Thallophyta

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Thallophyta \Thal*loph"y*ta\, n. pl. [NL. See {Thallophyte}.]
     (Bot.)
     A phylum of plants of very diverse habit and structure,
     including the algae, fungi, and lichens. The simpler forms,
     as many blue-green algae, yeasts, etc., are unicellular and
     reproduce vegetatively or by means of asexual spores; in the


     higher forms the plant body is a thallus, which may be
     filamentous or may consist of plates of cells; it is commonly
     undifferentiated into stem, leaves, and roots, and shows no
     distinct tissue systems; the fronds of many algae, however,
     are modified to serve many of the functions of the
     above-named organs. Both asexual and sexual reproduction,
     often of a complex type, occur in these forms. The
     Thallophyta exist almost exclusively as gametophytes, the
     sporophyte being absent or rudimentary. By those who do not
     separate the Myxophyta from the Tallophyta as a distinct
     phylum the latter is treated as the lowermost group in the
     vegetable kingdom.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Thallophyta
       n : used only in former classifications: comprising what is now
           considered a heterogeneous assemblage of flowerless and
           seedless organisms: algae; bacteria; fungi; lichens