Talk:Psilotum

[Untitled]

what does a whisk fern look like? Kew Gardens has (or had) some in the Princess of Wales conservatory, but it may be best to ask for directions, as the plants are small and poorly signed. 213.78.104.65 01:52, 29 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Psilotophyta vs. Pteridophyta

Psilotum is a "fern" and thus placing it in Psilotophyta is probably not the best way to treat it. On the other hand, neither the fern classification paper I have been using nor any other papers I have seen dealing with the relationships of Psilotum treat ferns as a whole as "Pteridophyta" or at any other named rank--one reason why I have been reluctant to deal with the taxoboxes. MrDarwin 14:00, 3 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think the evidence is fairly strong that the ferns, horsetails, and psilotopsids form a clade. I suppose one could call that clade Pteridophyta (and call the other two major vascular plant clades Lycopodiophyta and Spermatophyta), and it wouldn't surprise me to find those circumscriptions in the literature. Of course how all this plays out in Wikipedia is a never-ending source of controversy and amusement.--Curtis Clark 14:09, 3 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"They are the only vascular plants lacking true roots and leaves"

I am quite certain this is wrong. There are numerous parasitic plants that lack true roots and leaves (e.g., Rafflesia) and it's debatable whether some of the Podostemonaceae possess true roots or leaves. 160.111.254.17 (talk) 15:38, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I think this is more a case of the original being carelessly worded. I suspect "they" was meant to refer to the family, i.e. the two genera, and refer to the assumption that their ancestors never had these characters. However, it's better as it is. Peter coxhead (talk) 20:10, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]