Baragwanathia
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Extinct (fossil)
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Baragwanathia Lang & Cookson 1935 A genus of extinct plants of the Division Lycopodiophyta of Late Silurian to Early Devonian age, fossils of which have been found in Australia, Canada and China. Known members of the genus:
Baragwanathia longifolia Lang & Cookson (Type species) (Australia)
Baragwanathia abitibiensis Hueber (Canada)
Baragwanathia sp. Hao & Gensel (China)
[edit] Description
Extinct terrestrial vascular plants of the? Late Silurian to early Devonian period. Stem several mm to several cm in diameter and several cm to several metres long, erect or arched, dichotomizing occasionally, furnished with true roots at the base. Vascular bundle actinostele, tracheids of primitive annular or helical type (so-called G-type). Leaves are unbranched strap-shaped microphylls 1-2 cm long with a single prominent vascular thread, arranged spirally on the stem. Sporangia axillary (exact position not known), broader than long, dehiscing by a slit on top. Spores trilete. Gametophyte unknown.
Differs from a closely related genus of the same period, Drepanophycus, in the position of the sporangia, the type of stele, and the arrangement and shape of the leaves; see Drepanophycaceae for more details.
[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.
Hueber, FM (1983) A new species of Baragwanathia from the Sextant Formation (Emsian) Northern Ontario, Canada. Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 86, 57-79.
Hao SG and Gensel PG (2001) The Posongchang Floral Assemblages of Southeastern Yunnan, China - Diversity and Disparity in Early Devonian Plant Assemblages. In Plants Invade the Land. Evolutionary and Environmental Perspectives, pp. 103-119. Eds PG Gensel and D Edwards. (Columbia University Press, New York).
