Botany Department

Lycopodium and Selaginella represent a line of evolution very distinct from that which gave rise to the angiosperms. They have only microphylls and most are homosporous. Note the trend from the primitiveL. lucidulum, with its dichotomous branching and sporangia located in the axils of photosynthetic leaves, to the more advanced L. obscurum and L. complanatum, where the

reproductive part of the plant is developed into a cone (strobilus). While these are all herbaceous, Lepidodendron, a genus found in the Carboniferous forests, were large dichotomously-branched trees more than 100 feet tall.