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Pteridospermatophyta
Pteridospermatophyta, also called pteridosperms or seed ferns, are a polyphyletic grouping of extinct seed-producing plants. The earliest fossil evidence for plants of this type are the lyginopterids of late Devonian age. They flourished particularly during the Carboniferous and Permian periods. Pteridosperms declined during the Mesozoic Era and had mostly disappeared by the end of the Cretaceous Period, though '' Komlopteris'' seem to have survived into Eocene times, based on fossil finds in Tasmania. With regard to the enduring utility of this division, many palaeobotanists still use the pteridosperm grouping in an informal sense to refer to the seed plants that are not angiosperms, coniferoids (conifers or cordaites), ginkgophytes (ginkgos or czekanowskiales), cycadophytes (cycads or bennettites), or gnetophytes. This is particularly useful for extinct seed plant groups whose systematic relationships remain speculative, as they can be classified as pteridosperms with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyginopteridales
The Lyginopteridales are an extinct group of seed plants known from the Paleozoic. They were the first plant fossils to be described as Pteridospermatophyta, pteridosperms (a polyphyletic group sometimes referred to as "seed ferns") and, thus, the group on which the concept of pteridosperms was first developed;Oliver, F. W. & Scott, D. H. (1904). "On the structure of the Palaeozoic seed ''Lagenostoma Lomaxi'', with a statement of the evidence upon which it is referred to ''Lyginodendron''." ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B,'' 197: 193-247. they are the stratigraphically oldest-known pteridosperms, occurring first in late Devonian strata;Rothwell, G. W., Scheckler, S. E. & Gillespie, W. H. (1989). "''Elkinsia'' gen. nov., a Late Devonian gymnosperm with cupulate ovules." ''Botanical Gazette,'' 150: 170-189. and they have the most primitive features, most notably in the structure of their ovules.Long, A. G. (1959). "On the structure of ''Calym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neuropteris
''Neuropteris'' is an extinct seed fern that existed in the Carboniferous period, known only from fossils. Gallery File:Neuropteris flexuosa kz01.jpg, ''N. flexuosa'' File:Neuropteris flexuosa fossil plant (Mazon Creek Lagerstatte, Francis Creek Shale, Middle Pennsylvanian; coal mine dump pile near Essex, northern Illinois, USA) (14910119354).jpg, ''N. flexuosa'' File:Neuropteris gigantea.JPG, ''N. gigantea'' File:Neuropteris scheuchzeri 310 maf Mazon Creek.jpg, ''N. scheuchzeri'' File:Neuropteris schlehani 4.JPG, ''N. schlehani'' File:Neuropteris speciosa 300 maf Saone et Loire.jpg, ''N. speciosa'' File:Neuropteris tetraphylla.JPG, ''N. tetraphylla'' File:Neuropteris pseudoblissi.JPG, ''N. pseudoblissi'' See also *Coal forest Coal forests were the vast swathes of freshwater swamp and riparian forests that covered much of the lands on Earth's tropical regions during the late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian) and Permian periods.Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. (2005). "Pala . ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calamopityales
Calamopityaceae is the largest family of the division of extinct seed-bearing plants (spermatophytes) known as Pteridospermatophyta. It is the only family in the monotypic order Calamopityales. This family is characterized by its petioles and specific wood pattern, and it grew only in the Paleozoic era, specifically in North America and Europe. Three form genera within the family are diagnosed by their stem structure: '' Calamopitys'', '' Stenomyelon'', and '' Diichinia''. It was named by Solms-Laubach in 1896. Since then, its genera have been added to and grouped differently. Morphology Calamopityaceae is the largest family in Pteriodspermatophyta. This family is composed of gymnosperms, and because of their stem structure discovered through fossil rocks, they are considered to be in this division. However, nothing is known of their reproductive organs, but they are classified as seed plants based on their similarities to the Lyginopteridaceae and Medullasaceae families with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian period at million years ago (Megaannum, Ma), to the beginning of the succeeding Carboniferous period at Ma. It is the fourth period of both the Paleozoic and the Phanerozoic. It is named after Devon, South West England, where rocks from this period were first studied. The first significant evolutionary radiation of history of life#Colonization of land, life on land occurred during the Devonian, as free-spore, sporing land plants (pteridophytes) began to spread across dry land, forming extensive coal forests which covered the continents. By the middle of the Devonian, several groups of vascular plants had evolved leaf, leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants (Pteridospermatophyta, pteridospermatophyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Komlopteris
''Komlopteris'' is an extinct genus of "seed fern" with possible corystosperm affinities. Fossils have been found across both hemispheres, dating from the latest Triassic to the early Eocene (Ypresian), making it the youngest "seed fern" in the fossil record. Morphology Within the form classification system used in paleobotany, ''Komlopteris'' is used to refer to leaves. The leaves are generally lanceolate to slightly falcate, though some are Ovate (botany), ovate, and form a Pinnation, pinnate arrangement, and are sometimes bipinnate. The cuticles are thick, with at least some having resin bodies within the leaves. Ecology Gondwanan ''Komlopteris'' species are often associated with fern dominated, humid temperate forested habitats. The finding of numerous leaves of ''Komlopteris'' in single leaf mat layers suggests that at least some species were deciduous. A 1998 study suggested that the type species ''Komlopteris