''Wattieza'' was a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...

trees that existed in the mid-Devonian that belong to the

cladoxylopsid The cladoxylopsids are an extinct group of plants related to ferns and sphenopsids. They had a central trunk, from the top of which several lateral branches were attached. Fossils of these plants originate in the Middle Devonian to Early Car ...

s, close relatives of the modern

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s and

horsetails ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass ...

. The 2005 (publicly revealed in 2007) discovery in

Schoharie County, New York Schoharie County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county seat is Schoharie. "Schoharie" comes from a Mohawk word meaning ...

, of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s from the

Middle Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...

about 385 million years ago united the crown of ''Wattieza'' to a root and trunk known since 1870. The fossilized grove of "Gilboa stumps" discovered at

Gilboa, New York Gilboa is a town in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 1,215 at the 2000 census. The Town of Gilboa is in the southern part of the county and is southwest of Albany. History The town was first settled around 1760 ...

, were described as ''Eospermatopteris'', though the complete plant remained unknown. These fossils have been described as the earliest known

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, standing 8 m (26 ft) or more tall, resembling the unrelated modern tree fern.Stein, W. E., F. Mannolini, L. V. Hernick, E. Landling, and C. M. Berry. 2007
"Giant cladoxylopsid trees resolve the enigma of the Earth's earliest forest stumps at Gilboa"
''Nature'' (19 April 2007) 446:904-907. ''Wattieza'' had fronds rather than

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

, and they reproduced with

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

s. Belgian paleobotanist

François Stockmans François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

described ''Wattieza givetiana'' in 1968 from fossil fronds collected from Middle Devonian strata in the

London-Brabant Massif The London-Brabant Massif or London-Brabant Platform is, in the tectonic structure of Europe, a structural high or massif that stretches from the Rhineland in western Germany across northern Belgium (in the province of Brabant) and the North ...

in Belgium. English geologist and palaeobotanist Chris Berry described ''Wattieza casasii'' in 2000 from fossil branches collected from Middle Devonian strata—green mudstones and shales close to the base of the Campo Chico Formation, Givetian—in Cano Colorado, Perija Range, Venezuela. Wattieza trunk

References

Paleobiology Database accessed 19 April 2007(''Cosmos'') Michelle Carr, "Wattieza is world's oldest tree"
19 April 2007 Middle Devonian plants {{devonian-plant-stub