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Why was Stangeria originally classified as a fern?
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Cycadophyte
Cycas circinalis.
Stangeria was originally classified as a fern in the genus Lomaria because of its distinctively fernlike foliage. Before the plant's reproductive structures were discovered, botanists relied on its leaves, which are pinnately compound and resemble those of various fern genera, to determine its classification. It was only after the association between these leaves and the plant's cones was established that Stangeria was correctly identified as a cycad.12