Ludlow Epoch

What happened during this time?

• There is a marked increase in the complexity of plant structures by the late Silurian (Ludlow)

• Record of tracheids, and therefore evidence of vascular plants, in the fossil record (Edwards & Davies, 1976)

  • C-type tracheids were also discovered earlier in the Wenlock within C. pertonii

• Cooksonia cambrensis and C. pertonii are found during this time from fossils in Tipperary, Ireland (Edwards et al., 1979; Edwards & Richardson, 2004)

• Steganotheca striata, from Powys, Wales (Edwards & Rogerson, 1979)

• Baragwanathia longifolia, Salopella australis, Hedeia sp. have been reported from Victoria, Australia (Tims and Chambers, 1984)

  • Baragwanathia represents the earliest known land plant leaves (microphylls)

• Bathurstia, Distichophytum, Hostinella, Macivera gracilis, and Zosterophyllum (Kotyk et al., 2002)