Page 46 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)

Towering

trees This fossilized

Before the dinosaurs leaflet had a

heart-shaped base.

Macroneuropteris

Lepidodendron

This early conifer
had a tall, straight
trunk and short,
needle-shaped leaves.
The bark of this
giant clubmoss
had a distinctive
diamond pattern.
Despite its fernlike leaves,
Alethopteris produced seeds
instead of spores.

Walchia

Alethopteris

Alethopteris Lepidodendron

Although known as the age of fish, the throughout the Carboniferous Period, trees
Devonian Period also saw the transformation and other plants colonized the land and
of land habitats by plant life. The first woody created habitats for animal life. Many of
trees appeared in the late Devonian, about these plants grew in swamps, and when
385 million years ago, and spread to form the they died, their remains formed peat that
44 earliest forests. During the next 85 million years, ultimately turned to coal. Some trees, such
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