lycopsid

plant

Also known as: Lycopsida

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July 14, 2026

Quick Summary

Lycopsida, also known as lycophytes, are a class of spore-bearing vascular plants that includes club mosses, spike mosses, and quillworts. These plants are characterized by having small leaves called microphylls, with a single unbranched vein. They reproduce via spores, with different species being either homosporous (producing one type of spore) or heterosporous (producing two types of spores).12

While all living lycophytes are small herbaceous plants, extinct members from the Carboniferous Period included large trees that formed extensive coal-forming swamp forests. Representative extinct genera include Lepidodendron and Sigillaria. Today, lycophytes are found worldwide, particularly in tropical regions.12

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Edward Charles Jeffrey
…reclassified all vascular plants into Lycopsida and Pteropsida; while later classifications have refined plant groupings, these two divisions remain as two of the four classes of vascular plants. His work on lycopsids furthered the investigation of the morphology and evolutionary trends in primitive vascular plants. Jeffrey’s The Anatomy of Woody…
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…reclassified all vascular plants into Lycopsida and Pteropsida; while later classifications have refined plant groupings, these two divisions remain as two of the four classes of vascular plants. His work on lycopsids furthered the investigation of the morphology and evolutionary trends in primitive vascular plants. Jeffrey’s The Anatomy of Woody…
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coal
The fossil record
Late Paleozoic flora included sphenopsids, lycopsids, pteropsids, and the Cordaitales. The sphenopsid Calamites grew as trees in swamps. Calamites had long, jointed stems with sparse foliage. The lycopsids included species of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria (up to 30 metres [about 100 feet] tall) that grew in somewhat drier areas.
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Late Paleozoic flora included sphenopsids, lycopsids, pteropsids, and the Cordaitales. The sphenopsid Calamites grew as trees in swamps. Calamites had long, jointed stems with sparse foliage. The lycopsids included species of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria (up to 30 metres [about 100 feet] tall) that grew in somewhat drier areas.
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plant
Evolution of land plants from the Ordovician Period through the middle Devonian
…the leaves (microphylls) of the Lycopsida, thus producing an aboveground shoot system that consisted of branching stems with leaves. Underground axes that lacked leaves would have become the roots. Lycophytes were the first plants with well-differentiated shoot systems, and they are the most ancient groups of vascular plants with living…
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…the leaves (microphylls) of the Lycopsida, thus producing an aboveground shoot system that consisted of branching stems with leaves. Underground axes that lacked leaves would have become the roots. Lycophytes were the first plants with well-differentiated shoot systems, and they are the most ancient groups of vascular plants with living…
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