{
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  "slug": "pteridophyte",
  "title": "Pteridophyte",
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  "lead": "A pteridophyte is a vascular plant with xylem and phloem that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as \"cryptogams\", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, horsetails (often treated as ferns), and lycophytes (clubmosses, spikemosses, and quillworts) are all pteridophytes. However, they do not form a monophyletic group because ferns (and horsetails) are more closely related to seed plants than to lycophytes. \"Pteridophyta\" is thus no longer a widely accepted taxon, but the term pteridophyte remains in common parlance, as do pteridology and pteridologist as a science and its practitioner, for example by the International Association of Pteridologists and the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group.",
  "body": "A pteridophyte is a vascular plant with xylem and phloem that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as \"cryptogams\", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, horsetails (often treated as ferns), and lycophytes (clubmosses, spikemosses, and quillworts) are all pteridophytes. However, they do not form a monophyletic group because ferns (and horsetails) are more closely related to seed plants than to lycophytes. \"Pteridophyta\" is thus no longer a widely accepted taxon, but the term pteridophyte remains in common parlance, as do pteridology and pteridologist as a science and its practitioner, for example by the International Association of Pteridologists and the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group. ==Description== Pteridophytes (ferns and lycophytes) are free-sporing vascular plants that have a life cycle with alternating, free-living gametophyte and sporophyte phases that are independent at maturity. The body of the sporophyte is well differentiated into roots, stem and leaves. The root system is always adventitious. The stem is either underground or aerial. The leaves may be microphylls or megaphylls. Their other common characteristics include vascular plant apomorphies (e.g., vascular tissue) and land plant plesiomorphies (e.g., spore dispersal and the absence of seeds). ==Taxonomy== ==Life cycle== Just as with bryophytes and spermatophytes (seed plants), the life cycle of pteridophytes involves alternation of generations. This means that a diploid generation (the sporophyte, which produces spores) is followed by a haploid generation (the gametophyte or prothallus, which produces gametes). Pteridophytes differ from bryophytes in that the sporophyte is branched and generally much larger and more conspicuous, and from seed plants in that both generations are independent and free-living. The sexuality of pteridophyte gametophytes can be classified as follows: Dioicous: each individual gametophyte is either male (producing antheridia and hence sperm) or female (producing archegonia and hence egg cells). Monoicous: each individual gametophyte produces both antheridia and archegonia and can function both as a male and as a female. Protandrous: the antheridia mature before the archegonia (male first, then female). Protogynous: the archegonia mature before the antheridia (female first, then male). These terms are not the same as monoecious and dioecious, which refer to whether a seed plant's sporophyte bears both male and female gametophytes, i.e., produces both pollen and seeds, or just one. ==See also== Embryophyte Fern ally Plant sexuality",
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    "title": "Pteridophyte",
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