Alethopteris on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
''Alethopteris'' is a prehistoric plant genus of 
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
Pteridospermatophyta (seed ferns) that developed in the Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
period (around ).
It is in the family Alethopteridaceae
The Alethopteridaceae are a family of extinct plants belonging to Pteridospermatophyta
The term Pteridospermatophyta (or "seed ferns" or "Pteridospermatopsida") is a polyphyletic group of extinct seed-bearing plants (spermatophytes). The earli ...
. The genus Alethopteris is among the seed ferns ( Pteridospermales), an extinct group of gymnosperms
The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, ''Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, Î³Ï…Î¼Î½ÏŒÏ ...
. Although their foliage resembled that of modern ferns, they reproduced by means of seeds.
See also
*Coal forest
Coal forests were the vast swathes of wetlands that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. (2005). "Palaeozoic tropical rainforests and their e ...
References
Pteridospermatophyta Carboniferous plants Prehistoric plant genera Carboniferous first appearances Carboniferous extinctions Fossils of Georgia (U.S. state) Paleozoic life of New Brunswick Paleozoic life of Nova Scotia Paleozoic life of Prince Edward Island Prehistoric plants of North America {{Carboniferous-plant-stub