# Thallophyte
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thallophyte
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thallophyte.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallophyte
> Source revision: 1302551895
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|Polyphyletic group of non-motile, plant-like organisms}}
{{additional citations|date=June 2025}}
{{Redirect|Protophyta|the genus of moth|Protophyta (moth)}}
thumb|Lichens are some of the organisms included in several definitions of the Thallophyte group.
'''Thallophytes''' ('''Thallophyta''' or '''Thallobionta''') are a [polyphyletic](/source/polyphyletic) group of non-motile [organism](/source/organism)s traditionally described as "thalloid plants", "relatively simple plants" or "[lower plants](/source/lower_plants)". They form a [division](/source/phylum) of kingdom [Plant](/source/Plant)ae that include [lichen](/source/lichen)s and [algae](/source/algae) and occasionally [bryophyte](/source/bryophyte)s, [bacteria](/source/bacteria) and [slime mould](/source/slime_mould)s. Thallophytes have a hidden reproductive system and hence they are also incorporated into the similar [Cryptogam](/source/Cryptogam)ae category (together with [fern](/source/fern)s), as opposed to [Phanerogamae](/source/Phanerogamae). Thallophytes are defined by having undifferentiated bodies ([thalloid](/source/thallus), [pseudotissue](/source/pseudotissue)), as opposed to [cormophyte](/source/cormophyte)s (Cormophyta) with roots and stems. Various groups of thallophytes are major contributors to marine ecosystems.
==Definitions==
Several different definitions of the group have been used.
Thallophytes (Thallophyta or Thallobionta) are a polyphyletic group of non-mobile organisms traditionally described as "thalloid plants", "relatively simple plants" or "[lower plants](/source/lower_plants)".
[Stephan Endlicher](/source/Stephan_Endlicher), a 19th-century [Austria](/source/Austria)n [botanist](/source/botanist), separated the vegetable kingdom into the thallophytes (algae, lichens, fungi) and the cormophytes (including [bryophyte](/source/bryophyte)s and thus being equivalent to [Embryophyta](/source/Embryophyta) in this case) in 1836.[{{cite book |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/14572#page/9/mode/1up |title=Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita |author=Stephan Endlicher |year=1836–1840 |publisher=F. Beck; The [Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library)}}][[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32198#page/52/mode/1up Lindley (1846), page 46]] This definition of Thallophyta is approximately equivalent to Protophyta, which has always been a loosely defined group.[{{cite journal |author=Fritsch, F.E. |year=1929 |title=Evolutionary Sequence and Affinities among Protophyta |journal=Biological Reviews |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=103–151 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.1929.tb00884.x|s2cid=85070857 }}]
In the [Lindley system](/source/Lindley_system) (1830–1839), Endlicher's cormophytes were divided into the thallogens (including the bryophytes), and cormogens ("non-flowering" plants with roots), as well as the six other classes. Cormogens were a much smaller group than Endlicher's cormophytes,[[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32198#page/55/mode/1up Lindley (1846), page 49]] including just the ferns (and [Equisetopsida](/source/Equisetopsida)) and the plants now known as [lycopodiophytes](/source/lycopodiophytes).
Thallophyta is a division of the plant kingdom including primitive forms of plant life showing a simple plant body. Including unicellular to large [algae](/source/algae), [fungi](/source/fungus), [lichen](/source/lichen)s.[Abercrombie, M., Hichman, C.J. and Johnson, M.L. 1966. ''A Dictionary of Biology.'' Penguin Books.]
The first ten phyla are referred to as thallophytes. They are simple plants without roots stems or leaves.[Robbins, W.W., Weier, T.E. and Stocking, C.R. 1959. ''Botany an Introduction to Plant Science.'' Chapman & Hall, Limited, Limited]
They are non-embryophyta. These plants grow mainly in water.
==Subdivisions==
The Thallophyta have been divided into two subdivisions:{{sfn|Awasthi|2010|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0ygbqTWTATIC&pg=SA1-PA226 p. 226]}}
* Myxothallophyta (myxomycetes)
* Euthallophyta (bacteria, fungi, lichens, algae)
The term Euthallophyta was originally used by [Adolf Engler](/source/Adolf_Engler).{{sfn|Rendle|1903}}
==See also==
* [Bryophyte](/source/Bryophyte)
* [Pteridophyte](/source/Pteridophyte)
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |title=The vegetable kingdom; or, The structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system |url=https://archive.org/details/vegetablekingdom00lind |author=John Lindley |author-link=John Lindley | year=1846 |publisher=Bradbury and Evans; The [Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library)}}
* {{cite book|last1=Awasthi|first1=D. K.|title=Diversity of Microbes, Fungi & Lichens|date=2010|orig-year=2007|publisher=Krishna Prakashan Media|location=Meerut|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ygbqTWTATIC|access-date=4 May 2015}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Rendle|first1=A.B.|title=Notices of Books: Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien 3rd ed. 1903|journal=Journal of Botany, British and Foreign|date=1903|volume=41|pages=62–63|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109880#page/70/mode/2up|access-date=4 May 2015|format=Review}}
{{refend}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Protist structures}}
Category:Cryptogams
Category:Historically recognized plant taxa
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thallophyte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallophyte) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallophyte?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.