Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Seed-Ferns, Ferns and Early Gymnosperms of the Giant Clubmoss Flora

In the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous, fern-like foliage made its first appearance in the fossil record. It is often very difficult to distinguish between seed-ferns, ferns and early gymnosperms when examining these fossil, sometimes made easier when a reproductive structure is associated with the leaves and the type of leaf can be identified with a particular plant. A reason for this difficulty is that known petrified wood fossils show that all 3 groups were present.

Not all fructifications can be identified with a known plant group, as with Barinophyton obscurum, where it may be an end of line plant, leaving no descendants.

Sources & Further reading

1. Maey E. White, The Greening of Gondwana, the 400 Million Year story of Australian Plants, Reed, 1994