noun
- An extinct plant of the Carboniferous and Permian periods that combined characteristics of ferns and seed plants, having fern-like leaves but reproducing by seeds rather than spores.
Usage: paleobotany; also called seed fern
Examples
- Pteridosperms were among the first plants to develop seeds while retaining fern-like foliage.
- The fossil record shows that pteridosperms dominated many Carboniferous forests.
- Scientists study pteridosperms to understand the evolutionary transition from ferns to modern seed plants.
- Pteridosperm leaves are often found preserved in coal deposits from the Paleozoic era.