Q.Each plant or group of plants has some phylogenetic significance in relation to evolution: Cycas, one of the few living members of gymnosperms is called as the 'relic of past'. Can you establish a phylogenetic relationship of Cycas with any other group of plants that justifies the above statement?

Cycas shows features that link it back toward the pteridophytes, supporting its description as a relic of the past.

• Its stem is unbranched and its leaves are large, feather-like (pinnate) structures that persist for several years -- a leaf form reminiscent of the large, compound leaves (macrophylls) seen in ferns among the pteridophytes.
• Like pteridophytes, which are the first plants with true vascular tissue, Cycas retains a comparatively simple, primitive overall body plan among the gymnosperms. …

Among the living gymnosperms, Cycas stands out as an older, more primitive form. Its stem stays unbranched, unlike the freely branching stems of Pinus and Cedrus, and it bears large, pinnate (feather-like) leaves that persist on the plant for several years. This leaf architecture closely echoes the large, compound macrophylls that characterise the ferns among the pteridophytes, the group described as the first land plants to develop true vascular tissue and a well-differentiated sporophyte.