Write Life Cycle and examples of Pteridophyta.

Question:

Write Life Cycle and examples of Pteridophyta.

Answer:

Pteridophytes show alternation of generations. Their life cycle is similar to seed-bearing plants, however, the pteridophytes differ from mosses and seed plants as both haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte generations are independent and free-living. The sexuality of pteridophytic gametophytes can be classified as follows:

1. Dioicous: the individual gametophyte is either a male producing antheridia and sperm or a female producing archegonia and egg cells.
2. Monoicous: every individual gametophyte may produce both antheridia and archegonia and it can function both as a male as well as a female.
3. Protandrous: the antheridia matures before the archegonia.
4. Protogynous: the archegonia matures before the antheridia.

Pteridophyta Examples

Following are the important examples of Pteridophyta:

• Whisk Fern
• Dicksonia
• Selaginella
• Lycopodium
• Equisetum
• Pteris
• Dryopteris
• Adiantum
• Man fern
• Silver fern