Calamites

Not to be confused with Calamities.

Calamites
Temporal range: Carboniferous–Early Permian
A range of Calamites specimens, illustrating the different appearance of fossils preserved under different taphonomic modes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Subclass: Equisetidae
Order: Equisetales
Family: †Calamitaceae
Genus: †Calamites
Species

Calamites carinatus
Calamites cistii
Calamites cruciatus
Calamites goeppertii
Calamites multiramis
Calamites ramosus
Calamites rectangulus
Calamites sachsei
Calamites schuetzeiformis
Calamites schulzii
Calamites sickowii
Calamites suckowi
Calamites undulatus

Calamites is a genus of extinct arborescent (tree-like) horsetails to which the modern horsetails (genus Equisetum) are closely related.[1] Unlike their herbaceous modern cousins, these plants were medium-sized trees, growing to heights of 30–50 meters (100–160 feet).[2] They were components of the understories of coal swamps of the Carboniferous Period (around 360 to 300 million years ago).

  1. ^ Elgorriaga, A.; Escapa, I.H.; Rothwell, G.W.; Tomescu, A.M.F.; Cúneo, N.R. (2018). "Origin of Equisetum: Evolution of horsetails (Equisetales) within the major euphyllophyte clade Sphenopsida". American Journal of Botany. 105 (8): 1286–1303. doi:10.1002/ajb2.1125. PMID 30025163.
  2. ^ V. V. Alekhin (1961). Geografiia rastenii s osnovani botaniki (Geography of plants and basics of botany). Gos. nauchno-pedagog. izd-vo. p. 167. Retrieved 2020-10-05.