Unit 2 Pteridophyta

Question 1

What living genus belongs to the phylum Pteridophyta?

Answer 1

Equisetum (horsetails)

Question 2

What are the characteristics of the plants belonging to Pteridophyta?

Answer 2

-all members have both shoots and roots -the shoot is divided into nodes and internodes and is clearly jointed -the stem is usually ribbed -(terminal) sporangia are borne in strobili on stems -the leaves are in whorls

Question 3

What are the three orders to Pteridophyta?

Answer 3

1) Pseudoborniales (extinct) 2) Sphenophyllales (extinct) 3) Equistales (only equisetum exists)

Question 4

Psudoborniales

Answer 4

-this group is known only from one species, Pseduobronia, from the upper (end) Devonian -the plants were tree-like, with several orders of branching (about 15-20m in height) -there are distinct nodes

Question 5

Sphenophyllales

Answer 5

-this group is known from the Devonian to the upper Triassic; common in the Carboniferous -they were slender, stemmed erect plants less than a meter tall (the stems were jointed) -some may have been vining or aquatic

Question 6

Generas with Sphenophyllales

Answer 6

1) Sphenophyllum 2) Bowmanities

Question 7

Sphenophyllum

Answer 7

-these were at first applied to leaf compression, but now refers to most of the plant

Question 8

Bowmanites

Answer 8

refers to the strobilus

Question 9

What types of leaves belong to the Sphenophyllales?

Answer 9

-whorl of leaves occurred at each node -the leaves were wedge-shaped with toothed margins or deep notches

Question 10

What type of stems belong to the Sphenophyllales?

Answer 10

The stem had a protostele