| Abstract: | A new genus and species Hula recurvata is described from the Posong-chong Formation (Siegenian) of Lower Devonian in Wenshan district, Yunnan, China.This plant possesses pseudomonopodial and dichotomous axes with terminal spikes andit sometimes has single sporangia below the branching point within the fertile regions.Sporangia with stalks are ovate, adaxially recurved and downwards and spirally arrangedon the axis of the spike. Protostele is centrarch. The characteristics stated above showthe new plant has close affinity to Taeniocrada decheniana, but it differes from the members of any other rhyniophytes as well as zosterophyllophytes. A new family——Taeniocradaceae can be established and is provisionally assigned to Rhyniophytina. Evolutionary line of early land-plants, from Rhyniaceae to Taeniocradaceae and then to Bari-nophytaceae is discussed in this paper. |
