Abstract
Bracteophyton variatum gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Devonian (upper Pragian–lower Emsian) Xujiachong Formation, Qujing District of eastern Yunnan, China. The smooth axes are mainly isotomous. They terminate in short and compact strobili consisting of lateral fertile units arranged helically. Each fertile unit comprises one or two bracts and an elongate‐ovate adaxial sporangium. The sporangium seems to possess a distal dehiscence around the convex margin. Bracteophyton variatum differs from bract or sporophyll‐bearing plants such as Stachyophyton, Adoketophyton, and the Barinophytales mainly in the shape and variable number of bracts in a fertile unit. In the absence of vegetative microphylls, it is morphologically far less related to the lycopods. Resembling the sporangial arrangement in spikes of some zosterophylls, the spirally inserted fertile units forming terminal compact strobili in B. variatum demonstrate the developmental changes in the apical meristem. Until more is known, this ne...
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