Question

What are the general characteristics of vascular plants, and how do features of the seedless plant life cycle differ from that of the seed plant life cycle?

Answer 1

Hint: A seedless plant life cycle produces spores for reproduction, whereas seed plants produce pollen for reproduction. Seed plants bear reproductive structures like androecium and gynoecium.

Complete answer: General characteristics of the vascular plants:
1. The vascular plants are known as tracheophytes. They are also called tube plants. This is because they have tube-like vascular tissues in them that are used for the conduction of the substances.
2. The vascular tissues are the xylem and phloem.
3. The xylem helps in the conduction of water and minerals.
4. The phloem helps in the conduction of food and nutrients.
The vascular plants are further classified into seedless and seed plants:
Seedless plants have an alternation of generation in their life cycle. They have a diploid sporophytic stage. Here, the spores are formed which later becomes the gametophyte. The gametophytes are haploid structures. The male and female gametophyte produce their respective gametes that fuse to form a diploid plant. Whereas, In the case of seed plants, fertilization occurs by pollination. After fertilization, the seeds are formed from the ovules. These seeds when sown in the soil produce new plants.

Note: The xylem is dead tissue. Tracheids, vessels, and xylem fibres are all dead elements, only the xylem parenchyma is the living part. That is why the secondary xylem is also known as the wood. The phloem is a living tissue because the sieve tubes, the companion cells, and the phloem parenchyma are all living. Only the phloem fibres or the bast fibres are dead tissues.