Polysporangiophyte

A land plant whose sporophyte bears multiple sporangia. The group includes vascular plants and extinct stem relatives, distinguishing it from liverworts, mosses, and hornworts.

Sporophyte: The diploid, spore-producing generation in the life cycle of plants and some algae. Its branching body bears the multiple sporangia that define this group.
Branching: The division of a growing axis into two or more branches. Branching lets one sporophyte carry multiple sporangia on separate axes.
Cooksonia: An extinct genus of small, branching plants known from Silurian and Devonian fossils. Its simple axes ending in sporangia preserve an early polysporangiophyte form.
Lycophyte: A vascular plant in the lineage that includes clubmosses, quillworts, and their relatives. Lycophytes are living polysporangiophytes with distinctive microphyll leaves.
Sporangium: A structure in which spores are produced and released. Polysporangiophytes bear several of these structures on one sporophyte.
Tracheophyte: A vascular plant with xylem and phloem for transporting water and nutrients. Vascular tissues support the larger, branched sporophytes of living polysporangiophytes.
Rhynie chert: A Devonian fossil deposit in Scotland that preserves plants and other organisms in exceptional detail. Its fossils reveal the anatomy of early polysporangiophytes in three dimensions.
Euphyllophyte: A vascular plant in the lineage that includes ferns and seed plants. This major polysporangiophyte branch contrasts with the lycophyte lineage.
Alternation of generations: A life cycle that alternates between multicellular haploid and diploid generations. It places the defining sporophyte within the broader plant life cycle.
Xylem: Vascular tissue that conducts water and minerals and often provides structural support. Xylem helped vascular members support upright, branching sporophytes.

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