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Helicophyton dichotomum
Helicophyton dichotomum Y. Wang, H.-H. Xu Int. J. Pl. Sci., 163(3): 476. May 2002
- Name
- Helicophyton dichotomum
- Rank
- Species
- Generic Name
- [Genus] Helicophyton
- Authors (Pub.)
- Wang Y.
Xu H.-H.
- Publication
- A new fossil plant from the earliest Carboniferous of China [2002/5]
- Journal
- International Journal of Plant Sciences
- Volume
- 163
- Issue
- 3
- Page number
- 476
- Year
- 2002
- Fossil Status
- stems (with sporangia)
- Stratigraphy
- Tournaisian
- Strat. comment
- Wutung Formation
- Location
- Forty meters above a limestone quarry, Kongshan mountain, 20 km east of Nanjing City, Jiangsu, China
- Paleoregion
- Cathaysia (South)
Data for Holotypus
- Repository
- Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- Repository Number
- PB19210
- Diagnosis
- Main axes 1–8 mm wide. Branches helically inserted on the main axis and divided into first- and secondorder branches. First-order branch, 0.4–2.5 mm wide, 125mm total length; second-order branch inserted helically, 0.2–1.0 mm wide, 50 mm total length. Fertile and sterile appendages alternately arranged on at the base of first-order and secondorder branches. Sterile appendage, 10 mm in the maximum dimension, dichotomizing up to five times; terminal segment, 1 mm long, with sharp tip recurved outward. Fertile appendage, at least 20 mm in the maximum dimension, composed of paired terminal sporangia erect on the supporting axial system, dichotomizing up to four times. Sporangia are fusiform in outline, 0.8–1 mm long including the distal tip, and 0.2–0.3 mm in diameter at the widest points. The tips of sporangial pairs curved slightly toward each other. Dense terminal branching system occurs at the end of all branches.
