Archaeopteridales

{{Short description|Extinct order of trees}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Middle Devonian|Late Devonian}} | image = Archaeopteris reconstruction.jpg | image_caption = Reconstruction of the extinct progymnosperm plant ''Archaeopteris macilenta'' based on fossils from the Catskill Mountains of New York. | taxon = Archaeopteridales | authority = | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = * †Archaeopteridaceae }}

The '''Archaeopteridales''' are an extinct order of plants belonging to Progymnospermae, and dominant forest trees of the Late Devonian. They reproduced with spores rather than seeds. They were the evolutionary precursors of the conifers of gymnosperms which also include cycads and ginkgo. <ref name="Taylor 09">{{cite book|author1=Taylor, Edith L. |author2=Taylor, Thomas N. |author3=Krings, Michael |title=Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants|publisher=Academic Press|date=2009|pages=271–74|isbn=9780080557830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_29tNNeQKeMC&q=Protolepidodendrales}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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Category:Middle Devonian plants Category:Prehistoric plant orders Category:Late Devonian plants Category:Middle Devonian first appearances Category:Late Devonian extinctions

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