WORLD DISTRIBUTION

                    Permission granted by Elizabeth M. Benders-Hyde.

World distribution

Vascular, seedless plants are found worldwide, on six of the seven continents. Due to their primitive ability to transport water and nutrients and their need to use water to fertilize their sporophyte, these plants are mainly found in tropical, moist areas. Therefore, the distribution of vascular, seedless plants correlates directly with the climate of each region. The more tropical the climate is, the greater the number of these plants will grow there. 

As shown on the climate map above, vascular seedless plants are found in the purple and pink regions, which represent tropical climate, and also the teal and green regions, which represent temperate climate

There are four phyla of vascular, seedless plants:

Phylum:

i. Psilophyta

Whisk ferns; 2 orders: Psilotum and Tmesipteris. Closely related to ferns and considered to be the oldest living lineage of vascular plants. They lack true roots and leaves and grow mainly in wooded areas, where sunlight is minimal and the soil is moist.

ii. Lycopodophyta

Club mosses, most are heterosporous. This phyla used to have larger species that were forest forming and grew to 35 meters tall. These grow in damp places beneath other plants, with their range usually between temperate and tropical climates.

iii. Equisetophyta

Horsetails or scouring rushes, this is the only surviving genus. This phylum is found usually around bodies of water, where water is plentiful.

iv. Pterophyta

Ferns, horsetails, and whisk ferns belong in this phylum. These are homosporous plants that require water for the motile sperm to fertilize. Ferns alone have almost 12,000 species. 

These four phyla occupy their own specific regions of the earth, with species of the same phylum tending to grow in the same regions.