Cordaites

Cordaites

▪ fossil plant genus
      extinct genus of seed plants with leathery, strap-shaped leaves (leaf) from the Pennsylvanian Subperiod (318 to 299 million years ago) and thought to be closely related to conifers (conifer). The genus was made up of trees and shrublike plants (plant) that occurred in various habitats that ranged from mangrovelike (mangrove) environments to dry hinterlands; however, most grew on floodplains or in swamps. Cordaites was an important part of the upland forests of the paleocontinent called Laurussia, or Euramerica.

      The reproductive structures of Cordaites were similar to those of the early conifers; however, since the genus coexisted with early conifers, it was not ancestral to them. The reproductive structures of Cordaites were made up of a short shoot borne in a leaf axil—the upper angle at the junction of a leaf stem with a branch. The shoot had a series of bracts (or modified leaves), and each bract also held a secondary shoot within a smaller axil. pollen sacs and ovules (ovule) were also present in these smaller axils. Like many conifers, the pollen of Cordaites had a central portion surrounded by a bladder, and this arrangement may have helped to make the large grain buoyant in air.

Nan Crystal Arens
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cordaites — n. a genus of tall Paleozoic trees superficially resembling modern screw pines; they were structurally intermediate in some ways between cycads and conifers. Syn: genus {Cordaites}. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Cordaītes — (Petref.), Pflanzengattung der Farrenkräuter, zum Theil früher als Flabellaria beschrieben …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Cordaites — s. Kordaitazeen …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Cordaites — Cordaitales Feuilles …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cordaites — The explosive is spelled Cordite. Cordaites Temporal range: Late Carboniferous …   Wikipedia

  • Cordaites — noun tall Paleozoic trees superficially resembling modern screw pines; structurally intermediate in some ways between cycads and conifers • Syn: ↑genus Cordaites • Hypernyms: ↑gymnosperm genus • Member Holonyms: ↑Cordaitaceae, ↑family… …   Useful english dictionary

  • cordaïtes — cor|da|ï|tes Mot Pla Nom masculí …   Diccionari Català-Català

  • cordaites — cor·dai·tes …   English syllables

  • Cordaitales ou cordaites — Cordaites Cordaitales …   Wikipédia en Français

  • genus Cordaites — noun tall Paleozoic trees superficially resembling modern screw pines; structurally intermediate in some ways between cycads and conifers • Syn: ↑Cordaites • Hypernyms: ↑gymnosperm genus • Member Holonyms: ↑Cordaitaceae, ↑family Cordaitaceae …   Useful english dictionary

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