4 Classifications of Phylum Thallophyta

Phylum Thallophyta
THE Phylum Thallophyta includes all those lowly plants which are devoid of stem, root and leaves. In the Algae and Fungi the simpler forms consist of a single cell or of a small colony of cells, while in the higher forms the body, or thallus, consists either of a filament of cells joined end to end, or, in the more complex types, of cellular tissue or of a system of filaments, some running longitudinally and some transversely, the whole being embedded in mucilage. The method of nutrition is holophytic. Chlorophyll is present only in the Algae, and here its presence may be masked by other pigments. Sexual reproduction occurs in most Thallophytes, but the process varies enormously and shows very instructive stages of evolutionary development towards increased complexity in the Algae and towards simplification and reduction in the Fungi. Sexual reproduction is unknown in Euglenophyceae.
The Bacteria are usually included in this phylum. They are either uni­cellular or filamentous, they are devoid of chlorophyll, and reproduction is by a simple process of fission.
The phylum Thallophyta is subdivided into the following groups :-

1. Algae (e.g., Seaweeds). 
2. Fungi (e.g., Moulds, Mushrooms and Toadstools). 
3. Bacteria. 
4. Lichenes. 

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