Science Fair Project Encyclopedia - Green algae - land plants
(embryophytes) - non-vascular embryophytes - vascular plants
(tracheophytes) - seedless vascular plants - seed plants
(spermatophytes) Plants are a major group of living things
(about 300,000 species), including familiar organisms such as
trees, flowers, herbs, and ferns. Aristotle divided all living
things between plants, which generally do not move or have
sensory organs, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became
the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since
then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined
included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several
groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are
still often considered plants in many contexts. Indeed, any
attempt to match "plant" with a single taxon is doomed to fail,
because plant is a vaguely defined concept unrelated to the
presumed phylogenic concepts on which modern taxonomy is based.
- See main article at Embryophytes Mos