Editing Embryophyte (section)

{{Short description|Subclade of green plants, also known as land plants}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Land plants
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Mid Ordovician|Present|earliest=Dapingian|PS=|ref=<ref name="Gray-1985">{{Citation |last=Gray |first=J. |title=The Microfossil Record of Early Land Plants: Advances in Understanding of Early Terrestrialization, 1970-1984 [and Discussion] |work=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=309 |issue=1138 |pages=167–195 |year=1985 |bibcode=1985RSPTB.309..167G |doi=10.1098/rstb.1985.0077 |name-list-style=amp |last2=Chaloner |first2=W.G. |last3=Westoll |first3=T.S. |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rubinstein |first=C.V. |title=Early Middle Ordovician evidence for land plants in Argentina (eastern Gondwana) |work=New Phytologist |volume=188 |issue=2 |pages=365–9 |year=2010 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03433.x |hdl=11336/55341 |pmid=20731783 |name-list-style=amp |last2=Gerrienne |first2=P. |last3=De La Puente |first3=G.S. |last4=Astini |first4=R.A. |last5=Steemans |first5=P. |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free}}</ref>}} <small>(potential Cambrian origin)</small>
| image = {{Multiple image
|perrow          = 2
|total_width     = 270
|image1          = WWB-0265-127-Polytrichum_formosum.png
|caption1        = [[Moss]]
|image2          = Frühling blühender Kirschenbaum.jpg
|caption2        = [[Angiosperm]]
|image3          = Fern detail.jpg
|caption3        = [[Fern]]
|image4          = Phaeoceros_laevis_48205337_(white_background).jpg
|caption4        = [[Hornwort]]
|image5          = PIH_1830_Scots_Pine_(Pinus_sylvestris)_graft_clone_collection_in_R%C3%B6ykk%C3%A4_Finland.jpg
|caption5        = [[Gymnosperm]]
|image6          = Lycopodium saururus.JPG
|caption6        = [[Lycopodiopsida|Lycophyte]]
|border          = infobox
}}
| taxon = Embryophytes/Plantae
| authority = [[Adolf Engler|Engler]], 1892<ref>Engler, A. 1892. ''Syllabus der Vorlesungen über specielle und medicinisch-pharmaceutische Botanik: Eine Uebersicht über das ganze Pflanzensystem mit Berücksichtigung der Medicinal- und Nutzpflanzen.'' Berlin: Gebr. Borntraeger.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pirani |first1=J. R. |last2=Prado |first2=J. |year=2012 |title=Embryopsida, a new name for the class of land plants |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257929335 |format=PDF |journal=Taxon |volume=61 |issue=5 |pages=1096–1098 |doi=10.1002/tax.615014 }}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = Divisions
| subdivision = * '''[[Bryophyte|Non-vascular land plants]] (bryophytes)'''
** [[Marchantiophyta]] – liverworts
** [[Moss|Bryophyta]] – mosses
** [[Hornwort|Anthocerotophyta]] – hornworts
** †[[Horneophytopsida]]
* '''[[Vascular plant]]s (tracheophytes)'''
** †[[Rhyniophyta]] – rhyniophytes
** †[[Zosterophyll]]ophyta – zosterophylls
** [[Lycopodiopsida|Lycopodiophyta]] – clubmosses
** †[[Trimerophytophyta]] – trimerophytes
** [[Fern|Polypodiophyta]] – ferns and horsetails
** '''[[Spermatophyta|Seed plants]] (spermatophytes)'''
*** †[[Pteridospermatophyta]] – seed ferns
*** [[Pinophyta]] – conifers
*** [[Cycad]]ophyta – cycads
*** [[Ginkgophyta]] – ginkgo
*** [[Gnetophyta]] – gnetae
*** [[Flowering plant|Angiospermae]] – flowering plants
----
Traditional groups:
* [[Bryophyte|Bryophyta]] [[Paraphyletic|*]]
* [[Pteridophyta]] [[Paraphyletic|*]]
* [[Gymnospermae]] [[Paraphyletic|*]]
* [[Angiospermae]]
| synonyms = * Cormophyta <small>[[Stephan Endlicher|Endlicher]], 1836</small>
* Phyta <small>[[Fred Alexander Barkley|Barkley]], 1939</small><ref>Barkley, Fred A. ''Keys to the phyla of organisms''. Missoula, Montana. 1939.</ref>
* Cormobionta <small>[[Werner Rothmaler|Rothmaler]], 1948</small><ref>Rothmaler, Werner. Über das natürliche System der Organismen. ''Biologisches Zentralblatt.'' 67: 242–250. 1948.</ref>
* Euplanta <small>Barkley, 1949</small><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Barkley | first1 = Fred A | title = Un esbozo de clasificación de los organismos | url = http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/30839/ | journal = Revista de la Facultad Nacional de Agronomia, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín | volume = 10 | pages = 83–103 | access-date = 2014-11-04 | archive-date = 2020-04-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200421205635/http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/30839/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>
* Telomobionta <small>[[Takhtajan]], 1964</small><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Takhtajan | first1 = A | year = 1964 | title = The taxa of the higher plants above the rank of order | url = http://www.iapt-taxon.org/historic/Congress/IBC_1964/above_order.pdf | journal = Taxon | volume = 13 | issue = 5| pages = 160–164 | doi = 10.2307/1216134 | jstor = 1216134 }}</ref>
* Embryobionta <small>[[Arthur Cronquist|Cronquist]] et al. 1966</small><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cronquist | first1 = A. | last2 = Takhtajan | first2 = A. | last3 = Zimmermann | first3 = W. | year = 1966 | title = On the Higher Taxa of Embryobionta | url = http://www.iapt-taxon.org/historic/Congress/IBC_1969/embryobionta.pdf | journal = Taxon | volume = 15 | issue = 4| pages = 129–134 | doi=10.2307/1217531| jstor = 1217531 }}</ref>
* Metaphyta <small>Whittaker, 1969</small><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Whittaker | first1 = R. H. | year = 1969 | title = New concepts of kingdoms or organisms | url = http://www.ib.usp.br/inter/0410113/downloads/Whittaker_1969.pdf | journal = Science | volume = 163 | issue = 3863 | pages = 150–160 | doi = 10.1126/science.163.3863.150 | bibcode = 1969Sci...163..150W | pmid = 5762760 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.403.5430 | access-date = 2014-11-28 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171117160137/http://www.ib.usp.br/inter/0410113/downloads/Whittaker_1969.pdf | archive-date = 2017-11-17 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
* Plantae <small>[[Lynn Margulis|Margulis]], 1971</small><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Margulis | first1 = L | year = 1971 | title = Whittaker's five kingdoms of organisms: minor revisions suggested by considerations of the origin of mitosis | journal = Evolution | volume = 25 | issue = 1| pages = 242–245 | doi=10.2307/2406516| pmid = 28562945 | jstor = 2406516 }}</ref>
}}

