The transition of plant life from aquatic algae to land plants was one of the major events in the history of life. However, in hypothesizing the evolutionary path of the transition, limited shared phenotypic characters in aquatic algae and land plants (embryophytes) have been a major hinderance. Chloroplast genomes contain characters useful in tracing evolutionary histories. Embryophyte chloroplast genomes are distinguished from algal cpDNAs by the presence of over 20 group II introns and three ribosomal protein operons ( rpl23, clpP and 3Śrps12 operons). These phylogenomic features indicate a phylogenetic relationship of charophytes and embryophytes. In addition to these operons and introns, the evolution of rRNA and psbB operon evolution of streptophyte lineages will be incorporated with major biological phenotypic features to produce a phylogenetic tree. Basal embryophytes, the antithetic hypothesis, monophyly of embryophytes, and paraphyly of charophytes will be discussed. Strepotophytes are classified into three major groups, (basal streptophytes, mid-divergent streptophytes and late divergent charophytes-embryophytes).

Key words: 3'rps12 operon, basal streptophytes, charophytes, clpP operon, embryophytes, rpl23 operon clpP operon, rpl23 operon