The cells in sporangia divide by meiosis to form haploid spores.
8. These spores germinate to form prothallus ( a small multicellular, free-living, and photosynthetic thalloid gametophytic body ), which grow to form sporophytic plant bodies.

Thus, haplo-diplontic life cycle is shown by bryophytes and pteridophytes.