Wattieza

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Wattieza
Fossil range: Middle Devonian

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Cladoxylopsida
Order:	Pseudosporochnales
Genus:	Wattieza Stockmans

Wattieza was a genus of prehistoric trees that existed in the mid-Devonian that belong to the cladoxylopsids, close relatives of the modern ferns and horsetails. The recent discovery in Schoharie County, New York, of fossils from the Middle Devonian (about 385 million years ago) united the crown of Wattieza to a root and trunk known since 1870, the fossilized grove of "Gilboa stumps" discovered at Gilboa, New York, which had been previously described as Eospermatopteris, though the complete plant remained unknown. These fossils have been described as the earliest known trees, standing 8 m (34 ft) or more tall, resembling the unrelated modern tree fern.^[1]

Wattieza lacked leaves,^[2] and reproduced with spores.^[1]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Stein, W. E., F. Mannolini, L. V. Hernick, E. Landling, and C. M. Berry. 2007. "Giant cladoxylopsid trees resolve the enigma of the Earth's earliest forest stumps at Gilboa", Nature (19 April 2007) 446:904-907.
^ Meyer-berthaud, B.; Decombeix, A.L. (2007). "Palaeobotany: A tree without leaves". Nature 446 (7138): 861–862. doi:10.1038/446861a.

v • d • e Early land floræ

Related links	Evolutionary history of plants • Rhynie chert • External link directory

The first...?	Vascular plant, Cooksonia • Tree, Wattieza • Lycopods, the Drepanophycales and the Zosterophylls • Fungus fossil, Ornatifilum • Lichen, Spongiophyton

Enigmatic taxa	Cuticular remains: Cosmochlaina, Nematothallus • A giant fungus? — Prototaxites

Sister taxa	Green algae: Charophyta, from which land plants evolved • Chaetocladus, an early alga

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