Pteropsida

9.9

An old plant group no longer used that included ferns and plants with seeds

noun
/ˌtɛrəˈsɪdə/

Archaic

: Pteropsida

The term Pteropsida grouped together both ferns and all seed plants in older systems.

Examples

The class Pteropsida was once widely recognized by botanists but is now obsolete.
Many textbooks from the early 20th century still refer to Pteropsida in their classification of plants.
The Pteropsida group includes various species of ferns.
Many botanists study Pteropsida to understand plant evolution.
Many textbooks from the early 20th century still refer to Pteropsida in their classification of plants.
The class Pteropsida was once widely recognized by botanists but is now obsolete.
The term Pteropsida grouped together both ferns and all seed plants in older systems.

Surface Forms

Pteropsida singular

Pteropsidas plural

Morphology

Pteropsida = ptero + opsida

A technical botanical class name built from Greek combining forms; it is not transparently interpretable by an average B1 learner from familiar English base words.

Etymology

Pteropsida comes from the Greek root pter- meaning 'wing' and the class ending -opsida meaning 'group'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine a 'winged group' of plants—ferns have wing-like fronds and many seed plants have winged seeds—so Pteropsida was used for a large group that once included ferns, conifers, and flowering plants.