Figure 28.1 The Fossil Record of Seed Plant Evolution Woody growth evolved in the seedless progymnosperms. The now-extinct seed ferns had woody growth, fernlike foliage, and seeds attached to their leaves. New lineages of seed plants arose during the Carboniferous, but the earliest known fossils of flowering plants are from near the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. The flowering plants have dominated most terrestrial environments through the Cenozoic era.