Tmesipteridaceae

•Mycorrhiza

•SC absent and GC encrusted

 Bifoliar appendage

Tmesipteris
Psilotum rhizome

Psilotum stem
 Phloem Epidermis
Xylem

Mesophyll

Tmesipteris leaf
Mid vein on lanceolate
leaf

Tmesipteris

Synangium

Bifoliar appendage
 Synangium TS

Periplasmodial mass

Eusporangiate development (3 initials)

4-5 layers jacket
Tapetum not formed from outer or inner sporogenous cells.
Sporogenous cells whose protoplasts are watery, divide slowly
and develop into a periplasmodial mass-serves nourishment.
 FOSSILS
Remains or vestiges or traces of plants and animals -fossils.
These remains from past geological ages remain preserved in
sedimentary rocks either as actual structures or as impressions,
casts or molds.
Derived from Latin word “fossilis” which means “to dig up”. .
IMPORTANCE
(i) They furnish evidence of the prehistoric life,
(ii) They also provide missing links in the evolutionary chain.
The fossils or remains of large or macroscopic structures, such
as leaves, branches, fruits and seeds, are called mega fossils
Fossils of very small or microscopic structures (e.g. spores,
pollen grains, etc.) are termed as microfossils.
The species of plants or animals which no longer exists is
called extinct.
The species which exists at present is called extant.
If a fossil cannot be assigned to any genera containing extant
species then its genus is termed as an organ genus.
If it cannot be assigned to a family, it is placed in a form genus.
A full-fledged research institute, devoted fully to the study of
fossil plants, now exists in our country. It’s name is Birbal Sahni
Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow.
 COMPRESSION
It is an original part of an organism that was buried under
sediments and the water squeezed out of it.
As a resut of the weight of the sediment the plant part becomes
flattened resulting in the formation of a carbonaceous film .
It depicts the outline and externl features of th plant or plant
part.

Thin film of plant

cuticle that
remained from a
leaf
Fossilized specimens of the Montsechia vidalii
were discovered in the Pyrenees in Spain more
than 100 years ago, but an international team of
paleobotanists recently analyzed them and
discovered that at around 130 million years old,
it's the oldest flowering plant yet discovered.
 IMPRESSION OR IMPRINTS
It is an outline that is formed when hard parts of a
dead organism pressed against soft sediment, which
then hardened after the organism decayed.
Sediments around the compressed plant or plant
part become hardened.
When split open at the region of the fossil they very
clearly reveal the outline of the plant of part.
It can be considered as the negatives of
compression.
Only outline of the plant or part is revealed not the
cellular detail.
LEAF IMPRINTS
"Part" and "counterpart" fossils of a frond
of Alethopteris, a seed fern. The plant fossils
create planes of weakness within the nodules,
which tend to split open so that one half reveals
the upper surface of the plant (the "part," seen at
the bottom of the photo), while the other half
contains an impression of the upper surface (the
"counterpart," shown at the top).
 MOLD AND CAST
Sometimes the sediments all around the
plant or plant part gets hardened to form a
three dimensional mold.
The plant material within decays and
disintegrates leaving space which is filled with
other sediments.
These fillings sediments hardens to form a
cast completely enclosed by the mold.
Cast will have same external appearance as
that of the plant or its part and reveals only the
external appearance or the outline.
Does not preserve the organic material or
cellular details.
They help to reconstruct the external
features of the plant.
MOLD CAST
Best type of fossil.
Reveals internal structure of the plant or
plant part.
In this the internal structural composition is
part by part replaced by minerals in the
solution that ultimately hardens.
A fossilised flower
of Strychnos electri
in amber
 RHYNIA Hemispherical outgrowth
65 µ

4 mm L
Sporangium 1.4 mm B
Spores 40 µ D
sporangium
Pointed tip

20 cm
outer
18 cm

Adventitious
4mm branches
6mm
12mm

Middle

Inner
2mm
sporangium
Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii
Rhizoids in tufts Rhynie –District Aberdeenshire (Scotland)
Rhynia major Middle Devonian –chertbed (is a fine-
Kidston and Lang-1917 grained silica-rich,sedimentary rock)
The branching of Rhynia is both dichotomous and
adventitious or monopodial, with dichotomy occurring at
an angle between 17 and 350
The rhizome is considered as gametophyte ( Mercker
1955, 1959)with aerial sporophyte:
Presence of flask shaped cavities in the creeping axis –
regarded as disintegrated sex organs
Presence of groups of four cells with openings in the
centre-sunken neckless archegonia

