Virtual Museum of Canada
Jardin botanique de Montréal 
Centre for Forest Research

Glossary - Progymnosperm

Extinct group of plants that existed during the Devonian and Carboniferous. The Progymnosperms had a secondary growth similar to Gymnosperms but reproduced with the help of spores, like ferns. Archaeopteris was an arborescent Progymnosperm.

Some Progymnosperms were heterosporous: they produced two different types of spores. It is possible that this group is the ancestor of, or a close relative to, Angiosperms.


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