Utrechtiaceae

Utrechtiaceae
Fossil of Utrechtia piniformis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Gymnospermae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	†Voltziales
Family:	†UtrechtiaceaeMapes & G. W. Rothwell

Utrechtiaceae is an extinct family of trees related to modern conifers.^[1] This family dates back to the late Carboniferous and Early Permian.^[2]

Description

They were forest trees with almost horizontal standing leafy lateral shoots and with vertical tribes. They were generally small trees.^[2] At least with Utrechtia piniformis the side shoots are in whorls.^[3]

Like other Voltzialean plants, they had compact ovulate cones bearing bilateral bract-scale complexes. The leaves are scale-like, arranged spirally and only a few millimeters long.

Genera

Utrechtiaceae includes the following selected genera:^[1][2]

• CarpentieraNemejc & Augusta, 1934
• CzatkalostrobusL.I.Savizkaja, 1975
• DvinostrobusA.V.Gomankov & S.V.Meyen, 1986
• ErnestiodendronFlorin, 1934
• LebachiaR.Florin, 1938
• MacdonaldodendronH.J.Falcon-Lang, F.Kurzawe & S.G.Lucas, 2014
• MoyliostrobusC.N.Miller & J.T.Brown, 1973
• OrtiseiaR.Florin, 1964
• UtrechtiaG.W.Rothwell & G.Mapes, 2003
• WalchiaSternberg, 1825
• WalchianthusFlorin, 1940
• WalchiostrobusFlorin, 1940

See also

• Data related to Voltziales at Wikispecies

References

1. GBIF
2. Voltziales (palaeos.org)
3. Early Conifers

• Paleobiology Database
• Charles B. Beck: Origin and Evolution of Gymnosperms. Columbia University Press, New York 1988 ISBN 0-231-06358-X
• Wilson Nichols Stewart, Gar W. Rothwell Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants
• G.W. Rothwell, Gene Mapes Validation of the names Utrechtiaceae, Utrechtia, and Utrechtia floriniformis
• Edith L. Taylor, Thomas N. Taylor, Michael Krings Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs 1993, S. 676–679. ISBN 0-13-651589-4