Plant fossil
A plant fossil is any preserved part of a plant that has long since died. Such fossils may be prehistoric impressions that are many millions of years old, or bits of charcoal that are only a few hundred years old.
Prehistoric plants are various groups of plants that lived before recorded history (before about 3500 BC).
Fossil groups of plants
Some plants have remained remarkedly unchanged throughout earth's geological time scale. Early ferns had developed by the Mississippian, conifers by the Pennsylvanian. Some plants of prehistory are the same ones around today and are thus living fossils, such as Ginkgo biloba and Sciadopitys verticillata. Other plants have changed radically, or have gone extinct entirely.
A few examples of prehistoric plants are:
- Araucaria mirabilis
- Archaeopteris
- Calamites
- Cycads
- Glossopteris
- Horsetails
- Hymenaea protera
- Protosalvinia
- Whisk fern
See also
References
- Jurassic Park plants Plants that lived when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
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