Pedogenic carbonate (PC), a key component of the terrestrial inorganic carbon pool, serves as both a climate archive and an active participant in terrestrial biogeochemical cycles. The mid-Paleozoic colonization of land by plants (plant terrestrialization) triggered a fundamental transformation of Earth's surface environments, driving atmospheric changes, enhancing chemical weathering, and promoting PC formation. While extensive research has employed PC geochemical proxies (delta 13C, delta 18O, radioisotopes) for paleoenvironmental reconstruction and geochronological studies, its systemic role in global carbon cycling remains insufficiently characterized. This review advances understanding of PC systems through four integrated perspectives: (1) formation mechanisms, mineralogical characteristics, and updated classification frameworks; (2) geological applications in paleoclimate reconstruction and geochronology; (3) co-evolution of PC and land plants since the Silurian; and (4) the implications of plant-PC interactions on the carbon cycle. Our study reveals how vascular plant evolution reconfigured PC formation processes, effectively restructuring the carbon cycle of the Earth's surface from a bimodal (ocean-atmosphere, with limited microbial activity on land) to a trimodal (land-ocean-atmosphere) system during the Paleozoic. However, PC remains poorly constrained in global carbon budgets, with substantial uncertainties regarding its climate feedback mechanisms. Future research frontiers include refining global PC inventories, improving parameterization of PC processes in Earth system models, and deciphering plantmicrobe-carbonate mineral interactions across geologic timescales. Pedogenic carbonates function as both paleoclimate recorders and active carbon cycle regulators, providing crucial insights for interpreting past climate transitions and future climate change.