>For David and Joel, I still don't see anything supporting trees before fish in anything you all have posted about this issue, but trees in the upper Devonian, I would be prepared to accept. Are they conifers? Are the seeds those of conifers?<
They would not be true pines, spruces, firs, etc. Thus, they would not be conifers in the strict sense. The term gymnosperm would be appropriate for them, as a paraphyletic group including all seed-bearing, non-flowering plants. If conifer were extended to include things like Gingko, cycads, Gnetales, and seed ferns (which is a substantial extension), then perhaps the Devonian forms could be called conifers.
Dr. David Campbell
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That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droigate Spa
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