Seed Ferns

Seed-ferns, like the forked-stem Pachypteris are an extinct group of plants with woody bases that first appear in the fossil record over 370 million years ago.  They were common in the Triassic,  Jurassic and early Cretaceous.  Associated with moist environments, in the Knocklofty Formation their remains are found adjacent to horsetails suggesting that these plants grew together on or near the river-bank.  At Lune River, seed ferns were part of the  fern-filled Jurassic forest understory. Seed Ferns are also found in the Cretaceous assemblages of southern Victoria but become much less common across that time period, disappearing entirely in the early Tertiary.
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Fossil seed-ferns of the Triassic period, Tasmania. Left, a forked-stem of Pachypteris from Spring Bay (Z350, TMAG/UTAS); Right Pachypteris from Oatlands (MRT, scale bar in mm)