Polysporangiophyte

Polysporangiophyte Temporal range: Llandovery or Wenlock to Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Reconstruction of Aglaophyton, illustrating bifurcating axes with terminal sporangia, and rhizoids.
Modern polysporangiophyte, monarch fern is a vascular plant.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Embryophytes
Clade:	Polysporangiophytes Kenrick & Crane (1997)
Subgroups
non-vascular fossil Polysporangiophytes †Horneophytopsida †Aglaophyton unclassified fossil Polysporangiophytes †Salopella †Tarrantia Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Cooksonia †Uskiella †Rhyniophytes Lycophytes Lycopsida-clubmosses †Zosterophylls Euphyllophytes †Eophyllophyton †Psilophyton – trimerophytes Moniliformopses †Cladoxylopsida Filicopsida-ferns Equisetopsida-horsetails Radiatopses †Pertica Lignophyta Spermatophyta (seed plants) Cycadophyta – cycads Pinophyta – conifers Gnetophyta – gnetales Ginkgophyta – ginkgo †Pentoxylales †Bennettitales – cycadeoids Flowering plant – flowering plants

Polysporangiophytes, also called polysporangiates or formally Polysporangiophyta, are plants in which the spore-bearing generation (sporophyte) has branching stems (axes) that bear sporangia. The name literally means 'many sporangia plant'. The clade includes all land plants (embryophytes) except for the bryophytes (liverworts, mosses and hornworts) whose sporophytes are normally unbranched, even if a few exceptional cases occur.^[1] While the definition is independent of the presence of vascular tissue, all living polysporangiophytes also have vascular tissue, i.e., are vascular plants or tracheophytes. Extinct polysporangiophytes are known that have no vascular tissue and so are not tracheophytes.