Archaeplastida

Uncommon card · No. 190096

Archaeplastida (pronounced ) or archaeplastids, sometimes also regarded as the kingdom Plantae sensu lato ("plants in a broad sense"), are a large group of eukaryotes comprising the major clades Viridiplantae (green algae and land plants) and Rhodophyta (red algae), as well as the minor basal division Glaucophyta ("grey algae"). While the vast majority of archaeplastids are photosynthetic autotrophs, the group also includes heterotrophic lineages such as the predatorial (eukaryotrophic) flagellates Rhodelphidia, and probably also the microscopic picoplankton Picozoa, both may be sister to Rhodophyta and altogether forming the larger solid clade Rhodaria. With the exception of the picozoans, archaeplastids are all primary algae whose cells have pigment-bearing membrane-bound organelles called plastids, and most of their plastids contain the red/blue light-sensitive photopigment chlorophyll, which acts as the core component of photosynthetic reaction centers that split water for carbon fixation...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives, Attribution