A Late Devonian plant assemblage from the Avon Gorge, west England: taxonomic, phylogenetic and stratigraphic implications

Plant fossils from the Avon Gorge originally identified as Rhacophyton sp. have been subjected to a detailed morphological study incorporating examination of both previously known material and new specimens. A single taxon, Chlidanophylon dublinensis, dominates the assemblage accounting for over 90% of the fossils encountered. Other plant organs identified include dispersed acupulate preovules and five less frequently occurring organs of which four are of unknown affinities; the leaf genus Platyphyllum, Alicomopleris sp., two kinds of novel and frequendy dichotomizing branching structures and the spermatophyte synangium Telangiopsis. Possible whole plant relationships between the components of the fossil assemblage are discussed and the stratigraphic, systematic and evolutionary position of the component taxa are considered.