Sciadophyton
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| Sciadophyton Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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| Sciadophyton fossil on display at the Museum of Man and Nature | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Subdivision: | †Rhyniophytina |
| Class: | †Rhyniopsida |
| Order: | †Rhyniales |
| Family: | †Rhyniaceae |
| Genus: | †Sciadophyton Steinrnann 1930 |
Sciadophyton is a morphotaxon of lower Devonian plants known only from compression fossils.[2][3] It is interpreted as the monoicous gametophyte of a vascular land plant, because its vascularised branches end in a cup-shaped structure bearing gametangia, both antheridia and archegonia,[4] but little structural information is preserved at the cellular level. It formed rosettes of stems, which may have radiated from a basal gametophytic corm-like thallus or from a central 'stem' or even from a root system, although there is not enough evidence to discriminate between these possibilities.[3]
