Cordaitales are an extinct order 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, γυμνό� ...

, known from the early Carboniferous to the late

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and 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 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

. Many Cordaitales had elongated strap-like leaves, resembling some modern-day conifers of the

Araucariaceae Araucariaceae – also known as araucarians – is an extremely ancient family of coniferous trees. The family achieved its maximum diversity during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and the early Cenozoic, when it was distributed almost worldw ...

and

Podocarpaceae Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pr ...

. They had cone-like reproductive structures reminiscent of those of modern conifers. Some Cordaitales formed large trees that seem to have been particularly abundant on drier ground, in tropical environments. Also, some tall trees but also shrubby and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

-like species of Cordaitales seem to have grown in the Carboniferous coal swamps. Cordaitales were also abundant during the

. Common genera from the Carboniferous include '' Mesoxylon'' and '' Cordaixylon''. Other genera are '' Noeggerathiopsis'' and '' Sumaropsis''. Features of the female cone ( megastrobilus) of the members of Cordaitales indicate that the cone scales, possessed by themselves and their descendants, may correspond to short

shoot In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages, leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the sp ...

s, rather than leaves. This is because the cone consists of these short shoots, emerging from bracts. Among conifers, a leaf of any kind does not emerge from the axil of a bract.

References

Prehistoric plant orders {{permian-plant-stub