Vascular plants (derives from Latin word vasculum means 'a container and column'), also called tracheophytes or collectively Tracheophyta form a large group of land plants (c. 300,000 species) that have vascular tissues such as xylem (important for transporting water) and phloem (essential for transporting minerals and nutrients). Historically, vascular plants were known as higher plants, as it was believed that they were further evolved than other plants due to being more complex organisms. They include clubmosses, horsetails, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms (flowering plants). Scientific names for the group include Tracheophyta, Tracheobionta and Equisetopsida sensu lato. Some early land plants (rhyniophytes) had less developed vascular tissue; the term eutracheophyte has been used for all other vascular plants, including all living ones.
This group of plants have vascular tissues (xylem and phloem) which distribute resources through the plant. The combination of one xylem and one phloem strand adjacent to each other is known as a vascular bundle. The evolution of vascular tissue in plants allowed them to evolve to larger sizes than non-vascular plants, which lack these specialized conducting tissues and are thereby restricted to relatively small sizes. They are sporophytes, which produces spores and is diploid (having two sets of chromosomes per cell). They have true roots, leaves and stems, however, some vascular plants might have reduced traits. They are well-developed and advance plants. They include pteridophytes (Lycophytes, Horsetails and Ferns), gymnosperms and all the seed-containing angiosperms plants (flowering plants).
