Baragwanathia longifolia
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| Baragwanathia longifolia Lang & Cookson, 1935 |
Baragwanathia longifolia is an ancient and extinct species of vascular plant. It is known from fossils found in south-eastern Australia. It was club moss like in appearance with branched stems from 10-20 cm to several metres in length.
The date is somewhat uncertain, but the earliest fossils seem to date from the Late Silurian period, about 420 million years ago, making it among the earliest vascular plants known, and the earliest known with leaves. Other fossils of the same plant, including the holotype, definitely date from the Early Devonian. The plant shows some surprisingly advanced features, including the needle-like leaves or microphylls. Sporangia (spore bearing structures) are sometimes found in the axils of the leaves.
The fossils were first studied by Isabel Clifton Cookson.
[edit] References
Lang WH and Cookson IC (1935) On a flora, including vascular land plants, associated with Monograptus, in rocks of Silurian age, from Victoria, Australia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B224, 421-449.
- Pictures of Baragwanathia from Victoria
- Old land plants
- The age of the earliest club mosses; the Silurian Baragwanathia flora in Victoria, Australia
Geological Magazine (March 2000), 137(2):207-209
- Contrary viewpoint on Silurian age Hueber F. M. 1992 Thoughts on the early lycopsids and zosterophylls. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 79: 474-499
