Renalia

Renalia
Temporal range: Early Devonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Streptophyta
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Polysporangiophytes
Clade: Tracheophyta
Genus: †Renalia
Gensel (1976)[1]
Type species
Renalia hueberi
Gensel (1976)
Species
  • †R. grabertii Schweitzer (1980)[2]
  • †R. hueberi Gensel (1976)[1]
  • †R. major Schweitzer (1980)[2]

Renalia is a genus of extinct vascular plants from the Early Devonian (around 420 to 390 million years ago). It was first described in 1976 from compressed fossils in the Battery Point Formation (Gaspé, Québec, Canada). It is difficult to reconstruct the original form of the complete plant, but it appears to have consisted of leafless branching stems whose side branches had sporangia (spore-forming organs) at their tips. It is regarded as an early relative of the lycophytes (clubmosses and relatives).[1][3]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Gensel_1976 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Schweitzer, H.J. (1980), "Die Gattungen Renalia Gensel und Psilophyton Dawson im Unterdevon des Rheinlandes", Bonner Paläobotanische Mitteilungen (in German), 6: 1–34, cited in Fairon-Demaret 1986
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Taylor_et_al_2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).