Cycadeoidaceae

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Cycadeoidaceae
Temporal range: Cretaceous
Cycadeoidea sp.jpg
Cycadeoidea (a member of the Cycadeoidaceae) on display at the Naturmuseum Senckenberg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Order: Bennettitales
Family: Cycadeoidaceae
Genera

Cycadeoidaceae is a family of bennettitalean plants which flourished in the Mesozoic era. Two genera, Cycadeoidea and Monanthesia , are currently recognised though most species are poorly known. [1] They had a similar morphology to cycads, with thick, branchless trunks covered in scale leaves.

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Taeniopteris is an extinct form genus of Mesozoic vascular plant leaves, perhaps representing those of cycads, bennettitaleans, or marattialean ferns. The form genus is almost certainly a polyphyletic category for unfertile leaves of a certain shape ("taeniopterids") which cannot be assigned to specific groups due to a lack of information on cuticle or spore structures. The leaves are simple, with a strong central vein (rhachis) and an unbroken margin. The central vein leads to nearly perpendicular lateral veins, which may be slightly divided or undivided. The shape of the leaf is variable, but often elongated and smooth-edged. "Taeniopterid" leaves with bennettitalean-type cuticle are placed in the form genus Nilssoniopteris, while those with cycad-type cuticle are placed within Nilssonia and related genera. Some fertile "taeniopterids" preserve spore packages, and can be assigned to marattialean ferns.

References

  1. Watson, Joan; Lydon, Susannah J (2004). "The bennettitalean trunk genera Cycadeoidea and Monanthesia in the Purbeck, Wealden and Lower Greensand of southern England: A reassessment". Cretaceous Research. 25: 1–26. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2003.10.003.