Page 47 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)

Paripteris leaf

Paripteris seed

Shed leaves left scars that
Ferns like Paripteris formed a honeycomblike
were some of the first pattern on the bark.
plants to evolve seeds.

This primitive
plant resembled
a tree fern.
Glossopteris
once formed
lush forests
on the continent of
Antarctica. Sigillaria

Wattieza

Glossopteris means
“tongue fern,” describing
its leaf shape.
The fossilized
leaves were very
like modern
fern fronds.

Neuropteris leaves
Glossopteris

as Sigillaria and Lepidodendron, spore-bearing ferns and horsetails, but others,
looked similar to modern trees but were including Alethopteris and Paripteris, bore
clubmosses—relatives of mosses and true seeds. By the late Carboniferous, plants
ferns. These could grow to great heights— like Walchia had evolved—the first of the
Lepidodendron towered 130 ft (40 m) or pinelike conifer trees that later became
more. Many plants resembled modern an important food source for dinosaurs. 45
45

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