nordenskioeldii'' likely grew as a tree, based on the presenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin , 'chalk', which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation . The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high Sea level#Local and eustatic, eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow Inland sea (geology), inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was largely ice-free, although there is some evidence of brief periods of glaciation during the cooler first half, and forests extended to the poles. Many of the dominant taxonomic gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the sixth and last period of the Paleozoic Era; the following Triassic Period belongs to the Mesozoic Era. The concept of the Permian was introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, who named it after the Perm Governorate, region of Perm in Russia. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the two groups of amniotes, the synapsids and the Sauropsida, sauropsids (reptiles). The world at the time was dominated by the supercontinent Pangaea, which had formed due to the collision of Euramerica and Gondwana during the Carboniferous. Pangaea was surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert within the continental interior. Amniotes, which could better cope with these ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spermatophyte
A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. land plant) that includes most of the familiar land plants, including the flowering plants and the gymnosperms, but not ferns, mosses, or algae. The term ''phanerogam'' or ''phanerogamae'' is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek (), meaning "visible", in contrast to the term "cryptogam" or "cryptogamae" (, and (), 'to marry'). These terms distinguish those plants with hidden sexual organs (cryptogamae) from those with visible ones (phanerogamae). Description The extant spermatophytes form five divisions, the first four of which are classified as gymnosperms, plants that have unenclosed, "naked seeds": * Cycadophyta, the cycads, a subtropical and tropical group of plants, * Ginkgophyta, which includes a single living species of tree in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corystospermales
Corystosperms are a group of extinct seed plants (often referred to as "seed ferns") belonging to the family Corystospermaceae (also called Umkomasiaceae) assigned to the order Corystospermales or Umkomasiales. They were first described based on fossils collected by Hamshaw Thomas from the Burnera Waterfall locality near the Umkomaas River of South Africa. Corystosperms are typified by a group of plants that bore forked '' Dicroidium'' leaves, '' Umkomasia'' cupulate ovulate structures and '' Pteruchus'' pollen organs, which grew as trees that were widespread over Gondwana during the Middle and Late Triassic. Other fossil Mesozoic seed plants with similar leaf and/or reproductive structures have also sometimes been included within the "corystosperm" concept ''sensu lato'', such as the "doyleoids" from the Early Cretaceous of North America and Asia. A potential corystosperm ''sensu lato'', the leaf genus ''Komlopteris'', is known from the Eocene of Tasmania, around 53-50 million yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peltaspermales
The Peltaspermales are an extinct order of seed plants, often considered "seed ferns". They span from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Jurassic or the Jurassic-Cretaceous Boundary. It includes at least one valid family, Peltaspermaceae, which spans from the Permian to Early Jurassic, which is typified by a group of plants with ''Lepidopteris'' leaves, '' Antevsia'' pollen-organs, and '' Peltaspermum'' ovulate organs, though the family now also includes other genera like '' Peltaspermopsis'', '' Meyenopteris'' and '' Scytophyllum''. Along with these, two informal groups (the " Supaioids" DiMichele, William A., Chaney, Dan S., Lucas, Spencer G., Kerp, Hans, and Voigt, Sebastian. 2013 "Flora of the Lower Permian Abo Formation redbeds, western equatorial Pangea, New Mexico."''New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin'', 59 265–288. and the " Comioids"Chaney, Dan S., Mamay, Serguis H., DiMichele, William A., and Kerp, Hans. 2009. "''Auritifolia'' gen. nov., Probabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycadales
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow slowly and have long lifespans. Because of their superficial resemblance to palms or ferns, they are sometimes mistaken for them, but they are not closely related to either group. Cycads are gymnosperms (naked-seeded), meaning their unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific beetle, and more rarely a thrips or a moth. Both male and female cycads bear cones ( strobili), somewhat similar to conifer cones. Cycads have been repor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glossopteridales
Glossopteridales is an extinct order of seed plants, known from the Permian of Gondwana. They arose at the beginning of the Permian, and the majority or all members of the group became extinct at the end of the Permian (251.9 mya), during the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Possible Triassic records of the group have been recorded. The best known genus is '' Glossopteris,'' a leaf form genus. Other examples are '' Gangamopteris,'' '' Glossotheca,'' and '' Vertebraria''. Permian permineralised glossopterid reproduction organs found in the central Transantarctic Mountains suggest seeds had an adaxial attachment to the leaf-like mega-sporophyll. This indicate Glossopteridales can be classified as seed ferns and is important in determining the status of the group as either close relatives or ancestors of the angiosperms. Midrib-less forms were common in the Early Permian whereas midrib forms were more common in the Late Permian Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
