Question

Which is the most important group on the earth?
A. Mosses
B. Tracheophyta
C. Bryophyte
D. Liverworts

Answer 1

Hint: The largest group of plants present on earth are of the vascular plants that have lignified tissues for the conduction of water and minerals to different parts of the plant and non-lignified tissues for the conduction of food produced by photosynthesis.

Complete answer:
Vascular plants are also known as Tracheophytes/ Tracheobionta and are a group of land plants. They consist of lignified xylem and non-lignified phloem, true roots, stems and leaves. They produce diploid spores in their generation phase. They are divided into psilopsida and rootless primitive forms of whisk ferns, sphenopsids include horsetails which are feathery leaf plants, lycopods which are low lying club mosses, and pteropsida which include gymnosperms (spruce, pines, and firs), ferns and flowering plants.
Vascular plants or tracheophytes are more abundant due to the presence of well-developed vascular tissues (xylem and phloem) which lack in the lower plant groups. They also have evolved a system of reproduction with the help of spores, seeds and fruits which can be easily transferred/dispersed from one place to the other and give rise to a new plant.
Thus, the right option is B.

Additional information:
- Bryophytes are also land plants but they lack lignified vascular tissues which make them less abundant.
- Proto Tracheophytes are considered to be connecting links between bryophytes and tracheophytes.
- Presence of lignin provides support and turgidity to the cells of vascular tissues.

Note: It is believed that the tracheophytes/Vascular plants evolved from the Chlorophytes (Green algae). The earliest fossil having them is of the Silurian period and are about 400,000,000 years old.