Rhyniophyte

[1]: 94  When defined very broadly, the group consists of plants with dichotomously branched, naked aerial axes ("stems") with terminal spore-bearing structures (sporangia).Edwards: "plants with smooth axes, lacking well-defined spines or leaves, showing a variety of branching patterns that may be isotomous, anisotomous, pseudomonopodial or adventitious.[6] Taylor et al. in their book Paleobotany use Rhyniophyta as a formal taxon,[3]: 1028  but with a loose definition: plants "characterized by dichotomously branched, naked aerial axes with terminal sporangia".Rhynialeans (order Rhyniales), such as Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii, Stockmansella and Huvenia, had radially symmetrical sporangia that were longer than wide and possessed vascular tissue with S-type tracheids.[8]: 329 It has been suggested that the poorly preserved Eohostimella, found in deposits of Early Silurian age (Llandovery, around 440 to 430 million years ago), may also be a rhyniophyte.[12] The general term "rhyniophytes" or "rhyniophytoids" is sometimes used for the assemblage of plants found in the Rhynie chert Lagerstätte - rich fossil beds in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and roughly coeval sites with similar flora.
Early DevonianPreꞒScientific classificationPlantaePolysporangiophytesTracheophytesSynonymsvascular plantsRhyniasubdivisionTracheophytaHarlan Parker Bankssporophytessporangiavascular tissuecircumscribedmonophyleticAglaophytonHorneophytonprotostelescladogramtracheidsHorneophytopsidaHuveniaStockmansellaLycopodiophytinaEuphyllophytinaPolysporangiophytecooksonioidsAberlemniaCooksoniaCulullithecaEogaspesieaEorhyniaFusithecaGrisellathecaJunggariaRenaliaResilithecaSalopellaSartilmaniaSporathylaciumSteganothecaTarrantiaTortilicaulisUskiellaEohostimellaEarly SilurianhorneophyteRhynie chertplantsLagerstätteAberdeenshireScotlandcoevalfloristicanatomyAsteroxylonWikidataWikispeciesPaleobiology DatabaseTropicos