XVI International Botanical Congess

Archaeopteris is the extinct free-sporing taxon that shares most characters with the seed plants. Reconstruction of this tree is aimed at exploring innovations leading to its success in the Late Devonian and that can help determine the sequence of characters leading to early seed plant morphologies. A synthesis of the past ten years= information is provided on the major morphological, structural and developmental characters of the root system and aerial parts of Archaeopteris. An appraisal of the possible functional, ecological, and evolutionary significance of these traits is presented.