Phylogenetic Relationships of the Zosterophylls and Lycopsids: Evidence from Morphology, Paleoecology, and Cladistic Methods of Inference

1992/01/01 by Patricia G. Gensel · 88 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions #Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions #Cladistics #Paleoecology #Morphology (biology) #Phylogenetics #Phylogenetic tree #Evolutionary biology #Biology #Inference #Zoology #Ecology #Epistemology #Philosophy

paper · open access · doi:10.2307/2399750

published in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 79(3), 450 (Missouri Botanical Garden)

openalex publication_date 1992/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/20

Abstract

Zosterophylls have been considered the probable ancestors of lycopsids since the establishment of the group in 1968 by Banks. Both share the characters of exarch protosteles and reniform sporangia, and it is argued that characters separating the two, e.g., microphylls and leaf-associated sporangia, could easily be derived by modification of zosterophyll emergences and sporangial position. Recently, different opinions concerning the derivation of lycopsid features have been proposed and an earlier time of occurrence of lycopsids has been suggested (...)

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• Psilophytopsida [wikipedia]
• Zosterophyll [wikipedia]