Sphenophyllales from the Mazon Creek flora (Upper Moscovian: Illinois, USA)

2025/05/09 by Michael P. D’Antonio, Peter R. Crane, Carol L. Hotton +2 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Fern and Epiphyte Biology #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions

paper · doi:10.1093/botlinnean/boaf043

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sphenophyllales is an extinct clade related to horsetails whose members were important ground-cover and understory components of the vast tropical Carboniferous peat swamps of Euramerica. These plants exhibited extreme anisophylly and heterophylly, complicating the development of whole-plant concepts within the group. Here, we describe a new species of a small sphenophyll cone—Hexaphyllostrobus negauneeana sp. nov.—using computed tomography of three remarkably well-preserved cones from the Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek flora of Illinois, USA. We also briefly review the broader diversity of sphenophylls present in the Mazon Creek flora as a step towards developing new whole-plant concepts within Sphenophyllales.

Citations

• Structure and Development of Sphenophyllum oblongifolium from the Upper Carboniferous of France
• Anatomy, affinities, and evolutionary implications of new silicified stems of Sphenophyllum Brongniart, 1828 from the early Carboniferous (Mississippian) of France and Germany

Discussions

• It might be the year of the fire horse now, but you know what came first? Sphenophyllales...an extinct clade of HORSEtails important for ground cover & understory of tropical Carboniferous peat swamps [bsky, 7 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Reconstruction of an enigmatic Pennsylvanian cone reveals a relationship to Sphenophyllales
• Anatomy, affinities, and evolutionary implications of new silicified stems of Sphenophyllum Brongniart, 1828 from the early Carboniferous (Mississippian) of France and Germany
• Structure and Development of Sphenophyllum oblongifolium from the Upper Carboniferous of France
• When growth form fossilizes: the description of a new liverwort species of the family Metzgeriaceae from the Cretaceous Las Hoyas site, with insights into its architecture and life mode
• The iconic “elephant ear” plants (Araceae) from the early Eocene Fossil Butte Flora