Archaeopteryx
You’ve likely seen or heard about Archaeopteryx, a very important transitional fossil showing the connection between birds and dinosaurs. (Isn’t it annoying that ID folks and creationists claim no transitional fossils exist no matter how many are found?) Archaeopteryx is pretty darn cool – it’s got feathers AND dinosaur teeth and claws. Archaeopteryx is slightly scarier than the average chicken.
By now you’re thinking I’ve misspelled the title of this post. Archeopteris isn’t a typo – it’s another fossil, and one I think is much cooler than Archaeopteryx, even if its Wikipedia page is quite a bit less developed. The names are similar because Archaeopteryx has feathers and Archeopteris has leaves that reminded some paleobotanists of feathers.
Archeopteris frond detail
Archeopteris is one of the oldest known plants with wood. Wood was a big deal in plant evolution. Without it, plants can’t get very tall. While Archeopteris had wood like a conifer, its leaves were similar to both ferns and conifers.
One thing that really sets it apart from woody plants today is that it made spores. Today, only the oldest lineages of plants, like ferns and moss, make spores. All living woody plants are seed plants.
This is an artist's rendition of Archeopteris. Archeopteris wood and leaf fossils were at first thought to be from separate plants.
This is very exciting, especially as I just learned a new word today that is relevant: “Phanerogam” – a plant that produces seeds!!!
Darn botanists and their old words. I think we should all just agree on spermatophyte and toss out the old words.
[...] announcement, but I promise it’s not because I’m bitter about missing the deadline with my Archeopteris post. That would just be petty and despite what my sister may tell you, I really don’t hold a [...]
[...] Foothills Fancies. Sally did a fantastic job of finding terrifically interesting posts (including my post on the fossil Archeopteris, of course). One of my favorite submissions describes a potential identification for a very [...]
There are extant tree ferns such as Dicksonia and Cyathea with tall woody stems. You can buy the plants in many nurseries and get the spores:
http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/chilternseeds/moreinfo/d/alsophila+cooperi/pid/31515440/
If I ever live somewhere for more than a few years, I am definitely getting some of those!
They grow slowly and are highly prized, here they cost £20 per foot height for the very common ones (probably more when bigger than 6ft). That is $28.80 at current rates.
If you were thinking of settling down in the next decade you might consider starting some off from spores now.
[...] Archeopteris is like Dan Brown [I'm not sure whether to be insulted or amused] [...]