Lexic.us

Definition of Spermatophyta

1. Noun. Seed plants; comprises the Angiospermae (or Magnoliophyta) and Gymnospermae (or Gymnospermophyta); in some classification systems Spermatophyta is coordinate with Pteridophyta (spore producing plants having vascular tissue and roots) and Bryophyta (spore producing plants lacking vascular tissue and roots).

Definition of Spermatophyta

1. n. pl. A phylum embracing the highest plants, or those that produce seeds; the seed plants, or flowering plants. They form the most numerous group, including over 120,000 species. In general, the group is characterized by the marked development of the sporophyte, with great differentiation of its parts (root, stem, leaves, flowers, etc.); by the extreme reduction of the gametophyte; and by the development of seeds. All the Spermatophyta are heterosporous; fertilization of the egg cell is either through a pollen tube emitted by the microspore or (in a few gymnosperms) by spermatozoids.

Medical Definition of Spermatophyta

1. A major division of the plant kingdom, characterised by reprodution by seed and subdivided into the Gymnospermae (gymnosperms) and Angiospermae (angiosperms). (09 Oct 1997)

Literary usage of Spermatophyta

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown (1913)
"... Subkingdom spermatophyta. SEED-BEARING PLANTS. Plants producing seeds which contain an embryo formed of one or more rudimentary leaves (cotyledons), ..."

2. An Introduction to the Study of Fossils (plants and Animals) by Hervey Woodburn Shimer (1914)
"3. How is this order related to the club-mosses and the horsetails ? DIVISION IV, spermatophyta ... spermatophyta."

3. Pharmaceutical Botany by Heber Wilkinson Youngken, Francis Edward Stewart (1914)
"... floating ferns with broad floating leaves and submerged dissected leaves which bear sporocarps. Ex.: Salvinia and Azolla. DIVISION IV.—spermatophyta ..."

4. Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club by Torrey Botanical Club (1894)
"... of Pteridophyta and spermatophyta growing without Cultivation in Northeastern North America. PREFACE. The following list of the PTERIDOPHYTA and ..."

5. Flora of the Rocky Mountains and Adjacent Plains, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming by Per Axel Rydberg (1917)
"spermatophyta SEED-BEARING OR FLOWERING PLANTS. Plants with flowers containing stamens, or pistils, or both, and producing seeds containing an embryonic ..."

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