My Oldest Plant

[docdutronc]

I trade this plant with my friend Hans Steur from Holland and he says :

"During the Early Devonian (405 - 385 million years ago) several other groups of plants developed. They had the common feature of being rather small (not higher than half a meter) and simply structured.

Thus the plant Sawdonia ornata had no leaves, but it did have spines. The function of the spines was probably to enlarge the surface for the assimilation of carbon dioxide from the air"

this sample comes from Glasgow aera ,lower devonian .....

[Guest bmorefossil]

very cool, i can see the spines in the picture

[Guest Nicholas]

Very nice my friend, it is an exceptional fossil.

[Auspex]

A very ancient lineage, and an important fossil; there are a number of papers written on the Scottish deposits.

Here is an illustration I found:

[Guest bmorefossil]

A very ancient lineage, and an important fossil; there are a number of papers written on the Scottish deposits.

Here is an illustration I found:

very nice illustration, is there leaves in the illustration

[Auspex]

...is there leaves in the illustration

From what I've read, they are probably fruiting (spore) bodies.

[Guest bmorefossil]

From what I've read, they are probably fruiting (spore) bodies.

hmm thats cool

[mommabetts]

Very nice.

[Plantguy]

Hey Bruno, I might start a stir by dredging up this really ancient thread of yours (how far can we go back without starting a new thread) but I was excited when I got a hit when searching in the forum for Sawdonia and saw this good info. Anyways, could you repost a picture of your specimen if you still have it? I think it got lost when they migrated to the new system.

So, I acquired the following early plant fossil recently with no label and I've been looking for some comparative material. I'm still working to see if I might acquire some provenance info but its not looking good. It has the saw-toothed appearance along its stems and it vaguely appears to be branching. What do you think? Are there other genera that look similar?

Thanks, Chris

[Plantguy]

Hey Bruno, I might start a stir by dredging up this really ancient thread of yours (how far can we go back without starting a new thread) but I was excited when I got a hit when searching in the forum for Sawdonia and saw this good info. Anyways, could you repost a picture of your specimen if you still have it? I think it got lost when they migrated to the new system.

So, I acquired the following early plant fossil recently with no label and I've been looking for some comparative material. I'm still working to see if I might acquire some provenance info but its not looking good. It has the saw-toothed appearance along its stems and it vaguely appears to be branching. What do you think? Are there other genera that look similar?

Thanks, Chris

Well, I located the provenance label and then some! A literal jackpot:

Psilophyton princeps DAWSON var. ornatum (=Sawdonia HEUBER) from GROS-CAPAUX-OS, Near D'Aiguillon on N. Shore of Gaspe' Bay, Gaspe Peninsula, P.Q. Canada. Late Devonian (Upper Part) Battery Point FM, Gaspe' SS Group. Collected by Canright 9/4/59.

There is still some confusion about the naming but I also found some additional literature that helps explain the variations---could be some more recent discussions/publications but here's what that article said:

From "A New Species of Sawdonia with Notes on the Origin of Microphylls and Lateral Sporangia" Patricia G. Gensel, Henry N. Andrews and William H. Forbes, Botanical Gazette, Vol. 136, No. 1 (Mar, 1975)

"ANANIEV and STEPANOV (1968) have retained the binomial Psilophyton princeps Dawson for the plant. The nomenclautre is complex and difficult and has been dealth with in detail by HUEBER and BANKS (1967) and HUEBER (1971). The description by ANANIEV and STEPANOV is a good one, and their restoration drawings give what we believe is an accurate portrayal of the plant. We have chosen to accept the nomenclatorial decision of HUEBER and BANKS (1967) in which the binomial Psilophyton princeps Dawson isused for naked or spiny plants bearing terminal clusters of sporangia and the binomial Sawdonia ornata (Dawson) Hueber is applied to fossils that DAWSON (1871) orginally described as P. princeps var. ornatum, a spiny plant with laterally borne sporangia."

Bruno, I still would like to see your specimen photos if you have any.

Regards, Chris

[docdutronc]

Hi Chris

Here are the pictures ,the provenance label is : Auchensail Scotland ,Emsian (lower devonian )

Bruno

[Plantguy]

Hi Bruno, thanks so much for posting the photos. Yours is a very nice specimen of an early land plant indeed! From Scotland too--nice!

When you compare the two specimens they definitely both show those characteristic spiny scale-like flaps and sure do look very very similar. I'd love to see the type specimens and original description but for now I am very happy to have validated that it is indeed a very early plant. Would love to see some sporangia but maybe there is a microscope in my future which will allow a closer inspection...but I am happy without seeing any just the same. Any further comparison/analysis at this time is way out of my league.

Again, I really do appreciate the great photos. Thanks!

Regards, Chris