Palaeos Palaeos Lycopodiophyta
Plants Miadesmiales


The Bashkirian (middle Carboniferous) Miadesmia was a quasi-seed-bearing herbaceous plant, much like the recent Selaginella, although possibly an epiphyte. This was one of two lineages of Paleozoic lycopsids that independently evolved seed-like structures, the other being the large Lepidodendrales like Lepidocarpon. The seeds of the two genera are differently in structure, and hence evolved independently.

Web links Links Web links

web page XII. The Palaeontological Record. - II. Plants by D.H. Scott, F.R.S. - some information here on trends in seed-development in Carboniferous lycopsids; in Darwin and Modern Science by A.C. Seward, Book Rags e-book

printed reference Margaret Benson (1908), Miadesmia membranacea, a new Palaeozoic lycopod with a seed-like structure, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B 199: 



page uploaded 31 March 2002, last modified 2 May
checked ATW050821
text by M. Alan Kazlev Creative Commons Attribution