progymnosperm
|pro-gym-no-sperm|
🇺🇸
/ˌproʊdʒɪmˈnɑːspɜrm/
🇬🇧
/ˌprəʊdʒɪmˈnɒspə(r)m/
predecessor of seed plants
Etymology
'progymnosperm' originates from botanical New Latin formed from Greek elements, specifically the prefix 'pro-' from Greek 'pro' meaning 'before' and 'gymnosperm' from Greek 'gumnos' (or 'gymnos') meaning 'naked' and 'sperma' meaning 'seed'.
'progymnosperm' was coined in botanical Latin (late 19th century) as a compound meaning 'before gymnosperms' and entered scientific English usage with that form to designate certain extinct vascular plants thought to precede true seed plants.
Initially it meant 'plants before gymnosperms' in a general sense; over time the term has been refined to denote a particular extinct group (often treated as Progymnospermopsida) of spore-bearing wood-producing plants ancestral or closely related to gymnosperms.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
an extinct group of vascular (wood-producing) plants from the late Paleozoic era that reproduced by spores rather than seeds and are considered ancestral or closely related to gymnosperms.
Progymnosperms are important to understanding the origin of seed plants because they show transitional wood and leaf structures between ferns and gymnosperms.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/06 21:37