Rhyniophyta
E648368
Rhyniophyta is an extinct group of very early vascular land plants known from Silurian–Devonian fossils that represent some of the simplest and most primitive vascular plant forms.
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
extinct plant division
ⓘ
vascular plant clade ⓘ |
| clade | Tracheophyta NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| discoveryCentury | 20th century ⓘ |
| fossilLocality | Rhynie Chert, Scotland NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| fossilPreservation |
compression fossils
ⓘ
permineralized axes ⓘ |
| geologicalSetting | Silurian–Devonian terrestrial deposits ⓘ |
| habitat | terrestrial environments ⓘ |
| hasCharacteristic |
dichotomously branching stems
ⓘ
leafless axes ⓘ primitive vascular tissue ⓘ simple plant body organization ⓘ terminal sporangia ⓘ very early vascular land plants ⓘ |
| importance |
among the earliest known vascular plants
ⓘ
key to understanding early land plant evolution ⓘ |
| includes |
Cooksonia
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Renalia NERFINISHED ⓘ Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii NERFINISHED ⓘ Sennicaulis NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| kingdom | Plantae ⓘ |
| knownFrom | fossils ⓘ |
| maximumHeight | generally only a few centimeters tall ⓘ |
| morphology |
lacking true leaves
ⓘ
lacking true roots ⓘ lacking true wood ⓘ small herbaceous plants ⓘ |
| paleoecology |
early colonizers of land
ⓘ
inhabited wet soils near water sources ⓘ |
| photosyntheticOrgan | green stems ⓘ |
| phylogeneticPosition | basal tracheophytes ⓘ |
| phylogeneticSignificance | represent some of the simplest vascular plant forms ⓘ |
| rank | division ⓘ |
| reproduction | spores ⓘ |
| researchUse |
model for early vascular plant anatomy
ⓘ
used to study transition from non-vascular to vascular plants ⓘ |
| sporangiaDehiscence | longitudinal splitting in many taxa ⓘ |
| sporangiaPosition | terminal on axes ⓘ |
| status | extinct ⓘ |
| systematicsNote | sometimes treated as a paraphyletic grade of early tracheophytes ⓘ |
| temporalRange |
Devonian
ⓘ
Silurian ⓘ |
| typeGenus | Rhynia NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| vascularSystem | simple central conducting strand ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.