psilophyte
/ˈsaɪləfʌɪt/noun
1 Ecology. A plant that is adapted for a dry savannah environment; the growth form characteristic of such a plant.
2 Botany and Palaeontology. Any of various extinct primitive vascular 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, sometimes bearing scales or leaf-like branchlets. Also: a member of the extant order Psilotales, comprising two genera (Psilotum and Tmesipteris) of small tropical and subtropical plants that superficially resemble these fossils.
- The extant Psilotales were formerly classified in a division Psilophyta together with the fossil forms, but they are now thought to be more closely allied to ferns, and are often placed in a division called Psilotophyta. The fossil forms are now generally thought to represent a range of early vascular plant types, and probably not a unified group, some perhaps being related to the clubmosses..
Origin
Early 20th century. From psilo- + -phyte.
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