Yarravia


Yarravia is a genus of extinct vascular plants mainly known from fossils found in Victoria, Australia. Originally the rocks in which they were found were considered to be late Silurian in age; more recently they have been found to be Early Devonian. Specimens consist only of incomplete leafless stems, some of which bore groups of spore-forming organs or sporangia which were fused, at least at the base.

Description

Only the uppermost parts of Yarravia have been found in Australia. The stems were bare, around 2 to 2.5 mm in diameter. The longest pieces were up to 7.5 cm in length. No examples of branching were seen. The internal structure of the stems is not preserved.
The sporangia were borne in a group at the ends of stems. The specimens are flattened, so that the original shape is not entirely clear, but up to five or six upright elongated sporangia appear to have been radially arranged on a base formed by a widening of the stem; there may have been a central space. At the base the sporangia are fused together, but their tips may be free. The entire structure can be described as a 'synangium'. Blackened material inside the sporangia was assumed to have been spores.
Two species were described from the Australian material. In Y. oblonga, the synangium was longer than wide, being about 7 mm long by 1.25 mm wide. The tips of the sporangia were free and appear to consist of tissue not containing spores. The synangium of Y. subsphaerica was significantly larger and as long as wide, being about 1 cm in length and width. The tips of the sporangia were less prominent.

Taxonomy

The genus Yarravia was named in 1935 by Lang and Cookson, based on fossils found in an Australian locality they called the 'Yarra Track'. Two species were named, Y. oblonga and Y. subsphaerica, referring to the shape of the sporangial heads.

Phylogeny

The relationships of Yarravia are uncertain. The genus Hedeia, of similar age, which is known from both Australia and China, had a similar radial cluster of sporangia at the tips of stems; the two genera are distinctive in this way compared to plants from other regions. It has been suggested that Yarravia may simply be Hedeia in a different state of preservation, and that Yarravia is not really synangial. Both genera have been treated as 'rhyniophytes', although other studies regard their placement as uncertain.