Any of a clade of green plants including the land plants (embryophytes) and the closely related multicellular freshwater algae, i.e. the stoneworts and coleochaetophytes. All characteristically retain the egg inside the parent, possess a phragmoplast to organize cell plate formation during cell division, and have cytoplasmic connections (plasmodesmata) between adjacent cells. In some classifications the streptophytes are synonymous with the charophytes.