Thallophyte

Thallophyte

The thallophytes are a polyphyletic group of non-mobile organisms traditionally described as "relatively simple plants" or "lower plants" with undifferentiated bodies (thalli). They were a defunct division of Kingdom Plantae, the Thallophyta (or Thallobionta) that included fungus and algae, and lichens occasionally bacteria and the Myxomycota.They have a hidden reproductive system and hence they are also called cryptogamae.

They are sometimes referred to as "thalloid plants", as opposed to vascular plants. Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher, a 19th-century Austrian botanist, separated the Vegetable Kingdom (equivalent of Kingdom Plantae) into the Thallophytes and the Cormophytes (vascular plants) in 1836. Thallophytes were known as the Thallogens according to John Lindley, an English botanist in the nineteenth century. Likewise, Cormophytes were also known as Cormogens in the Lindley system.

The term was used only in former classifications, comprising what is now considered a heterogeneous assemblage of flowerless and seedless organisms: algae, bacteria, fungi and lichens.

Plants that do not have well-differentiated body design fall in this group. The plants in this group are commonly called algae. These plants are predominantly aquatic. Examples ae Spirogyra, Ulothrix, Cladophora, and Chara.

See also


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  • Thallophyte — Thal lo*phyte, n. [Gr. ? young shoot + phyte.] 1. (Bot.) A plant belonging to the Thallophyta. {Thal lo*phyt ic}, a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 2. (Bot.) Same as {Thallogen}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • thallophyte — ● thallophyte nom féminin Végétal pluricellulaire dont le corps végétatif est un thalle. (L embranchement des thallophytes, très hétérogène, comprend les algues, pourvues de chlorophylle, les champignons, qui n en ont pas, et les lichens, qui… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • thallophyte — [thal′ə fīt΄] n. [< Gr thallos, young shoot (see THALLIUM) + PHYTE] any of a subkingdom (Thallobionta) of nonvascular plants showing no clear distinction of roots, stem, or leaves and not producing flowers or seeds: it includes the fungi,… …   English World dictionary

  • Thallophyte — Les thallophytes est un groupe polyphylétique d organismes non mobiles traditionnellement décrites « plantes inférieures » non vascularisées, sans feuille, ni tige, ni racine, possédant un corps indifférencié (thalle). Ils sont issus d… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • thallophyte — noun Etymology: ultimately from Greek thallos + phyton plant more at phyt Date: 1854 any of a group of plants or plantlike organisms (as algae and fungi) that lack differentiated stems, leaves, and roots and that were formerly classified as a… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • thallophyte — thallophytic /thal euh fit ik/, adj. /thal euh fuyt /, n. any of the Thallophyta, a plant division in some older classification schemes, comprising algae, fungi, and lichens. [1850 55; < NL Thallophyta group name. See THALLUS, O , PHYTE] * * * …   Universalium

  • thallophyte — noun Any of a large number of plants that consist of a thallus only, with no flower, leaves etc. Syn: thallogen …   Wiktionary

  • thallophyte — A member of the division Thallophyta. * * * thal·lo·phyte (thalґo fīt) [thallo + phyte] an individual of the Thallophyta …   Medical dictionary

  • thallophyte — n. (Botany) plant from the phylum of Thallophyta (algae, fungi and lichens) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • thallophyte — [ θalə(ʊ)fʌɪt] noun Botany a plant consisting of a thallus. Origin C19: from mod. L. Thallophyta (former taxon), from Gk thallos (see thallus) + phyte …   English new terms dictionary

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