''Bracteophyton'' is 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 n ...

of extinct

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

s of the

Early Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pragian from and then by the Emsian, whi ...

(around ) comprising a single species, ''Bracteophyton variatum''. Fossils were first found in the Xujiachong Formation of eastern Yunnan, China. The smooth stems (axes) mainly branched dichotomously. They bore terminal 'spikes' (strobili) consisting of spirally arranged fertile 'units'. Each unit was made up of one or two bracts and a

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, ...

-forming organ (

sporangium A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life c ...

) between a bract and the stem. It appears that the sporangium released its spores by splitting along top. The arrangement of the sporangia resembles that of some

zosterophyll The zosterophylls are a group of extinct land plants that first appeared in the Silurian period. The taxon was first established by Banks in 1968 as the subdivision Zosterophyllophytina; they have since also been treated as the division Zoster ...

s, but the plant's discoverers considered its relationships uncertain. In 2013, Hao (one of the discoverers) and Xue listed the genus as a

barinophyte The barinophytes are a group of extinct vascular plants (tracheophytes). Their relationship with other vascular plants is unclear. They have been treated as the separate class Barinophytopsida, the order Barinophytales of uncertain class and as ...

References

Early Devonian plants Prehistoric plant genera {{devonian-plant-stub