Land Plant Molecular Phylogenetics: A Review with Comments on Evaluating Incongruence Among Phylogenies

Land plants evolved from freshwater charophyte algal ancestors during a single transition to the terrestrial environment. The six major lineages of land plants are divided into two groups: the bryophytes (liverworts, mosses, and hornworts) and the tracheophytes (lycophytes, ferns, and seed plants); while the tracheophytes are thought to be monophyletic, the bryophytes have typically been considered as the direct ancestors of tracheophytes and...