Angiosperm

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Angiosperm (Latin angi-, “enclosed”; Greek sperma, “seed”), common name for the division or phylum comprising flowering plants, the dominant form of plant life. Members of the division are the source of most of the food on which humans and other mammals rely and of many raw materials and natural products. Included in the division are most shrubs and herbs, most familiar trees except pines and other conifers, and specialized plants such as succulents, parasites, and aquatic types. Although about 230,000 species are known, many remain obscure. Flowering plants occupy almost every ecological situation and dominate most natural landscapes. About two-thirds occur in the Tropics, where they are rapidly being exterminated by human activities. Only about 1000 species are of major economic importance, and the bulk of the world’s food supply is derived from only 15. Many hundreds more could be useful if properly investigated and developed.

Scientific classification: Angiosperm is the common name for the division Magnoliophyta. Angiosperms are divided into two classes, the Magnoliopsida and Liliopsida, popularly termed dicots and monocots, representing separate evolutionary lines that must have diverged early in the history of the group. The direct predecessors of angiosperms are thought to have been woody gymnosperms; certain woody groups of dicots (see Magnolia) are thought to be primitive angiosperms. Monocots are more advanced than dicots, and they evolved from a primitive dicot group (see Water Lily).


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