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You selected the ancestor to the divisions Pterophyta, Coniferophyta, Ginkgophyta, and Anthophyta. These are the so-called vascular plants. Two major characteristics are found in these divisions that were not present in plants that evolved earlier, and that therefor indicate that these groups evolved from a common ancestor.
Second, all of these plants have a life cycle in which the diploid sporophyte stage is large, well developed, and larger than a much smaller haploid gametophyte stage. For more details on this, you can review the general plant life cycle . To see how having a large sporophyte stage differs from the condition in plants that had evolved previously, examine the life cycle of modern plants that retain a more primitive life cycle: the Bryophyta.
Return to general information on the characteristics used to classify plants.