Question

Plants with no roots, but have stems and leaves are known as, ___________.

Answer 1

Hint: Roots, stems and leaves are very important parts of a plant as they have different functions which keep the plant alive. Every plant has these three presents but some are exceptions to nature. One of such plants belongs to the order Polypodiopsida.

Complete step by step answer: Plants with no roots, but have stems and leaves are known as ‘Psilotum’. They belong to Pteridophytes. It is a genus of fern-like vascular plants, which are commonly known as whisk ferns. They lack true roots, leaves and stems. There is only a hybrid between the only two species of Psilotum. Whisk ferns of genus Psilotum lack true roots but are anchored by creeping rhizomes. The stems contain many branches with paired enations, which consists of no vascular tissue but appears like small leaves. Synangia is present over these enations, and is formed by the three sporangia and thus produces the spores. The gametophyte of Psilotum is unusual as it branches dichotomously. It does possess vascular tissue and lives underground. There are two species, Psilotum nudum and Psilotum complanatum having a hybrid between them. Psilotum superficially resembles early vascular plants to some extent. A careful study of anatomy and morphology tells that the whisk ferns are not related to the rhyniophytes. In the rhyniophytes and trimerophytes, the sporangia were single and present in terminal branches.

Note: Molecular evidence strongly confirms that the Psilotum is a fern (the horsetails-like structure) and that psilophytes are closely related to the ophioglossum ferns. The distribution of Psilotum is tropical and subtropical, in the New World, Asia, and the Pacific, with a few isolated populations in south-west Europe. The highest latitudes known are in South Carolina, Cádiz province in Spain.