Reclassification of Psilophyta

Summary The historical reasons for the failure to abandon the category Psilophyta until long after it had become a catchall group for unrelated taxa are reviewed. Recent advances in the understanding of the major types of early land plants are summarized in order to test the usefulness of the three Subdivisions of Tracheophyta that were proposed by Banks in 1968; Rhyniophytina, Zosterophyllophytina, Trimerophytina.