By the researches of Goeppert,
Unger, Dawson, Carruthers, and other botanists, a knowledge has
been acquired of a large number of Devonian plants, only a few
of which can be noticed here. As might have been anticipated,
the greater number of the vegetable remains of this period have
been obtained from such shallow-water deposits as the Old Red
Sandstone proper and the Gaspe series of North America, and few
traces of plant-life occur in the strictly marine sediments.
Apart from numerous remains, mostly of a problematical nature,
referred to the comprehensive group of the Sea-weeds, a large
number of Ferns have now been recognised, some being, of the
ordinary plant-like type (_Pecopteris, Neuropteris, Alethopteris,
Sphenopteris_, &c.), whilst others belong to the gigantic group
of the "Tree-ferns" (_Psaronius, Caulopteris_, &c.) Besides these
there is an abundant development of the singular extinct types of
the _Lepidodendroids_, the _Sigillarioids_, and the _Calamites_,
all of which attained their maximum in the Carboniferous. Of
these, the _Lepidodendra_ may be regarded as gigantic, tree-like
Club-mosses (_Lycopodiaceoe_); the _Calamites_ are equally gigantic
Horse-tails (_Equisetaceoe_); and the _Sigillarioids_, equally huge
in size, in some respects hold a position intermediate between
the Club-mosses and the Pines (Conifers).
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