Phragmoplastophyta

The mitosis of Phragmoplastophyta takes place via a phragmoplast.

Another synapomorphy of this clade is the synthesis of cellulose microfibrils by a complex of octameric cellulose synthetases. This complex crosses the plasma membrane and polymerizes molecules from the cytoplasm into cellulose microfibrils, which, together with each other, form fibrils, necessary in the formation of the wall. The Phragmoplastophyte wall is also formed of phenolic compounds.

It is within Phragmoplastophyta we find the three clades of charophyte/streptophyte algae with true multicellular organization with differentiated cell types; Charophyceae, Coleochaetophyceae and land plants. The other charophyte algae are either unicellular, colonial, sarcinoid (three-dimensional packets of cells) or unbranched filamentous.

Below is a consensus reconstruction of green algal relationships, mainly based on molecular data.