Horneophyton

Horneophyton is a genus of early Devonian fossil land plants. Its fossils are very common in the Rhynie chert. Both the sporophyte and a female gametophyte have been found as fossils. The sporophyte was about 20 cm tall, and the gametophyte was about 6 cm tall. It is not really a vascular plant. It had vascular tissue but the cells had thin walls.

Horneophyton
File:Horneophyton.svg
Schematic reconstruction of Horneophyton lignieri to show its growth habit
Scientific classification e
Unrecognized taxon (fix):	Horneophyton
Species
†H. lignieri (Kidst. & W.H.Lang) Bargh. & Darrah (1938)
Synonyms
Hornea Kidst. & W.H.Lang (1920) non Baker

Horneophyton had anatomy similar to the hornworts. It is also similar to the vascular plant Rhynia which lived at the same time. It might therefore be a missing link between the Bryophytes like hornworts and the vascular plants like Rhynia.

References

File:Rhynie chert with Horneophyton 1.png

A piece of Rhynie chert has parts of many Horneophyton plants. The red circles show the bases of sporophytes.

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