psilophyte

(ˈsɪləˌfaɪt)

1. (Environmental Science) any plant that is adapted to grow well in the dry savannah

2. (Palaeontology) any of various extinct primitive plants of the Upper Silurian and Devonian periods, lacking true roots and leaves but having a creeping rhizome and a cylindrical branching stem with a central vascular strand

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun 1. psilophyte - any plant of the order Psilophytales: a savannah plant

tracheophyte, vascular plant - green plant having a vascular system: ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms

order Psilophytales, Psilophytales - Paleozoic simple dichotomously branched plants of Europe and eastern Canada including the oldest known vascular land plants

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Note on possible psilophyte remains from Spiti, Northwest Himalaya.

Warm-water Dasycladaceae algae from the Late Ordovician of the Parahio Valley, Spiti, India / Soojaveelised Dasycladaceae vetikad India Parahio oru Hilis-Ordoviitsiumis

(1980) added the questionable speculation that homworts (e.g., Anthoceros) evolved (devolved?) by reduction from Psilophyte sporophytes and (without explanation of "how"), in the process, lost useful land-plant adaptations (including vascular tissue)--hence, a putative "downgrade," after an "upgrade," development.

Two theories of origin of the land-plant sporophyte: which is left standing?

1): leptosporangiate ferns, marattioid ferns, psilophytes (adder's tongue ferns, moonworts, and whisk ferns respectively), and horsetails (Smith et al.

Profundizando en la evolucion de los helechos: un enfoque mecanicista a los principales conceptos y tecnicas de estudio