| Calamophyton Temporal range: Middle Devonian
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Division: | Pteridophyta (?) |
| Class: | †Cladoxylopsida |
| Order: | †Pseudosporochnales |
| Family: | †Hyeniaceae |
| Genus: | †Calamophyton R.Kräusel & H.Weyland, 1925 |
| Species | |
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Calamophyton is an extinct genus of tree, or "tree-sized plant",[1] that was extant in the Middle Devonian period. Calamophyton trees formed the earliest known forests.[2]
The genus was established in 1926 from specimens collected by R. Kräusel & H. Weyland, in Hardberg and Kirberg, Rhineland, Germany, who identified the type species C. primaevum.[3] A second species, C. renierii, was identified by S. Leclercq in Belgium in 1940, a third, C. bicephalum, also in Belgium, by Leclerqc and H. Andrews in 1960,[3] and a fourth, C. forbesii, in Maine, United States, by James M. Schopf in 1964. It has since been suggested that C. primaevum and C. bicephalum may be the same species.
References
- ^ Giesen, Peter; Berry, Christopher M. "Reconstruction and Growth of the Early Tree Calamophyton (Pseudosporochnales, Cladoxylopsida) Based on Exceptionally Complete Specimens from Lindlar, Germany (Mid-Devonian): Organic Connection of Calamophyton Branches and Duisbergia Trunks". The University of Chicago Press Journals. University of Chicago. doi:10.1086/669913. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ Devlin, Hannah (7 March 2024). "World's oldest fossilised trees discovered along Devon and Somerset coast". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ a b Leclercq, Suzanne; Andrews, Henry N. Jr. (Feb 1960). "Calamophyton bicephalum, a New Species from the Middle Devonian of Belgium". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 47 (1): 2. doi:10.2307/2394614.