thallophyte

noun

1. Any of very many primitive plants that consist of a thallus (plant body not differentiated into roots, stems and leaves), formerly collected in the obsolete taxonomic group Thallophyta.

   “1994, Estrelita A. Madriaga, Anthony Lee, Felicitas B. Ventura, Orlando A. Oronce (coordinator), Biology: Science and Technology II, page 347, They lack the vascular tissues; thus, they are called thallophytes. Algae are thallophytes with chlorophyll. […] Fungi are thallophytes without chlorophyll.”

   “Fossile^([sic]) records along with molecular, cytological and morphological phylogenetic work favour a single origin of land plants from charophycean thallophytes, and indicate that several major lineages of vascular plants had evolved more than 400 million years ago.”