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Givetian (Middle Devonian) cladoxylopsid ‘ferns’ from Orkney, northern Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2007

Christopher M. Berry
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3YE, Wales, UK
Jason Hilton
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
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Abstract

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Two large fossil plants are described from the Givetian (Middle Devonian) Eday Flags, South Ronaldsay, Orkney Isles, northern Scotland. Fossils with branches joined to stems of this age are rare. Each specimen comprises a robust and tapering main trunk from which numerous closely spaced branches arise distally. Although poorly preserved such that generic identifications are not possible, both specimens display the characteristic architecture of the plant order Pseudosporochnales (Cladoxylopsida). The newly discovered specimens demonstrate a variation in size and form that adds further data to the understanding of the ontogeny of these enigmatic plants, complementing recent morphological and anatomical findings. These specimens, in combination with many more fragmentary fossils of the same kind from the Orcadian sedimentary basin, add to our knowledge of the Givetian floras of Britain, and show that large plants with upright stems were present in the Middle Devonian landscape of Scotland.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Royal Society of Edinburgh 2006