Sawdoniales

Sawdoniales
Temporal range: Upper Silurian–Lower Carboniferous
Sawdonia ornata with ground creeping roots (A); lateral reniform sporangia (B)
Sawdonia ornata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Class: †Zosterophyllopsida
Order: †Sawdoniales
Families
  • †Barinophytales
  • †Gosslingiaceae
  • †Hsuaceae
  • †Sawdoniaceae

The Sawdoniales were among the first vascular plants in the fossil record. They are zosterophylls, descending from the same ancestors that modern lycophytes evolved from. They bore lateral, reniform sporangia, branched dichotomously, and grew at the ends by unrolling (circinate vernation). Some had smooth stems, others were covered in small spines; fungal bodies have been reported in some spines.[1]

External links

References

  1. ^ Rayner, R.J. (1983). "New observations on Sawdonia ornata from Scotland". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 74: 79–93. 
Early land floræ
Related links
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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