You are hiking in a forest and come upon a mysterious plant, which you determine is either a lycophyte sporophyte or a pterophyte sporophyte. Which of the following would be most helpful in determining the correct classification of the plant?

A) whether or not it has true leaves
B) whether it has microphylls or megaphylls
C) whether or not it has seeds
D) its height
E) whether or not it has chlorophyll a

Microphylls are mainly leaves having a single, unbranched vein, while megaphylls are leaves with multiple veins. Also, in microphylls, the single vein originates from the protostele without having a leaf gap while megaphylls contain leaf gaps. Moreover, microphylls are the leaves, which occur early in the fossil record up to date while megaphylls develop independently from euphyllophyte leaf precursor structures.

Microphylls and megaphylls are two types of structures that occur in leaves of vascular plants.

extensionprenton extensionprenton · Answer 2 · 2020-04-14T03:28:07+02:00

Answer:

The correct answer is option B) "whether it has microphylls or megaphylls".

Explanation:

In this scenario, the best way to determine if a plant is either a lycophyte sporophyte or a pterophyte sporophyte is to identify if the plant has microphylls or megaphylls. Microphylls are structures found in lycophyte's leaves, while megaphylls are found in pterophyte. It is relatively easy to differentiate between microphylls or megaphylls, because microphylls are leaves that have a single unbranched vein, whereas megaphylls have multiple and branched veins.