Crenaticaulis

Crenaticaulis; Temporal range: Emsian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Lycophytes
Plesion:	†Zosterophylls
Genus:	†Crenaticaulis; Banks & Davis
Species
	†Crenaticaulis verruculosus

Crenaticaulis was an early genus of slender, dichotomously branching, leafless land plants, known from the Devonian period and first described in 1969. They were probably allied to the zosterophylls, and are assigned to subdivision Zosterophyllophytina,^[1] or class Zosterophyllopsida. They bore branches and scalariform tracheids.

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A cladogram published in 2004 by Crane et al. places Crenaticaulis in the core of a paraphyletic stem group of broadly defined "zosterophylls", basal to the lycopsids (living and extinct clubmosses and relatives).^[3]

lycophytes

† Hicklingia

†basal groups

Adoketophyton, Discalis, Distichophytum (=Rebuchia), Gumuia, Huia, Zosterophyllum myretonianum, Z. llanoveranum, Z. fertile

†'core' zosterophylls

Zosterophyllum divaricatum, Tarella, Oricilla, Gosslingia, Hsua, Thrinkophyton, Protobarinophyton, Barinophyton obscurum, B. citrulliforme, Sawdonia, Deheubarthia, Konioria, Anisophyton, Serrulacaulis, Crenaticaulis

†basal groups	Nothia, Zosterophyllum deciduum

lycopsids	extant and extinct members

Hao and Xue in 2013 used the absence of terminal sporangia to place the genus in the family Gosslingiaceae in the paraphyletic order Gosslingiales, a group considered to have indeterminate growth, with fertile branches generally showing circinate vernation (initially curled up).^[2] Kenrick and Crane in 1997 placed the genus in the family Sawdoniaceae in the order Sawdoniales.^[4]

[1]
Banks, H.P.; Davis, M.R. (1969). "Crenaticaulis, a New Genus of Devonian Plants Allied to Zosterophyllum, and Its Bearing on the Classification of Early Land Plants". American Journal of Botany. 56 (4). Botanical Society of America: 436–449. doi:10.2307/2440821. JSTOR 2440821.
[2]
Hao, Shougang & Xue, Jinzhuang (2013). The early Devonian Posongchong flora of Yunnan: a contribution to an understanding of the evolution and early diversification of vascular plants. Beijing: Science Press. pp. 52–54. ISBN 978-7-03-036616-0. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
[3]
Crane, P.R.; Herendeen, P.; Friis, E.M. (2004). "Fossils and plant phylogeny". American Journal of Botany. 91 (10): 1683–99. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1683. PMID 21652317.
[4]
Kenrick, Paul & Crane, Peter R. (1997). The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-56098-730-7.