A type of vascular plant characterized by small, simple leaves called microphylls and reproduction by spores, including club mosses and spike mosses. These ancient plants were among the first to develop vascular tissue and dominated Carboniferous forests.
From Greek 'lykos' meaning wolf and 'phyton' meaning plant, referring to the wolf's paw-like appearance of some club moss species. The term was established in modern botanical classification to distinguish this ancient lineage from other vascular plants.
Lycophytes are living fossils that once ruled the Earth as giant trees in coal-forming swamps 300 million years ago! Today's tiny club mosses are descendants of these ancient giants, and their spores were so abundant they helped form the coal we burn today.
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