Title: The Land Plant Life Cycle | Digital Atlas of Ancient Life
Headings: The Land Plant Life Cycle
The Land Plant Life Cycle
Section contents:
Topics covered on this page:
Introduction
The alternation of generations in land plants
Homospory & heterospory
Homospory
Heterospory
Homosporous Plants vs. Heterosporous Plants
The seed habit
Selected references & further reading
Academic articles
Books & textbooks
Content usage

Content: The zygote grows into the next generation of sporophyte. Generalized life cycle of a land plant. Diploid = 2n; haploid = n. Credit: Diagram by E.J. Hermsen (DEAL). In some plants the gametophyte is the dominant generation, whereas in others the sporophyte is dominant. For example, in a moss, the gametophyte is green and leafy. The simple sporophyte grows on and is dependent on the gametophyte; the sporophyte is typically unbranched and makes only one sporangium during its lifetime. In a pine, the sporophyte is a tree, whereas the gametophytes are very tiny and strictly unisexual (male or female).