The embryophytes (/ˈɛmbriəˌfaɪts/) are a clade of plants, known as Embryophyta (Plantae sensu strictissimo) (/ˌɛmbriˈɒfətə, -oʊˈfaɪtə/) or land plants. They are the most familiar group of photoautotrophs that make up the vegetation on Earth's dry lands and wetlands. Embryophytes have a common ancestor with green algae, having emerged within the Phragmoplastophyta clade of freshwater charophyte green algae as a sister taxon of Charophyceae, Coleochaetophyceae and Zygnematophyceae. Embryophytes consist of the bryophytes and the polysporangiophytes. Living embryophytes include hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms (flowering plants). Embryophytes have haplodiplontic life cycles.
The embryophytes are informally called "land plants" because they thrive primarily in terrestrial habitats (despite some members having evolved secondarily to live once again in semiaquatic/aquatic habitats), while the related green algae are primarily aquatic. Embryophytes are complex multicellular eukaryotes with specialized reproductive organs. The name derives from their innovative characteristic of nurturing the young embryo sporophyte during the early stages of its multicellular development within the tissues of the parent gametophyte. With very few exceptions, embryophytes obtain biological energy by photosynthesis, using chlorophyll a and b to harvest the light energy in sunlight for carbon fixation from carbon dioxide and water in order to synthesize carbohydrates while releasing oxygen as a byproduct. The study of land plants is called phytology.