Considered massive gametophytes as found in present

day Lycopodium
 Various interpretations have proposed for hemispherical
outgrowths
•The presence of hemispherical projections on the axes is
not seen in any of the other Rhynie plants.
•Although the hemispherical projections on the 'rhizomes'
bear the rhizoids for taking up water from the ground
surface, but the upright stems occasionally exhibit rhizoid
tufts suggested Rhynia was also capable of taking up
atmospheric water.
•Rudimentary leaves (but they appear very late in life of
plant,as new formations beneath stomata)
•Wounding by arthropods sucking sap (Kevan et al. 1975)
nematodes, mites, parasites or fungi (Edwards and Selden
1993). .
• Seats for formation of additional branches-vegetative
propogation
•Damage from splashes of hot water from volcanic ash
(Kidston and Lang 1921a); an unlikely explanation
considering the small size and disposition of the projections
on the plant axes, and also since they have not been
observed on any of the other Rhynie plants.
•Pant (1962) and Lemoigne (1968) interpreted the
hemispherical projections as sites of archegonia, though
this interpretation has never been generally accepted. The
smaller ones seem to have pores leading into a central
channel leading to an intercellular spacebelow
•Bierhost (1971) regarded it as hydathodes or secretory
structures of some kind
cuticle
Epidermis
Outer cortex with
compact
parenchyma

Inner cortex
with vesicular
mycorrhiza

phloem

xylem

T S OF STEM
Epidermis is single layer found below a thick cuticle and is
interrupted by stomata.
The cortex is divided into two distinct zones separated by a brown
line of amorphous material. The outer cortex comprises closely packed
uniform cells, becoming noticeably elongate below the hemispherical
projections. The inner cortex comprises uniform cells with a well-
developed inter-cellular air space network and commonly exhibits
vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae.
The vascular tissue or stele comprises a zone of 'phloem' of uniform
thickness surrounding a central xylem strand. The xylem strand is
terete, ie., cylindrical with both ends tapering, exhibiting endarch
condition. The xylem cells also exhibit annular and rare spiral
thickenings.
 The stomata typically appear
circular on the cuticle surface
and are flanked by two guard
cells

The cells of the cuticle often

exhibit a median ridge giving
the cuticle a flanged
appearance.

Fusiform
Maximum size of 3.6mm by 2.4mm.
 Sporangia terminal, being located
on the adventitious branches of fertile
aerial axes.
 No dehiscence mechanism has
been observed though a dark cellular
layer or 'sterile pad' at the base of the
sporangium has been interpreted as a
site of abscission
The sporangial wall comprises three
layers: an outer cuticularised
Homosporous & in epidermis, a poorly preserved
tetrads parenchymatous layer and an inner
65 microns tapetal layer
diameteter
Horneophyton
Horneophyton ligneiri Terminal Sporangium
No uniformity in shape

Rhizoids
Xylem end in group of
isodiametric cells
Rhizome parenchyma
without vascular tissue
sporangium
L S of Corm
with rhizoids

13Cm
Smooth aerial
dichotomous 2mm
shoot

Sporangial wall
Corm with rhizoids
Stem anatomy-resembles Tapetum
Rhynia
Xylem terminates in upper
part of tuberous rhizome Columella
Spores:tetrads,50 microns
Leaves 5mm sporangium
in length

1mm

Stem TS
Leafy aerial
shoot with
avascular leaves

1cm
Smooth
rhizome

Dichotomously branched root

Transition region
with avascular scales Asteroxylon mackiei (Asteroxylaceae)
Explored from Rhynie
 Outer cortex

stomata
Fungal hyphae
Paleomyces

phloem

Actinostele
Xylem

leaves

epidermis

Smaller tracheid with

Larger tracheid annular thickening
with spiral
thickening Ill defined endodermis

compact cells
Inner cortex
Trabeculate

STEM TS Asteroxylon mackiei

 Reniform sporangia arranged in
spike like cluster

Slit

stalk

Naked aerial branch

Rhizome branch run backward

2mm

Zosterophyllum
Z. Myretanianum , Z.australianum, Z.rhenanum – Aquatic
Explored form lower old Redstone of Scotland
Zosterophyllum rhenanum
Circinate tip Reproductive branch free from
spines
Oval sporangium
(Length 4-5mm
Breadth 1-1.5 mm )

Upright Spines .5- 2.5mm length

forked stem
3 feet high and
1-7mm diameter

Creeping rhizome
Psilophyton princeps
Discovered from lower Devonian rocks of Gaspe Canada by
JW Dawson
Pseudosporochnos
Tree like