The '''embryophytes''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|m|b|r|i|ə|ˌ|f|aɪ|t|s}}) are a [[clade]] of [[plant]]s, also known as '''Embryophyta''' ('''[[Plant]]ae ''sensu strictissimo''''') ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɛ|m|b|r|i|ˈ|ɒ|f|ə|t|ə|,_|-|oʊ|ˈ|f|aɪ|t|ə}}) or '''land plants'''. They are the most familiar group of [[photoautotroph]]s that make up the [[vegetation]] on [[Earth]]'s [[dry land]]s and [[wetland]]s. Embryophytes have a [[common ancestor]] with [[green algae]], having emerged within the [[Phragmoplastophyta]] clade of [[freshwater]] [[charophyte]] green algae as a [[sister taxon]] of [[Charophyceae]], [[Coleochaetophyceae]] and [[Zygnematophyceae]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Delwiche |first1=Charles F. |last2=Timme |first2=Ruth E. |date=2011-06-07 |title=Plants |journal=Current Biology |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=R417–R422 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2011.04.021 |pmid=21640897 |s2cid=235312105 |issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free |bibcode=2011CBio...21.R417D }}</ref> Embryophytes consist of the [[bryophyte]]s and the [[polysporangiophyte]]s.<ref name="Puttick-2018" /> Living embryophytes include [[hornwort]]s, [[liverwort]]s, [[moss]]es, [[lycophyte]]s, [[fern]]s, [[gymnosperm]]s and [[angiosperm]]s ([[flowering plant]]s). Embryophytes have [[biological life cycle|diplobiontic life cycle]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gerrienne |first1=Philippe |last2=Gonez |first2=Paul |title=Early evolution of life cycles in embryophytes: A focus on the fossil evidence of gametophyte/sporophyte size and morphological complexity |journal=Journal of Systematics and Evolution |date=January 2011 |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1111/j.1759-6831.2010.00096.x|hdl=2268/101745 |s2cid=29795245 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> 

The embryophytes are informally called "land plants" because they thrive primarily in [[Terrestrial ecosystem|terrestrial habitat]]s (despite [[aquatic plant|some members]] having evolved secondarily to live once again in [[semiaquatic]]/[[aquatic habitat]]s), while the related green algae are primarily aquatic. Embryophytes are complex [[multicellular]] [[eukaryote]]s with specialized [[reproductive organ]]s. The name derives from their [[synapomorphy|innovative characteristic]] of nurturing the young embryo [[sporophyte]] during the early stages of its multicellular development within the tissues of the parent [[gametophyte]]. With very few exceptions, embryophytes obtain [[biological energy]] by [[photosynthesis]], using [[chlorophyll a]] and [[chlorophyll b|b]] to harvest the [[light energy]] in [[sunlight]] for [[biological carbon fixation|carbon fixation]] from [[carbon dioxide]] and [[water]] in order to synthesize [[carbohydrate]]s while releasing [[oxygen]] as a [[byproduct]]. The study of land plants is called ''[[phytology]]''.