Hedeia

Hedeia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: incertae sedis
Genus: †Hedeia
Cookson, 1935
Species
  • H. corymbosa Cookson, 1935[1] (type)
  • H. parvula Jurina, 1969
  • H. sinica Hao, 1998[2]

Hedeia is a genus of early land plants of uncertain affinity.[3] It comprises erect axes terminating in corymbose clusters of erect sporangia.[4] Cookson gave no derivation of the generic name.

The type species, H. corymbosa, was first described by Isabel Cookson from a few specimens in fine sandstone from near Alexandra, Victoria, Australia. At the time, the locality was regarded as being of Silurian age, but it is now known to be Early Devonian.[5] It is claimed that an undescribed species, also from Victoria, extends from the Early Devonian back to the Late Silurian.[5]

H. parvula from Kazakhstan and H. sinica from China are also of Early Devonian age.

It is sometimes suggested that Hedeia and Yarravia are merely different preservations of the same type of plant.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Cookson, I. C. (1935). "On Plant-Remains from the Silurian of Victoria, Australia, that Extend and Connect Floras Hitherto Described". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 225 (521): 127. doi:10.1098/rstb.1935.0009.
  2. ↑ Hao, S.; Gensel, P. G. (1998). "Some new plant finds from the Posongchong Formation of Yunnan, and consideration of a phytogeographic similarity between South China and Australia during the Early Devonian". Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 41: 1. doi:10.1007/BF02932414.
  3. ↑ Kenrick, P.; Crane, P. R. (1997). "The origin and early evolution of plants on land". Nature 389 (6646): 33. Bibcode:1997Natur.389...33K. doi:10.1038/37918.
  4. ↑ Chaloner, W. (1972). "Devonian plants from Fair Isle, Scotland". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 14: 49–72. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(72)90007-3.
  5. 1 2 Tims, J.D. & Chambers, T.C. (1984), "Rhyniophytina and Trimerophytina from the early land flora of Victoria, Australia", Palaeontology 27: 265–279
  6. ↑ See e.g. Hao, Shougang & Gensel, Patricia G. (1995), "A New Genus and Species, Celatheca beckii, from the Siegenian (Early Devonian) of Southeastern Yunnan, China", International Journal of Plant Sciences 156 (6): 896–909, doi:10.1086/297312, JSTOR 2475120, p. 906.
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