Thallophyte
Thallophytes are a polyphyletic group of non-motile organisms traditionally described as "thalloid plants", "relatively simple plants" or "lower plants". They form a division of kingdom Plantae that include lichens and algae and occasionally bryophytes, bacteria and slime moulds. Thallophytes have a hidden reproductive system and hence they are also incorporated into the similar Cryptogamae category, as opposed to Phanerogamae. Thallophytes are defined by having undifferentiated bodies, as opposed to cormophytes with roots and stems. Various groups of thallophytes are major contributors to marine ecosystems.
Definitions
Several different definitions of the group have been used.Thallophytes are a polyphyletic group of non-mobile organisms traditionally described as "thalloid plants", "relatively simple plants" or "lower plants".
Stephan Endlicher, a 19th-century Austrian botanist, separated the vegetable kingdom into the thallophytes and the cormophytes in 1836. This definition of Thallophyta is approximately equivalent to Protophyta, which has always been a loosely defined group.
In the Lindley system, Endlicher's cormophytes were divided into the thallogens, and cormogens, as well as the six other classes. Cormogens were a much smaller group than Endlicher's cormophytes, including just the ferns and the plants now known as lycopodiophytes.
Thallophyta is a division of the plant kingdom including primitive forms of plant life showing a simple plant body. Including unicellular to large algae, fungi, lichens.
The first ten phyla are referred to as thallophytes. They are simple plants without roots stems or leaves.
They are non-embryophyta. These plants grow mainly in water.
Subdivisions
The Thallophyta have been divided into two subdivisions:- Myxothallophyta
- Euthallophyta