Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants [Hardcover]

This 1993 textbook describes and explains the origin and evolution of plants as revealed by the fossil record.Originally published in 1993, this second edition of a successful textbook describes and explains in a refreshingly clear way the origin and evolution of plants as revealed by the fossil record and summarises paleobotanical information relevant to our present understanding of the relationships between the major plant groups, extant and extinct.Originally published in 1993, this second edition of a successful textbook describes and explains in a refreshingly clear way the origin and evolution of plants as revealed by the fossil record and summarises paleobotanical information relevant to our present understanding of the relationships between the major plant groups, extant and extinct.Originally published in 1993, this second edition of a successful textbook describes and explains in a refreshingly clear way the origin and evolution of plants as revealed by the fossil record and summarises paleobotanical information relevant to our understanding of the relationships between the major plant groups, extant and extinct. As in the first edition, the text is profusely illustrated with line illustrations and half-tones. For those students with little knowledge of plant structure and morphology there is a brief resum? of those features of extant plants that will be needed to gain a better understanding of the fossil record. Summarising charts are also used to help students visualise the interpretative material.Preface; Preface to First Edition; 1. Introduction; 2. Plant fossils: preservation, preparation and age determination; 3. The fossil record: systematics, reconstruction and nomenclature; 4. Life in the Precambian; 5. Diversification of the Fungi; 6. Diversification among the algae and related plants; 7. How the land turned green: speculation; 8. How the land turned green: Bryophyta; 9. How the land turned green: vascular plants, primitive types; 10. The evolutiló(