Q.Identify the plant group on the basis of the following feature: First vascular plants.

Pteridophytes are the first true land plants and the first group to evolve real vascular tissue (xylem and phloem), earning them the name 'vascular cryptogams'. Unlike bryophytes, the sporophyte (2n) is the dominant, independent, long-lived phase, differentiated into true root, stem and leaves (microphyllous or megaphyllous); the gametophyte is reduced to a small, short-lived, free-living, heart-shaped prothallus. Sporangia are borne on sporophylls, often organised into a cone or strobilus, and species may be homosporous (one spore t …