The lycophytes, when broadly circumscribed, are a group of vascular plants that include the clubmosses. They are sometimes placed in a division Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta or in a subdivision Lycopodiophytina.

lycophyte, (class Lycopodiopsida), class of spore -bearing vascular plants comprising more than 1,200 extant species. Three lycophyte orders are recognized: the club mosses (Lycopodiales), the quillworts and their allies (Isoetales), and the spike mosses (Selaginellales).

Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants also known as lycopsids, [1] lycopods, or lycophytes. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts.

Lycophytes, also known as the ‘fern allies’, are a clade of vascular plants similar to ferns but have unique leaves called microphylls. They are primitive plants and lack seeds, wood, fruit and flowers. As with the ferns, lycophytes produce spores for reproduction and are both wind-pollinated and dispersed.

The lycophytes represent a wide range of extinct and living plants that have contributed important data on evolutionary trends in primitive vascular plants. The earliest lycophytes included Baragwanathia and Protolepidodendron, dating from the early Devonian Period. Both were small herbaceous plants.

Functionally, ligules are believed to be secretory organs that, by exuding water and possibly mucilage, serve to keep young leaves and sporangia moist. Short-lived structures, they become shrunken and inconspicuous in older leaves. The ligule was a characteristic feature of the extinct giant lycophytes such as Lepidodendron.

Lycophytes are seedless vascular plants with sporophytes that have microphylls and branch dichotomously. Sporangia are produced in strobili. Some are homosporous (e.g. Lycopodium), while others are …

The lycophytes are the oldest of the seedless vascular plants that have living representatives. They constitute one of the two major lines (clades) of vascular plants, which split probably in the Silurian Age, but at least by the Devonian.

Lycophyta refers to a division of seedless vascular plants that includes clubmosses, quillworts, and lycopods. These plants are characterized by their distinctive leaf structure, known as microphylls, and their ability to reproduce via spores rather than seeds.

The Lycopodiophyta, or lycophytes (also commonly called lycopods), are a lineage of plants that diverged after the rhyniophytes. An extinct, probably paraphyletic, fossil group, known as the zosterophyllophytes [Zosterophyllophytina], diverged along the immediate lineage leading to lycophytes (Figure 4.1).