A botanist discovers a new species of plant in a tropical rain forest. After observing its anatomy and life cycle, he notes the following characteristics: flagellated sperm, xylem with tracheids, nutritionally independent and separate gametophyte and sporophyte generations with the sporophyte dominant (i. e. larger in size), and no seeds. This plant is probably most closely related to

Ferns

Explanation:

A fern also known a Polypodiopsida or Polypdiophyta is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the sporophyte is the dominant phase. Ferns have complex leaves called megaphylls, that are more complex than the microphylls of clubmosses.

you did not attach the discourse, but i assume it to be the discourse on the origin and basis of inequality among men (the original titile in french is: "discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes"), also know as "second discourse". in this discourse, jean-jacques rousseau emphasizes that private property is the basis of all inequalities.

therefore, what enabled the old regime to maintain as long as it did was private property.