| |
| | Introduction to the Sphenophyta (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) |
 | | Three hundred million years ago, a walk through a lowland forest or swamp, or along a riverbank or floodplain, would have revealed a great variety of trees, even though the familiar conifers and flowering plants of today were not present. |
 | | Prominent among the trees of the time, and also common in the shrubbery, were plants in the Sphenophyta, distinguished by their straight stems with branches or leaves arranged in regular whorls. |
 | | These plants are sometimes pestiferous weeds, and are somewhat toxic to livestock, but they also have medicinal value: Equisetum was used in traditional native American and Ukrainian medicine to stop bleeding, and recent research has shown that Equisetum is also effective as a diuretic. |
| www.ucmp.berkeley.edu /plants/sphenophyta/sphenophyta.html (232 words) |
|