The first period of the Upper Palaeozoic era from about 395 to 345 million years ago in which the first extensive invasion of the land by plants and animals took place. A possible bryophyte fossil, Sporognites, with a well developed capsule has been found in the Lower Devonian, but most fossil bryo-phytes appear later. Many well preserved fossils of the Psilophytales have been found in the * Rhynie chert of the Devonian in Scotland. Lycopsids and sphenopsids are also found. The ferns (Filicinae) arose in Devonian times possibly from a form resembling Protopter-idium, an intermediate between the psilophytes and the Filicinae. The gym-nosperms probably arose in the late Devonian, being represented by the extinct Pteridospermales, which include the earliest seed plants Archaeopteris and Archaeosperma, and also the extinct Cordaitales. See geological time scale. |
