Coleochaetales is a small order, containing only two genera and fifteen species.
The Coleochaetales are believed to be the closest living relatives (sister group) of the land plants. Indeed, they share many features with the plants, including oogamy, sexual reproduction with egg and sperm, and parenchymatous growth, in which continuous sheets of connected cells are produced as the plant grows. However, the relationships between the "charophyte" algae and the Plantae is still poorly understood.
