CRENATICAULIS, A NEW GENUS OF DEVONIAN PLANTS ALLIED TO ZOSTEROPHYLLUM, AND ITS BEARING ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF EARLY LAND PLANTS

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Abstract
The name Crenaticaulis verruculosus is proposed for slender, pseudomonopodially and dichoto‐mously branching plants that bore opposite to subopposite sporangia along the stem and two rows of prominent, multicellular teeth on opposite sides of the terete axis. Epidermal cells were either narrow and elongate parallel to the stem or short with a papillate outer tangential wall. Axillary tubercles were present on one side of the stem near lateral branches. Some tubercles bore remnants of branches. Sporangia dehisced along their distal margins into two unequal halves. No spores were found. Occasional short lengths of stem were petrified by iron pyrite. Sections revealed a cortex consisting of four to six rows of thick‐walled cells and a xylem strand. The strand was elliptical in transverse section and maturation was exarch. Tracheids were chiefly scalariform. It is suggested that the so‐called axillary tubercles, known in several plants of Devonian age, were scars of rhizophores like those in the modern genus Selaginella. The plant is referred to the subdivision Zosterophyllophytina.
Funding Information
  • National Science Foundation (GB 4493)

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