Calamophyton

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Calamophyton
Temporal range: Middle Devonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Pteridophyta (?)
Class: Cladoxylopsida
Order: Pseudosporochnales
Family: Hyeniaceae
Genus: Calamophyton
R.Kräusel & H.Weyland, 1925
Species
  • C. primaevum (Kräusel & Weyland)
  • C. renieri (Leclercq)
  • C. bicephalum (Leclercq & Andrews)
  • C. forbesii (Schopf)

Calamophyton is an extinct

fossilized forest of Calamophyton trees discovered in Somerset, England, represents the earliest-known forest.[2]

Discovery

The genus was established in 1926 from specimens collected by

conspecific.[5] All specimens date to the Middle Devonian, some 385 to 395 million years ago.[3][4][6]

Description

The genus has been described as having an unusual—and unusually complex—

palm-like. Specimens are between 0.8 metres (2+12 feet)[1] and 4 metres (13 ft) in height.[7] Like other cladoxylopsids, the tree trunk was hollow, and composed of multiple interconnected longitudinal strands of vascular woody material (xylem).[8][9] As the xylem bundles grew in diameter, they would split apart from one another near the apex of the trunk, thus limiting the overall height.[8][10] The trunk apex was domed rather than tapered, and like the trunk base, wider than the midsection. Some trunks may have forked.[1]

Calamophyton did not have leaves, but rather small branches consisting of twig-like structures[7] that grew only at or near the trunk apex, and which were the site of photosynthesis for the plant.[7] As the trunk grew, the lower branches would be shed; a mature tree might in the course of its growth shed as many as 700 to 800 branches,[11] creating a thick carpet of decaying twigs on the ground below, with few understory plants observed. Where other cladoxylopsids shed their branches smoothly, Calamophyton left small stubs behind on the trunk.[11]

The

Pteridophyta.[7]

Earliest-known forest

In March 2024,

Hangman Sandstone Formation at Minehead, Somerset, England. As of the reporting date, it is the earliest forest yet discovered.[2][7][10] At an age of 390 million years, the forest pre-dates the previously oldest-known example—a root system probably belonging to Archaeopteris, discovered in 2009 near Cairo, New York[12]—by about four million years.[2][7][10] In the Middle Devonian period, when the Calamophyton forest was alive, the Somerset region would have been adjacent to Germany and Belgium.[2][7]

According to Christopher Berry, one of the scientists involved in the discovery, the preservation of the Calamophyton fossil forest, with trees still in the positions where they grew, allows a direct, and unprecedented, examination of the local

Footnotes

  1. ^ Root dimensions given here are based on the specimens of up to 2 metres in height.[1]

References

  1. ^ . Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Devlin, Hannah (7 March 2024). "World's oldest fossilised trees discovered along Devon and Somerset coast". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  3. ^
    JSTOR 2394614
    .
  4. ^ a b Kasper, Andrew E. Jr; Gensel, Patricia G.; Forbes, William H.; Andrews, Henry N. Jr. "Plant Paleontology in the State of Maine - A Review". Digital Maine. Maine Geological Survey. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  5. JSTOR 2440597
    . Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Introduction to the Cladoxylopsida". University of California Museum of Paleontology. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ralls, Eric (7 March 2024). "World's 'newest' oldest forest, recently discovered, is full of Calamophyton trees". Earth.com. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  8. ^ a b "World's oldest and most complex trees". Cardiff University. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  9. . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Irving, Michael (13 March 2024). "Strange trees in world's oldest forest ripped themselves apart to grow". New Atlas. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  11. ^ . Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  12. ^ Barras, Colin (19 December 2019). "Scientists have discovered the world's oldest forest—and its radical impact on life". Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 18 March 2024.