Lycopod facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lycopod Temporal range: Silurian to Recent
Lycopodiella inundata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Lycopodiophyta Cronquist, Takht. & W.Zimm.

The Lycopods (Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta) are the oldest surviving vascular plant division. It is a vascular plant subdivision of the plant kingdom. Its earliest fossils are from 428–410 million years ago.^p99

The Lycopods include some of the most primitive (basal) living species. They reproduce by shedding spores and have macroscopic alternation of generations. Members of Lycopodiophyta have a protostele, and the sporophyte generation is dominant.

Lycopods differ from all other vascular plants in having microphylls, leaves that have only a single vein rather than the much more complex megaphylls found in ferns and seed plants.

Classification

There are around 1,200 living species of Lycopodiophyta; they are generally divided into three orders. There are also some extinct groups. There are different opinions as to how the whole group should be classified.^p8 Living groups are:

• Lycopodiales: Clubmosses
• Isoetales: Quillworts
• Selaginellales: Spikemosses

Images for kids

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  Artist's impression of a Lepidodendron

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  External impression of Lepidodendron from the Upper Carboniferous of Ohio

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  Axis (branch) from Archaeosigillaria or related lycopod from the Middle Devonian of Wisconsin

See also

In Spanish: Lycopsida para niños